My biotope aquarium
Chapter Two 1980-2003
The
I finally had a big room and basement just for myself, juhuuu.
For the first two years, I got to know the world of the Amazon and American perch through new acquaintances, and I successfully bred zebra perch ( Cryptoheros nigrofasciatus ) and scalar ( Pterophyllum scalare ).
I was lucky with the water as medium hard water flowed from the tap (gH 9, kH 8, Ph 7.2,).
A few years older aquarist was “guilty” of meeting the “king of fish,” discus, in 1982. Of course I fell in love with him.
It took me quite a few months to study how to take care of this fish. The campaign started slowly, and soon the first 450-liter aquarium was at home. There was no osmosis at the time, but I found an immaculate source of perfectly soft water ... luckily in our places as we live in the Alpine world, carbonates everywhere.
I managed to prepare the aquarium optimally, after two months a flock of armored catfish swam in it, there were still no discus, I was waiting for them from neighboring Austria in the then very famous store in Klagenfurt.
Then the shock, a message comes from Munich that I can get two “savages”. OMG
Two adult brown discus brought directly from Brazil. Wow ... Symphysodon Aequifasciatus Axelrodi . I hadn’t even dreamed about it before. Of course, I accept the challenge with fear and take the fish. I get two huge and strong animals with bloodshot eyes and belly fins ... crazy.
It was immediately clear to me that I had made a mistake in the position of the aquarium (the windshield was opposite the door), a mistake, the savages are extremely timid and need a quiet environment without fast and sudden movement.
The
I enjoyed discus in this aquarium for a few years, in other aquariums I studied the habits of African oystercatchers, piranhas, I managed to have a population of wild Venezuelan guppies, ...
The
But that wasn’t enough, the desire to nurture my own discussions was growing. Thus, a discus farm began to emerge in the cellar, and in 1987 it was in full swing with 32 aquariums ranging in size from 80 to 200 liters. I started with brown (Symphysodon Aequifasciatus Axelrodi), green (Symphysodon Aequifasciatus Aequifasciatus) and blue (Symphysodon Aequifasciatus Haraldi) discus, later bred red and turquoise, I never had a Heckel discus. There were ups and downs .... It was hard but nice as long as it lasted. In 1994, I shut down the entire farm. A 450-liter and one 200-liter aquarium remained in operation in my room. The last aquarium shut down in 2003 when I left home. A long pause followed.
The
Some of the images that have survived from the time of discus cultivation are unfortunately of very poor quality.
The
Brown discus - Symphysodon Aequifasciatus Axelrodi
Another couple
Blue Turquoise variant
A home-made droplet biological filter that stands above a 450-liter aquarium
Basement farm 1987
