Hey Everyone

Hi All,
Thought i'd introduce myself. I've been keeping tropical fish for about 8 years, then went on to discus about 5 years ago. My Dad kept them years ago, so thought i'd have a go. Fortunately, found a great discus forum (BIDKA) to refer to, and ask for help. The first tank mates for my discus were a couple of BN's, which turned out to be a male and female. They happily breed in the community tank, and a few of their youngsters are knocking about somewhere in the bogwood.
I've just recently purchased 2 female and 1 male L183 from neil at Pier aquatics. What stunning little fish they are.
So, thought i better sign up to a good forum.
Sorry for going on, but look forward to reading some of your posts.

Cheers
Sean

Hi Sean

What water do you keep the discus in? Is it HMA or RO, if RO you will have no probs with the L183 but without RO you may struggle to keep them

I use HMA. Will they be ok with that?

Another new member

Welcome mate iam already looking forward to pics of your L183's...

oh and your discus............

Sean1 wrote:

I use HMA. Will they be ok with that?

Nio idea mate I was advised they need RO, and it was Neil at Pier than told me this.
Geeman on here has kept them before he may be best to confirm

High and welcome to the forum Sean1
Defo shoot over to the I.D section and check out the thread "the true Dloichopterus- 183"
some good info amongst it.
Happy browsing and posting.
J

hi and welcome to the forum

Evening.

Dolichopterus seem to thrive in RO/HMA mix BUT I know of a few people who have bred them in treated tap water. Mine didnt look like breeding until I switched to RO/HMA mix and reduced the PH down to 6ish, The TDS was down to just below 100. The water was almost black for 3 or 4 weeks before the male entered the cave. After 2 or 3 days the female started to dance around the cave and then bingo a spawn . I am pretty sure you have a good chance using just HMA. The key IMO was the tannin water which then reduced the PH. I did go abit heavy on bloodworm for a few days which seemed to really condition the female. One thing to be aware of was agression between females. Each time I kept trios one of the females was killed by the other.

Dolichopterus IMO are the best BN out there and also more of a challenge to spawn than the average BN.

Goodluck with the project.

Cheers

thegeeman

Great posting Gee ....and once again welcome......

Thanks for the welcome guys. As soon as i can, i will post some pics.
I will definately have a read of that thread.
Thanks for the info too guys. I spoke to Neil at Pier, and he informed me i should be fine with HMA, as long as the water is soft. Our water up here is very soft, so i'll just have to keep an eye on things.

Cheers again everyone.
Sean

Hi welcome to the forum

L183 are one of my favourite