Apisto's in a discus tank

[kingborris]

Hi all, i was recommended this forum as a good place for info on apisto species, and from what i can see... it is.

As i am new, i shall introduce myself. been keeping tropicals about 3 years, and discus for about 9 months now. live and work in London UK

My question is regarding suitable apisto's for a discus tank. The stats are as follows:

pH 6.8
KH = 4
GH = 4
TDS = 170ppm
Use RO water
temp 29-30C

I really like the look of trifasciata, but i am concerned that they wont be able to take the high tempuratures of the discus tank (could drop it to 28-29C) What do people think about this species in this setup??

If not the trifasciata, can anyone recommend another species taht would be more suited to my tank?

Thanks,

 

[Fisherking]

Hi, i keep many different apistos in my discus tank(900l). The problem whit this is not the water or the temp, but prbebly the feeding. Many feed their discus whit red mosquito larve(bloodworms). In most cases they contain a lot of bacterias that the apisto cant handel. They can kill your apistos in a few days. So my tip is......dont give them bloodworms...and you probebly would not get any problems

 

[kingborris]

hmm... even gamma irradiated bloodworm etc? i dont feed live food at all, just good quality frozen foods, as well as tetra prima and beefheart flake

900l discus tank... wow. got a pic at all, it sounds stunning

 

[Discus Man]

hmm... even gamma irradiated bloodworm

midge larvae, also called red mosquito larvae, have undigestible exoskeletons that poor apistos have a hard time passing. In my early days with apsitos I did not know better until a male cac had these insect casings hanging out of him for almost a day...

anything that hard to expel is a great bacteria breeder as it rots in the gut or can cause blockages... either way, its okay if a fish eats one or two with other foods, but not a big lump of this stuff!

 

[kingborris]

so apart from the diet, which can be easily altered, do people think that the conditions would be favourable?

a freind on another site suggested that dissolved O2 might be insufficient at those temperatures. As i use CO2 injection to keep the pH down, and to help my plants, surface movement is not great, although the pearling from my plants should provide O2 during the day. Its just lights off period that might cause problems

also, with the larvea, would it help if they were ground into a paste, and mixed with another food type, making the casings easier to pass?

Thanks,

 

[fishgeek]

Not answering your question about species that can take high temps :wink:
just adding to the feed thread , i have never had a problem with fozen mosquito larva of any colour causing constipation

chitin, the insect shell protein that is used for producing exoskeletons will be on all larval forms of insects that we use as live food to some extent

andrew
http://66.102.11.104/search?q=cache...s/magda.pdf+'chitin+digestion+fish'&hl=en

 

[António Vitor]

Healthy discus have no problems whatsoever in 26-27ºC
more or less 80ºF...

well, there are some apistos from the same discus habitat!
and no one recommends 30ºC to any apisto!


Regards!
António Vitor

 

[kingborris]

i think 28C (82F) would be the lowest i would be comfortable going to with my discus. i agree they probably can go a bit lower, but everything i have read about discus suggests that higher temps are favourable.

I would prefer not to add an apisto species, rather than risk my discus with too cool water for them.

So... back to the question. given the setup i have (which i dont want to alter dramatically) would apisto. trifasciata be OK at the high end of the tempurature scale. If not, can someone suggest another species that may fair better.

my reasons for posting is that i have seen the tempurature range for trifasciata quoted to 29C by both Baensch (atlas volume 1) and fishbase . i was just after some input from people who may have actually tried the fish at this temp.

Thanks again.

 

[Fisherking]

I have had apistos in 32C whit no problem at all. Sorry I don`t have any pictures of my tank.