# Planted Tanks > Aquascaping >  6ft Monster Fish Aquascape

## Johnenrui

Been a while since I posted in this forum, the last time I posted was my 4ft aquascape.

Here are some photos of the 4ft before I made a switch in project/interest to monsters fishes.






a 4ft wouldnt be sufficient to keep monster fishes and so I decommed the 4ft and sold it. I acquired a monster of a tank, 6ft (this size while uncommon in the aquascaping world, but actually common among monster fish keepers).
However I've always loved and scaping and plants and wondered if I could actually do both! You know, keeping monster fishes while having hardscape and plants in the tank too. SO.. this is my infant attempt at this. I have opted for low maintenance plants and focused on wood arrangement. Let me know what you think!









livestock:
1 silver arowana (almost 2 ft)
3 Bichirs (15,12,12 inches)

5 Pacus
1 gar (16 inches)

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## Ingen

Looking good, any hardscape that you can use to cover the power head on the left?

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## Johnenrui

Haha... the photos looked better on my phone but looks blurry when I clicked them on my mac :X

yeah the powerhead and the overflow pipe on the right too  :Sad: ... I cant find any good hardscape that will fit and are big enough to cover them yet sighs.

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## Johnenrui

Trying a new photo uploading service...

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## happydanio123

Looking good! The photos are much better! What I like about your tank is that there is a little "island" of plants in the middle of the tank. The colour of the light makes the tank look even better! 

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## Johnenrui

Thanks bro!! Hehe yes inspired by the island themed aquascapes on this forum! Actually.. The light is white haha..! I think tannins leaking from the new wood or the substrate is a tad yellow!


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## Urban Aquaria

Looks nice! Good choice of hardy plants and the yellowish tint in the water does help to create an amazon biotope style environment.

I wish i had the space to keep a 6ft tank too... monster fishes with plants is a great combination.  :Well done:

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## Johnenrui

Thank you UA! Haha learnt a lot from you in my previous project haha... 
Yes i can only get hardy plants like fern now cos my light isn't that strong! Will be insanely expensive to get good lighting cos the tank is 2.5ft tall 


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## Johnenrui

i have no idea how to embed a video hahaha

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## azman_haron

> 


Really nice!!

Will this work with a 5 X 2.5 X 1.5? I have an empty one sitting in my room, and to set up another planted tank is way beyond my financial means!!

5 ft.jpg

But something similar to yours may be possible since no chiller, expensive lights or ADA soil is needed!!

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## Johnenrui

> Really nice!!
> 
> Will this work with a 5 X 2.5 X 1.5? I have an empty one sitting in my room, and to set up another planted tank is way beyond my financial means!!
> 
> 5 ft.jpg
> 
> But something similar to yours may be possible since no chiller, expensive lights or ADA soil is needed!!


Haha... You have a 5ft just lying around?? Honestly the 6ft is abit too all and big for my to handle. I would have preferred a smaller 5ft.

Yes you could do a low tech set up like mine (: it is very simple and the plants are very hardy. I think for a low tech tank, play on the hardscape. Source for good wood and stones. Then the plants can be the fill ins.
Choose plants that do not necessarily be planted into soil. My ferns and nana (before they were chewed by the pacus) were all tied to wood and stones. You could even try your hand at moss.

What is your filtration system like? Sump overflow?

For a low profile 5ft, I'm not too sure what your budget is, but you could even try stingrays, bichirs... 


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## azman_haron

> Haha... You have a 5ft just lying around??


Lol....yup. Given to me, brand new, never used!!! 12mm crystal glass, too!!




> What is your filtration system like? Sump overflow?


It has to be a canister filter for this tank. I am thinking of getting two canister filters, for safety should one of them break down, as well as for better water circulation

I will also probably just move all my plants and driftwood from my 4 ft tank into it. That will save me a few dollars!!

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## Johnenrui

> Lol....yup. Given to me, brand new, never used!!! 12mm crystal glass, too!!
> 
> 
> 
> It has to be a canister filter for this tank. I am thinking of getting two canister filters, for safety should one of them break down, as well as for better water circulation
> 
> I will also probably just move all my plants and driftwood from my 4 ft tank into it. That will save me a few dollars!!


Sorry I missed your reply!!!

Wow my 6ft was given to me too but yours is BRAND NEW?? Wow!!

Yeah fluval should work for you.. Maybe even one is enough...! I heard super good reviews on its efficiency and reliability.

Hahaha if you are thinking of getting into monster fish.. I'm trying to sell off my gar and pacus... 


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## Johnenrui

Progression of my tank..











Not yet completed.. Need. More. Plants.

Some closeup shots:








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## AQMS

Sweet!!!!
Now i want a BIG tank... damn!!! :Roll Eyes:

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## Shrimplicity

Amazing aqua scape! Have you considered maybe adding moss to your tank?

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## Johnenrui

> Amazing aqua scape! Have you considered maybe adding moss to your tank?


Haha 15min ago I was at c328 deciding if I should get some moss.
I had some terrible experience with moss getting very messy and all. Have not experienced any success w them probably because I don't have a chiller...!

Thanks Anw... I'm getting more stem, tall plants to cover the background "holes" connecting the 3 islands.

Bought MC tied to a rock... Will add in tonight.. I'm not sure how it would grow but I do hope it propagates.

I'm trying to avoid big plants even though it is a big tank in order to impress on the scale haha..
Am cultivating some red lotus in my 2ft as a grow out tank before I transfer them over 


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## Johnenrui

> Sweet!!!!
> Now i want a BIG tank... damn!!!


It has always been my dream to aquascape a big tank haha... But bro seriously no joke... I used a ladder and barely can reach to the base.


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## Johnenrui

Update:




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## azman_haron

It's great to be able to move things around just to get the perfect scape. I have gone through 4-5 major changes in my own 4 ft tank. That's the advantage of having plants mostly tied to wood and rocks!!!

The driftwood on the right frames the plants in the background very nicely in the last picture. It gives the illusion of depth.

The driftwood on the left however cuts in front of the plants and doesn't complement the right side. But this is an easy correction to make...just rotate the wood such that the longest branch doesn't do that!!

The more I follow this post, the more I am tempted to set up my 5 ft tank similarly to yours!!!! Are the fishes in there low maintenance, in terms of time and money?

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## Johnenrui

> It's great to be able to move things around just to get the perfect scape. I have gone through 4-5 major changes in my own 4 ft tank. That's the advantage of having plants mostly tied to wood and rocks!!!
> 
> The driftwood on the right frames the plants in the background very nicely in the last picture. It gives the illusion of depth.
> 
> The driftwood on the left however cuts in front of the plants and doesn't complement the right side. But this is an easy correction to make...just rotate the wood such that the longest branch doesn't do that!!
> 
> The more I follow this post, the more I am tempted to set up my 5 ft tank similarly to yours!!!! Are the fishes in there low maintenance, in terms of time and money?


Hahah thank you...! I will try rotating the wood but it's several pcs - 2 are floaty so quite tricky haha... You meant rotate so the branch comes outwards and not further deeper in right? 

Do set up your 5ft! I will be so excited to see haha.. My fishes are currently:
- 22inch Silver Arowana (the Alpha of the tank)
- 10inch XB Arowana 
- 7inch IT
- 3inch IT
- 3 Blue Angels
- 1 puffer

Aside from the Angels that takes pellets, the rest are on MP (market prawn - 1KG for $10 and last for a month for me)

To me plants are a natural filter so I do a water change prob once every 2 weeks or so.
I run an OHF and a Sump. Though my current media isn't that good.

They are not hard to maintain in my opinion 


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## Johnenrui

Update of the progression of my tank:



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## bryan

The bogwood might take out an eye or two. Try keeping the swimming area clear for the aros.

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## Shrimplicity

> The bogwood might take out an eye or two. Try keeping the swimming area clear for the aros.


I believe as long as there are few aggressive fish its ok?

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## Johnenrui

> The bogwood might take out an eye or two. Try keeping the swimming area clear for the aros.





> I believe as long as there are few aggressive fish its ok?





Haha a quick update. Got 2 Virgin Red Discus (: but I'm wary of the Indo Tiger being territorial and all...

I actually don't have worries about branches.. I haven't have any problems still now haha (cross fingers)

Aggression is here and there. But they seem to know how to avoid the branches.



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## Shrimplicity

Tank just gets better and better!

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## Johnenrui

Sharing my pets

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## Johnenrui

> It's great to be able to move things around just to get the perfect scape. I have gone through 4-5 major changes in my own 4 ft tank. That's the advantage of having plants mostly tied to wood and rocks!!!
> 
> The driftwood on the right frames the plants in the background very nicely in the last picture. It gives the illusion of depth.
> 
> The driftwood on the left however cuts in front of the plants and doesn't complement the right side. But this is an easy correction to make...just rotate the wood such that the longest branch doesn't do that!!
> 
> The more I follow this post, the more I am tempted to set up my 5 ft tank similarly to yours!!!! Are the fishes in there low maintenance, in terms of time and money?


I finally put it into action and did some arrangement of the wood after finding most of them sinking already. How do you find this?




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## tetrakid

> I believe as long as there are few aggressive fish its ok?


Not only that, but it prevents serious injury if and when the fish does a sudden dash such as when scared by something. Such moves are often wild and can easily cause the loss of an eye or two.

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## BFG

Especially at night if it gets spooked by something moving around the tank in the dark. Experienced it before. Point the branches downward and create it like it's some form of root branches.

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## Johnenrui

Hahaha thanks everyone. Update: I shifted the wood on the right after receiving comments.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1448010482.944059.jpg


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## Johnenrui

Haha converted to a discus arowana planted setup:






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## vinz

Looking good there. Major transformation from the first pics.

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## Johnenrui



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## Johnenrui

> Looking good there. Major transformation form the first pics.


HAHA you found me!! :Very Happy:  thanks thanks..
i just updated with some new photos... my camera is really bad though :/ iphone haha....

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## vinz

LOL... not hard, since you provided the link. The silver arowana has been removed? Or hidden somewhere?

It's not the camera. It's the lighting. For sharper photos, brighter lights are needed. For my own tank, I need at least 4 rows of T5HOs. Then set the camera to sports mode.

A "cheat" is to lower the exposure (thus trick your phone to take the image "faster") then use Photoshop or similar to brighten.

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## Johnenrui

> LOL... not hard, since you provided the link. The silver arowana has been removed? Or hidden somewhere?
> 
> It's not the camera. It's the lighting. For sharper photos, brighter lights are needed. For my own tank, I need at least 4 rows of T5HOs. Then set the camera to sports mode.
> 
> A "cheat" is to lower the exposure (thus trick your phone to take the image "faster") then use Photoshop or similar to brighten.


Haha... That's one question I wanted to ask.
What lighting you use? T5HOs? Hahah I have like multiple LED strips.. Haha really quite a few until I have no more space at the top of the tank.. To penetrate the 2.5ft depth. Was thinking of switching to LED floodlights. haha any comments?

And my iPhone doesn't have "sports mode" haha. Maybe it's an android thing :/
The iPhone camera doesn't capture the details of the plants haha.. Makes it a blurry splat of green. And the details of the wood lol.


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## vinz

I started with 8 x 3ft T5HO arranged as four rows. I reduced it to 4 x 3ft T5HO a few months ago. I read up on LEDs before deciding on T5HOs. Seems that LEDs are not really good at penetrating depth. One experienced planter told me that when he gets enough LEDs to reach the bottom, the top is too bright and algae grows on the top plants.

The hobby's thinking about lighting has changed in the last few years. My feel, after reading up, is that the old standard to grow light demanding plants has been brought down by about a 1/3.

If your plants are doing ok, I feel no need to make your lights brighter (except temporarily for photography).

My own thoughts on large tanks is to use less light demanding plants for the foreground and midground. The background plants can be light demanding as they will grow tall enough.

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## Johnenrui

> I started with 8 x 3ft T5HO arranged as four rows. I reduced it to 4 x 3ft T5HO a few months ago. I read up on LEDs before deciding on T5HOs. Seems that LEDs are not really good at penetrating depth. One experienced planter told me that when he gets enough LEDs to reach the bottom, the top is too bright and algae grows on the top plants.
> 
> The hobby's thinking about lighting has changed in the last few years. My feel, after reading up, is that the old standard to grow light demanding plants has been brought down by about a 1/3.
> 
> If your plants are doing ok, I feel no need to make your lights brighter (except temporarily for photography).
> 
> My own thoughts on large tanks is to use less light demanding plants for the foreground and midground. The background plants can be light demanding as they will grow tall enough.


Hahaha I've not tried t5ho before but maybe in the future I will for a new tank project.
Currently lighting seems adequate but truth be told I know I cannot grow carpet plants with this.
Also I think the acrylic cover (to prevent arowana from jumping) does sieve some light from passing through.
Do you have a cover yourself?

One more thing is do you have any suggestions or ideas what I can do to fill up the upper half of the tank with plants? Currently the bottom half is heavily planted, and top is just empty.
I thought of moss wall, but other suggestions? Haha.
Will tying narrow leaves ferns on the top wood be nice? 

Oh and i totally agree with the mid and foreground plants being less light demanding.
I put my crypts, anubias, ferns and shorter less light demanding plants in front. And the red stem plants behind haha
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## Johnenrui

> LOL... not hard, since you provided the link. The silver arowana has been removed? Or hidden somewhere?


I loved that fish but my tank was getting too narrow for it. I traded it with a friend for some of his discus haha


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## vinz

> Hahaha I've not tried t5ho before but maybe in the future I will for a new tank project.
> Currently lighting seems adequate but truth be told I know I cannot grow carpet plants with this.
> Also I think the acrylic cover (to prevent arowana from jumping) does sieve some light from passing through.
> Do you have a cover yourself?
> 
> One more thing is do you have any suggestions or ideas what I can do to fill up the upper half of the tank with plants? Currently the bottom half is heavily planted, and top is just empty.
> I thought of moss wall, but other suggestions? Haha.
> Will tying narrow leaves ferns on the top wood be nice? 
> 
> ...


Actually, give carpet plants a try. No harm trying Staurogyne repens or Hygrophila araguaia. I have both of these growing at foreground depth with my current lighting. H. araguaia surprised me. It is slow, but growing in a less lighted corner of the tank.

For covers, I use 1mm gauge, 25mm spacing stainless steel mesh. Can get at the mesh shop at Blk 30, Kelantan Road or their other shop at the main road (Jalan Besar). Allows heat to escape and air to circulate, hardly blocks light. But lightweight so needs to be secured or weighed down. I'm securing it under the sump return pipe and Gear Tie. I'll post photos later. 1mm Gauge is just right for stiffness (does not sag) and flexibilty (easy to flatten or bend). You'll need a good pair of wire cutters and pliers.

For top, get really tall and narrow plants. Narrow to avoid taking up too much top swimming space. C. balansae? Maybe one of the flowy Crinums or Aponogetons. i toyed with the idea of tying long wood along the back top half and just grow epiphytic plants like Java fern, moss, etc on them. Like river side exposed roots.

Java fern at the right spot will be nice. I'm sure you've seen photos of Amano's giant personal tank right?

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## skytan

wow.nice tanks. And a cute puffer inside.

May i know how is your Water change regime? What you feeding them?
I read discus need daily change and beef heart and stuff.

Once again, amazing habitat you setup for you happy fishes.


Actually ,I am wondering if my current tank will be too shallow? My current tank is a planted 3 x 1 x 1.2 now
I read alot says need a higher tank and should use sand as base or bare bottom which i feel is too boring.

Thinking of changing projects to a small discus tank with 2-4 of them with a bit of schooling fishes.

Don't know can i continue to use the my 4cm substrate carpeted with Monte and dwarf hair grass or will i need to strip everything down.

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## Johnenrui

> Actually, give carpet plants a try. No harm trying Staurogyne repens or Hygrophila araguaia. I have both of these growing at foreground depth with my current lighting. H. araguaia surprised me. It is slow, but growing in a less lighted corner of the tank.
> 
> For covers, I use 1mm gauge, 25mm spacing stainless steel mesh. Can get at the mesh shop at Blk 30, Kelantan Road or their other shop at the main road (Jalan Besar). Allows heat to escape and air to circulate, hardly blocks light. But lightweight so needs to be secured or weighed down. I'm securing it under the sump return pipe and Gear Tie. I'll post photos later. 1mm Gauge is just right for stiffness (does not sag) and flexibilty (easy to flatten or bend). You'll need a good pair of wire cutters and pliers.
> 
> For top, get really tall and narrow plants. Narrow to avoid taking up too much top swimming space. C. balansae? Maybe one of the flowy Crinums or Aponogetons. i toyed with the idea of tying long wood along the back top half and just grow epiphytic plants like Java fern, moss, etc on them. Like river side exposed roots.
> 
> Java fern at the right spot will be nice. I'm sure you've seen photos of Amano's giant personal tank right?


Hehe sorry for the late reply. Am in the midst of taking my bar exams haha!
I took your advice and planted in some glosso HAHAH. Just to try out and surprisingly it is not dying lol.
But instead if carpeting it is growing upwards.


I have s. Repens in there.. Old leaves are browning though. New leaves growing haha. Slowly. 


Some updates. Added some crypt-like plants... Bought my first wild green discus..
Trying out a albino tinfoil barb as a playmate for the arowana lol.

Shortly after, the wild green is in a tank of its own but build its immune system and train on pellets.

Anw I'm currently using acrylic transparent covers.. Do you think it's good?





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## vinz

Crypt like plants? You mean the purplish plant in the bottom right of the photo with the discus? That looks like Lobelia to me. One of my favourites. They'll lose those purple leaves and grow bright green aquatic leaves. Nice for mid ground or even foreground for deep tanks like this one.

Where do you buy your plants?

I used to cover my newt tanks with acrylic or glass covers. Whenever I open them after the lights are on for a few hours, there's warm humid air inside. My guess is that the trapped heat will either transfer to the water or at least make it harder for the water to cool down. I opted for the wire mesh for planted tanks to allow air circulation and use of fans for cooling the water. I think it will block less light then acrylic or glass. Might be negligible to the naked eye though. In the long run, acrylic will craze and dried water splashes will leave limescale which will definitely block some of your light. Its hard to clean off limescale without scratching.

Here's the photo of my covers.



Front edge secured with Gear Tie. Can find at Home Fix. The rear edge is tucked under the return pipe.

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## Johnenrui

> Crypt like plants? You mean the purplish plant in the bottom right of the photo with the discus? That looks like Lobelia to me. One of my favourites. They'll lose those purple leaves and grow bright green aquatic leaves. Nice for mid ground or even foreground for deep tanks like this one.
> 
> Where do you buy your plants?
> 
> I used to cover my newt tanks with acrylic or glass covers. Whenever I open them after the lights are on for a few hours, there's warm humid air inside. My guess is that the trapped heat will either transfer to the water or at least make it harder for the water to cool down. I opted for the wire mesh for planted tanks to allow air circulation and use of fans for cooling the water. I think it will block less light then acrylic or glass. Might be negligible to the naked eye though. In the long run, acrylic will craze and dried water splashes will leave limescale which will definitely block some of your light. Its hard to clean off limescale without scratching.
> 
> Here's the photo of my covers.
> 
> 
> ...


Haha unfortunately my arowana has become very territorial to my discus. Causing all 14 to be in hiding.
Adding 2 big Golden TFB did not help too. Both went cowering in fear.
I currently removed the arowana for the time being so that I can somewhat demolish its territorial mindset.

I have not decided when to reintroduce it.

Yes it is lobelia! Bought it from the auntie shop at c328. The new leaves are bright green as you side. In fact they grow very fast. Some parts of the plant has melted from submerged to emersed I guess.

I've remove the acrylic covers since I no longer need them without the arowana in the tank haha...

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## Johnenrui

> wow.nice tanks. And a cute puffer inside.
> 
> May i know how is your Water change regime? What you feeding them?
> I read discus need daily change and beef heart and stuff.
> 
> Once again, amazing habitat you setup for you happy fishes.
> 
> 
> Actually ,I am wondering if my current tank will be too shallow? My current tank is a planted 3 x 1 x 1.2 now
> ...


Sorry for the late reply! I missed out amidst my examinations haha.
I do a water change about once a week, 40%.
I feed the discus blood worms, pellets, brine shrimp!

Yes discus like angelfish will be better off with a tall tank. They do swim everywhere with adequate space.
However with your tank size you could probably start off with a small group of Juvie discus (2-3 inches). They take a while to grow big and you can source for a bigger tank then. They are not too fussy with size.

I also find BB tanks too boring! You could definitely find some good using white sand or bright sand (which I'm using)

If you already have a carpet in there I don't see why you need to strip it down. Yes discus do like to forage for food and they might pull out plants but if your carpet is well establish I don't see a problem!
Further most domestic discus are well trained to eat from the surface haha.


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## WorldAquariumSingapore

Hi there your photos are fantastic can i use your photos in my youtube channel  :Very Happy:  thks in advance




>

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## Johnenrui

> Hi there your photos are fantastic can i use your photos in my youtube channel  thks in advance


Of course, you may. What is your youtube channel?

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## WorldAquariumSingapore

> Of course, you may. What is your youtube channel?


Thanks bro  :Very Happy: 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJN...55DS6weEAbsg1w

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## WorldAquariumSingapore

> Thanks bro 
> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJN...55DS6weEAbsg1w


Do subscribe to my new channel and cheers  :Very Happy:  thks in adv, i current have a 4ft discus tank as well with plants but your tank is solid WoWW beautiful

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## vinz

Johnenrui, any updates?

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