My Tiger Barb and Green Barb

In my early stage of keeping fish aquariums, one of the fishes that I like was Barbs. They have different varieties and personalities. They are very active and actually aggressive specially to smaller, weaker fish. They tend to fight always even with their own variety.

Though they are aggressive, you can’t resist loving them. If fed properly, their colors become so bright and defined. It is a must to have a good quality of water and right level of pH so keep them healthy. They are not choosy when it comes to food but they eat happily with Tetra Bits.

Barbs fish are hardy fish; they seldom get sick nor get affected by parasites. In my experience, I they tend to become  quiet if the water becomes dirty, so just changing the water will make them cheerful again. My barbs are with other community fish like mollies, tetras, silver dollar, and  guppies.

Well, as I’ve said, a recent event made move these discus to the other side where red devil fish used to stay and unfortunately, the red devil fish has to move to my extra smaller tank. I can’t believe that after months of having discus fishes, I finally got a pair!

It is an odd pair, a red-spider discus and a red melon discus, but I am just happy to finally confirm that I have a discus pair. I was ecstatic to find eggs sticking on the wall of the tank. I am not sure if they will be hatched considering that they are not in a proper breeding cone but still I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Below is a parent which is taking care of the eggs.

What are you looking for, guys? Didn’t I just feed you? Hey, your getting same food as the others, don’t be so jealous…

I have several discus fishes in my tank. I got them when they were just few centimeters big but now, they’ve grown big. Two of them are red melon discus. They really have this lovely, bright red-orange color. I think they are now 4 inches big.

I noticed twice or thrice that my goldfishes and silver carps positioned themselves on top of the tank. If this happen to your goldfish, you don’t need to worry. All you need to do is clean the filter of your tank and change some water. Cleaning the tank from fish poops is a must too. Goldfishes and carps and any other fishes need oxygen, so make sure that there’s a lot of bubble in your tank.

I use submersible filters which create bubbles too, so I don’t use air pump aside from the discus fish tank. With this kind of filter, you’ll be saved from the noise that the air pump makes, and from an extra power cost too. However, if you are using filters like the hanging filter, you will need air pump and bubble stone.

Just like planning for a regular aquarium, planted aquarium needs research and preparation. Planted aquariums are often times preferred by hobbyists for its cool greenery.

Choosing Plants

Remember that not all plants can be put in the aquarium, only aquatic plants. Some plants require more lights and more CO2, so if you want to save on the lights, choose plants that require less light. Some of the aquatic plants are Ceratopteris thalictroides (Water Sprite), Hygrophilla angustifolia (Willow Leaf Hygrophilla), Hygrophilla difformis (Water Wisteria), Hygrophilla polysperma (Small Leafed Hygrophilla), Vesicularia dubyana (Java Moss).

Lighting

Some plants do well with the normal aquarium lights but some plants need more lights. So do research on the type of the plant you have to know the light requirement. Also, avoid tall aquariums as light cannot penetrate easily in the tall aquariums.

Substrate and Water

Some plants can do well with aquarium soil and clay while others need woods. Some substrates provides nutrients to the plants.

Most of the planted aquariums can do fine with the normal tap water however check your water’s quality and hardness. For most plants, the water should not be harder than KH 8, the phosphate levels should be under 0.5 mg/L and the nitrate levels should not exceed 10 mg/L.

Fish for Planted Aquarium

What is planted aquarium when there is no fish. Though you cannot keep most of the fish species in the planted aquariums, there are some schooling fish that are best for planted aquariums. Some of them are: Cardinal Tetras (P. axelrodi), Rummynose Tetras (H. rhodostomus), Green Neon (P. simulans), Red Phantom Tetra (M. sweglesi), Tube-mouthed Pencilfish (N. eques), and Silver Hatchetfish, Marbled Hatchetfish (G. sternicla and C. strigata).

Rainbow Shark or Red fin shark, Ruby shark, Red Shark is known for its 2 pairs of sensitive barbells beside the mouth which are used to search for food. Rainbow shark has also different shade of body ranging from brown, blue, gray, or black with it’s famous red fins.

Rainbow Sharks feed on the leftover food that are mostly found in the bottom of the tank so with them, you are sure that your tank is  always clean.

 Rainbow Shark Care

Rainbow Sharks cannot eat pellets, they rely on the left over food by its tank mates. These food are usually powdered or crushed by other fish.

Rainbow Shark is aggressive towards another Rainbow Shark so keeping a couple is not really advisable. It is semi-aggressive to other fish but usually can be kept with most aquarium fishes.

The Rainbow shark needs at least 55 gallon tank size and with rocks, shades, plants. It needs hiding place.  The water temperature should be between 24 -27 degrees Celsius.

Rainbow Shark Breeding

Since Rainbow sharks are aggressive towards each other, breeding is difficult and with low result.

My rainbow shark has been to all the tanks. It has been the tank mate of molly, guppies, cichlids, parrot fish, and others. He always keeps my tank clean

If you decide to keep a Discus Fish, make sure that you are not a newbie in aquarium fish keeping. Discus fish is considered as the king of all aquarium fish. Their grace, perfect round shape, flashy color, and tiny mouth make them the favorite of aquarium hobbyist.

Setting Up a Tank for Discus Fish

Discus fish are not aggressive so be careful of selecting other fish to join them. It is better to keep them from other kinds of fish.

Discus require a higher temperature water setting than most other tropical aquarium fish, somewhere around 28 degrees Celsius. The pH level is also critical and should be around the 7 range.  Constant change of water for at least 10% is advisable, they love fresh water. Poor water quality will affect their appetite.

Keeping Discus Healthy

Discus fish are prone to diseases, so make sure to constantly clean the tank and everything in there like filter and plants and gravels. Separate ill fish to avoid contamination to other Discus fish.

Ocean Free Super Natural Black Water

Black water is an additives or supplements for fish which live in soft water aquariums. Soft water has low minerals and by adding black water, it helps improve the quality of the water with added elements such as calcium and magnesium. Black water also helps lower the water pH as soft water has a strong tendency of pH instability.

Where to Buy

Black water extract can be bought in aquarium shops. They come in bottles in different brands and bottle sizes. Experienced aquarists make their own black water by using driftwood, leaves, peat moss, and a variety of other natural substances to extract a substance called tannins.

How to Use

Black water is added to the water in aquarium after every changing of water.

RB Aquarium Series Superior Black Water

For my aquariums, I used before the Ocean Free Super Natural Black Water especially for my discus fish. The lights in my aquariums seem so bright and adding black water makes it dimmer which is good for fish. Right now, I am using R.B. Aquarium Series Superior Black Water.

The three fishes are a big and a small parrot fish and a red devil.  I usually switch off the light after feeding them, so when I switched on the lights, I saw that these three fishes were sleeping together. So, is three a crowd? For these fishes, I don’t think so