Particular discus care

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As I said previously, the geos will outcompete the discus at feeding time. Discus pick at their food slowly. I never saw any geos in Chris's tank, and his discus, all 2 of them that I could see, looked stunted with somewhat sunken heads. Not exactly show specimens. Most of the matas tankmates in his tank appeared to be angels, and SD's. Good luck amigo.
 
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RD. said:
As I said previously, the geos will outcompete the discus at feeding time. Discus pick at their food slowly. I never saw any geos in Chris's tank, and his discus, all 2 of them that I could see, looked stunted with somewhat sunken heads. Not exactly show specimens. Most of the matas tankmates in his tank appeared to be angels, and SD's. Good luck amigo.
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I meant no disrespect, nor did I mean to say that your informations were incorrect. Chris gave me the insight I needed for the mata, that's why I come here for the discus.

I want to make this work, even if I have to change water every day, which is what some people expect for discus anyway. If Geos don't work I'll either find something else, or skip bottom feeders all together. I am most definitely accepting suggestions. I thought they were mostly filter feeders, but if they're aggressive feeders, I need true cleaners or nothing at all.

Since the mata won't be competing for food with the discus, I assume the combination is only dangerous for the possible aggression of the mata, which if proportions are right, shouldn't happen or do you expect there to be reasons for the Discus not to eat and get sunken foreheads anr/or bellies?
 
No worries, none taken. As to growth, I have no idea on what the growth rate of a mata mata is. Discus require high quality food, and a lot of water changes, in order to get good growth. Extra filtration is great, but keeping the filter media clean, and the water clean, will be key to the growth of your discus.

And I am in no way attempting to discourage you from keeping a mata mata, they look like an awesome species of turtle. But keep in mind that what sometimes works in one tank, with one turtle, will not always be the same in another tank, with a different turtle. For every turtle that works with fish long term, I'll show you another that has not.

The problem with discus is that all things being equal, size/age of fish etc, they are not aggressive eaters, many people will not even attempt to keep angels with discus for this reason.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showt...ish-and-discus-together-Advice-recommendation!

Silver dollars would be a better fit with this turtle due to their speed, and as Chris noted their deep body. (won't easily fit in a mata's mouth) I know that your heart is set on discus, but a school of adult red hooks is pretty impressive as well, without all the drama of a discus.

But attempting to grow out discus, with angels, and SD's, AND a turtle, is a recipe for disaster for discus. The folks on simplydiscus would probably ban Chris from their forum for even suggesting such a mix. lol (sorry Chris!)

I really don't know what the answer is, discus can be uber finicky and sketchy, and they require superb water quality. Discus aren't really messy eaters, unless one is feeding messy foods, such as beef heart etc. In which case you are probably best just siphoning out the debris every day or two while they are growing out. 28C is plenty good for growing out discus, although I know that many crank their heaters up higher. Just remember the warmer the water, the more various pathogenetic bacteria thrive.
 
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RD. said:
No worries, none taken. As to growth, I have no idea on what the growth rate of a mata mata is. Discus require high quality food, and a lot of water changes, in order to get good growth. Extra filtration is great, but keeping the filter media clean, and the water clean, will be key to the growth of your discus.

And I am in no way attempting to discourage you from keeping a mata mata, they look like an awesome species of turtle. But keep in mind that what sometimes works in one tank, with one turtle, will not always be the same in another tank, with a different turtle. For every turtle that works with fish long term, I'll show you another that has not.

The problem with discus is that all things being equal, size/age of fish etc, they are not aggressive eaters, many people will not even attempt to keep angels with discus for this reason.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showt...ish-and-discus-together-Advice-recommendation!

Silver dollars would be a better fit with this turtle due to their speed, and as Chris noted their deep body. (won't easily fit in a mata's mouth) I know that your heart is set on discus, but a school of adult red hooks is pretty impressive as well, without all the drama of a discus.

But attempting to grow out discus, with angels, and SD's, AND a turtle, is a recipe for disaster for discus. The folks on simplydiscus would probably ban Chris from their forum for even suggesting such a mix. lol (sorry Chris!)

I really don't know what the answer is, discus can be uber finicky and sketchy, and they require superb water quality. Discus aren't really messy eaters, unless one is feeding messy foods, such as beef heart etc. In which case you are probably best just siphoning out the debris every day or two while they are growing out. 28C is plenty good for growing out discus, although I know that many crank their heaters up higher. Just remember the warmer the water, the more various pathogenetic bacteria thrive.
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I can work with that, this is precious infos. :)
I am not an overstocking kind of keeper, though I've had my trial and error (I'm looking at you, silver arowana!).

If I could have the same deals on ghost shrimps as some people do when they buy them in bulk, I'd just use them to clean everything out, knowing I'll replace stock every month or two until the mata outgrows them and disregards the effort it takes to eat them, sadly, this would become more expensive than I'd like with the regular LFS prices here in Belgium.

I had thought beef heart was key to growing discus, people tend to say that's what makes them look better, if that's not the case then it's even better. Hell, I'd love to feed only dry food for that matters. All I know is tubifex is supposed to be a no-no for discus?

Again, I do have a backup plan if I ever see one disappear, in the form of a 90G fully planted with... one thumb sized clown loach in it! I just want to do anything I can to avoid that. Not only are discus pricey, but hey, moving fish is never fun for them AND myself.

What I dislike about SDs is that whatever species I kept, they are so aggressive eaters that I'd never managed to target feed any fish, and if I am to keep them with a mata, target feed is the only way to go since I don't want it to eat live fish.

Thanks for taking the time by the way. :)
 
I agree, SD's are gluttonous pigs. But with a turtle that doesn't move all that much, one could possibly get around that issue by using a feeding tube, and drop whatever right on the turtles snout. :) Just sayin ….

Also, how difficult are mata mata to convert to pellets? My friend's FRT was a breeze. That turtle is now probably 25 pounds, and a classic example of a turtle that got along with fish for years, until he didn't.

I had a friend in town here that raised discus on and off for 40 yrs or better (RIP Don) and in his final years he converted all of his discus tanks over to pellets. (approx. 3,000 gallons worth) Most fish converted far easier than I expected, even the ones raised on beef heart mix, such as his Stendker strains. Once a week he treated them to blood worms. All were raised in hard water pH 7.8-8.2, and I think 82 F. The only time that he tweaked the water pH and hardness values was in breeding tanks. Grow out tanks all got tap water. Most folks on simply discus would ban me for saying that, in fact they did. lol If I can find a link to some of his fish I'll post them.
 
Beefheart is a no-no. Here people feed frozen and pellet.

I'll be making a care series over the next few months with a few good friends who really know what they are up to. Watch this space :)
 
RD. said:
This post, and pics of a few of his juvenile fish in the post that follows. You might find that entire discussion interesting.

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...-south-american-cichlids.694960/#post-7834016
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Gorgeous discus!
I saw some grand winners or whatever on some youtube channels, and well, they're from another world. I don't intend to buy ultra high quality just yet, though that might change if I like discus, but that would be a whole new tank away from the turtle haha.

Apparently, matas are a pain to get to dead alternatives, so it's gonna have to be tweezers to "shake" food in front of its face instead of tube.

For food, I usually go for Hikari. Even my oscars were on Hikari when I had them. I assume I can trust their discus food? I know you're a NLS user, and people are usually either one or the other hehe.
 
Sure, whatever dry food your discus will readily eat. Bummer that mata mata are so difficult to train.
 
Beefheart is a no-no. Here people feed frozen and pellet.
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Here as in where you live, or here as in MFK? Lots of discus keepers still feed beef heart mixes.
 
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