# Discus' Serene Hill - 95G Planted Tank



## Als49

I've been in the Tanganyika sub-forum for a while, absorbing advices and knowledge, to set up my first shell dweller planted tank 

Here's my main show tank, a room divider between my pantry and dining room. I can sit quietly watching discus gliding elegantly between plants, a shoal of rummy nose tetras rushing left and right in a hurry, and corydoras darting upward and gulping air.

Low Light Low Tech Low Maintenance No CO2

Tank: 145 x 50 x 50 cm (95 G)

Lighting: T5 14W 6500K

Filtration: sump over flow

Substrate: Balinese sands, polystyrene beads

Hardscape: santigi drift woods, mountain rocks

Plants: anubias, bucephalandra

Animals: Symphysodon discus, Hemigrammus rhodostomus, Corydoras sterbai, Corydoras aeneus "albino", Stiphodon semoni, Melanoides tuberculata, Clithon corona, Neocaridina heteropoda "Red", Caridina multidentata

I rescaped the tank 5 times in 3 years, some is undocumented, and I lost some pictures when switching my MacBook. Here's its evolution:

In this first one I was new to planted tank. So I tried to grow many low light plants. The tank was messy and full of plants.










Then I got tired trimming stem plants and replanting them. So I sticked to rhizome, rosette and bulb plants in the second one.

The front view









Rear view









Side view









I also got tired trimming moss and tidying-up rosette's runners. In the third one I only used anubias and bucephalandra in iwagumi style.










The forth one only lasted for about 1 - 2 weeks and I forgot to take its picture before rescaping.

And the fifth one, I haven't taken its picture yet


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## mambee

Each iteration of your tank is beautiful.


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## Als49

Thank you Mambee.

Here's the 5th and the latest one. I just used iPhone, so the image was not so good.

This tank is specially designed for easy feeding. The BW drops all around the tank including between the plants. However all the plants are tied to woods and stones, so they kept firmly planted.

Its scape also easily divide the tank into 2 territories: the left side for the bigger discus, and the side for the smaller ones. So everyone gets to eat


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## Deeda

Beautiful updates on the tank over time. You definitely have a good eye for layout!


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## Iggy Newcastle

Wow! Thanks for sharing the transformation over the years.


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## Als49

Thank you Deeda. Welcome Iggy.

The more they transform, there are less plants but more open space


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## Als49

I added 6 rams to see more of cichlid's interesting behaviors 

I'll also add some more bucephalandra Nanga taman and Achilles, as well as a few drift woods.


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## Als49

I'm also thinking to replace the discus with Geo tapajos red head. Which also means replacing the sands with smoother and smaller grains.


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## yamadog

Your tank is stunning. A word of caution.....Geo's are diggers. I cant keep plants in the sand for more than a few days before my Tapajos have them floating at the top. Geo's dig around the base of the plant looking for food. They don't actually eat the plant, just constantly uproot them. I always place a few rocks around the roots to slow the digging, but they always get them up....Jason


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## Als49

Thank you Yamadog.

That's what makes Geo interesting: digger 

Most of my plants are tied to woods and rocks so they're safe from any digging. I learnt it the hard way by keeping gold fish in one of my planted tanks. The gold fish uprooted everything and ate all of the moss!

So I'm sure my plants are ready for Geo


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## yamadog

Great! Can't wait to see your tank with Geo's in it!


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## Als49

I wish I can quickly grab 6 Geo tapajos here for they're rarely available.

Can Geo be kept with the existing discus tank mates such as cory, rummy nose and rams? That way when I get the Geo, I only need to remove the discus and replace with Geo.


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## Als49

Found a pic of the 4th scape


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## Als49

Got bored with the current scape. Took out everything. Put new sands and rocks, and totally rescaped the tank with a lot of caves and hiding places. Then put everything back minus the corydoras and rummy nose.










And I broke the rules... mixed 5 kinds farmed raised cichlids juvies from two continents.


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## Iggy Newcastle

Your latest picture isn't showing up for me...


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## Als49

Let's try again.










If only we can directly attach pics here, I'll surely love it!


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## Als49

Not sure why it still didn't show.

This one is at DropBox. It should work.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cxg826vjfuchr ... 1.jpg?dl=0


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## Als49

Tebing-Tenteram-Discus-01 by Aldian Prakoso, on Flickr


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## Iggy Newcastle

Looks great!


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## Als49

Thank you.

There are more caves and hiding places for the little ones. The tank becomes interesting again with a lot of chasings!


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## Als49

Finally I was able to get 8 Geos tapajos juvies. I'm so glad since they are hard to find here.

I wonder at what size do they start to have nice colors?


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## Iggy Newcastle

Congrats on your find,


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## Als49

Thank you 

Once they're mature, I'll remove most of the discus, and only keep 1 pair.


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## Als49

Got bored and did some rescaping to accommodate the digging habits of Geos so the that the plants are safe from any diggings...

Hardscaping


Added some woods with plants tied to the woods


Then some more plants


Left side


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## Als49

Then finally...






This setup lasted about 4 months before I changed it.


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## Als49

Because I lost a Geo jumping out of the tank, I had to add a lid. So I got a laser-cut acrylic lid.


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## Iggy Newcastle

Tank looks beautiful


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## Als49

Thank you


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## Als49

New scape with mountain rocks, bucephalandra and anubias, without any drift woods.

All plants are tied to rocks to be safe from Geos' diggings and sand siftings.


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## Iggy Newcastle

You have a very natural way about your scapes. Impressive!


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## Als49

Thank you Iggy


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## Als49

Rescape the tank to look more like SA planted tank with mostly driftwoods and some lava rocks.

To keep it looking simple and minimalist, I only use anubias and don't use bucephalandra at all.

Even after added the bucephalandra to other tanks, there is still plenty left over. So I put them in the sump and give LED light.


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## Als49

I also got some cory adolfoi. Boy, they're so cute with their yellow brownish head and black stripes on the body!


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## Iggy Newcastle

Picture looks great ALS.


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## Als49

Thank you Iggy.

I need to get more woods at LFS as the tank looks a bit empty from 15' away.


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## Als49

Having bought more additional 3.5 - 4" discus which was not cheap (my wife asked to see big colorful fish in the tank), I'll be more serious with this tank water parameter.

I've been reducing the TDS slowly with each WC. Currently it's at 151. I plan to get close to 100.


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## Jersey_cichlid_guy

How aggressive are discuss? If i put them in a community tank would they leave the other fish alone? Wanted to add some to the 100 gallon im going to set up for my lil girl.


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## Als49

Discus is very very shy and laid back compared to other cichlids. They eat other fish if it's small enough for their mouth (mine ate guppies ).


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## Als49

Got FBW from new supplier. The discus and geos love it!


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## Als49

What a surprise, found the geos spawning, and I was lucky enough to see the male fertilizing the eggs!

Amazingly the territory the claim and guard is quite small compared to their body size (especially compared to N. brichardi who claimed the whole tank!)


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## Als49

Since my geos are breeding, I search info about their breeding and found out that the geos are delayed mouth brooders! It'll be very interesting watching them picking up the eggs and then brooding. I hope to catch that moment.


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## Iggy Newcastle

Congrats man! Keep it updated please...


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## Als49

Thank you Iggy!

All of the eggs were no longer at the wood and the rock they were previously attached. So I believe the mouth brooding has begun. And I haven't found any info how long will this mouth brooding last... Before hatching.

Right now I have no any plan to remove the pair into their own tank. Although it seems interesting having geos fry, I believe it's too much hassle preparing another tank for the breeding pair, and then another tank for fry grow out tank.

So I'll just stick to my initial goal to have interesting and beautiful planted cichlid tanks, and fry is bonus


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## Als49

6 months ago they were juvies, now they spawn almost every month, although no fry survives


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## TheNoob

Gorgeous tanks! I have always wanted to do a planted tank, but am still new to the hobby, your tanks are definitely an inspiration!


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## Als49

Thank you Noob. It takes a process and it always starts with the first step.


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## Als49

Buying juvies sometimes is like buying mysterious fish. From 8 geos RHT juvies, 1 becomes non RHT. Winemilleri?

Should I remove this odd one from the tank, or leave it there?


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## Als49

I removed the RHT pair into their own tank and they just had free swimming fry 

I also removed the pygmy corries to the Bolivian rams' tank because they kept sticking to the discus and suck the body slime.


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## Als49

Few months ago rehomed all the RHT and got Winemilleri instead.

So the current stocking in this peaceful room divider: a pair of discus, 3 winemilleri, 16 cory adolfoi, 22 serpae tetra, MTS and horned snails.

Yes, you may notice that I replaced the rummy nose tetra with serpae because rummy nose got eaten by winemilleri.

Front view:


Rear view:


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## mambee

Sweet looking tank.

How are the geos getting along? They usually do better in groups. I currently have 6 altifrons.

I think that I'm becoming more of a purest as I get older and prefer wild type fish. If I had the time and space, I would love to have a wild type discus tank.


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## Als49

Thank you Mambee 

The geos are getting along well peacefully. Compared to RHT, they're less active. They have bigger mouth to swallow small fish and shrimps though. Once I found a cory adolfoi stucked in the mouth of the biggest winy.

I also gave them live ghost shrimps once a week for treats. It's very entertaining watching them hunting the shrimps 

I heard that wild type discus is harder to keep than the farm strains?


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## mambee

My geos are pretty big. I keep them with about 50 cories. I hope that they don't try to munch on my cories.

With the discus, I was referring to the naturally colored strains as opposed to the line bred varieties. Even a brown discus has a subdued beauty.


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## Als49

So far the cories are safe since that last incident. Slim body tetras such rummy nose were also eaten. Serpae is safe so far.

The natural color discus looks classical and elegant, especially if there's shoal of them.


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## Als49

After about 3 months, I find out that serpae tetras are like time bomb... This morning I was very surprised when I saw my biggest geo wihtout his long beautiful trailer on the tail. Rehomed the serpaes.

I'm looking for shoaling fish replacement and some people recommended me to get bleeding heart tetras. Indeed bleeding heart tetra is so so beautiful. However they're rare here and I've never seen them in LFS yet.

I wonder what red shoaling fish that's not fin nipper and won't be eaten by geos other than bleeding heart tetra?


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## Als49

Wow I just realized that 10 of the serpaes were also eaten by winemilleri in 3 months. Bought 30 serpaes and only 20 left when rehoming them.

Well that was not many compared to rummy noses. 15 large rummy noses eaten in 2 days. The biggest winemilleri is stiill about 4" long.

And I bought 30 red phantom tetras yesterday and there are only 24 of them today!

Bleeding heart tetra is not bred locally. Only import WC is available and they're too expensive to be ends up as live food. So I don't buy them.

I wonder if rosy tetra is bigger or faster swimmer so won't be eaten by winemilleri?


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## Granamyr

Als49 said:


> Wow I just realized that 10 of the serpaes were also eaten by winemilleri in 3 months. Bought 30 serpaes and only 20 left when rehoming them.


In your post on 4/7 you said you had 22 serpaes in there. Did you rehome or lose some of them before the winemilleri were put in there?


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## Als49

Granamyr said:


> Als49 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow I just realized that 10 of the serpaes were also eaten by winemilleri in 3 months. Bought 30 serpaes and only 20 left when rehoming them.
> 
> 
> 
> In your post on 4/7 you said you had 22 serpaes in there. Did you rehome or lose some of them before the winemilleri were put in there?
Click to expand...

Tbh I lost count of the number of dither shoaling fish. Started from pygmy cories to red phantom tetras, they keep decreasing with 3 winemiilleri. Tough I usually buy 30 of them each.

The only one that was not decreased in numbers was Congo tetras. I didn't keep them in this tank because they were too big, too fast and eat so fast


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## geektom

You wont get as much red, but why not consider Buenos Aires tetras? They are beautiful and will be large enough to not get eaten.


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## Als49

geektom said:


> You wont get as much red, but why not consider Buenos Aires tetras? They are beautiful and will be large enough to not get eaten.


Because I like their bodies to be red, too.

So I consider rosy white fin, red phantom and bleeding heart tetra. Red phantom was currently available at decent price so I got them.

To prevent winemilleri from eating the shoaling fish (I surely hope so), I add live ghost shrimps weekly. To make them busy chasing shrimps instead of fish


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## Als49

A few updates:

1. From 30 red phantom tetras, only 11 left in about 2 months. So I want to add some high body tetras, perhaps rosy tetra.

2. Rehomed 6 Bolivian rams because the alpha male kept chasing away the winemilleris. And because the beautifully bright color is only the alpha. I'm a bit greedy, I want all of them to be bright in colors! 

3. A pair was formed from the 3 winemileris. So I rehomed the other one that became an outcast.


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