Discus for my dad

[Rachel.Cody]

First I want to start off by saying this is my first try with discus, I know they're not the most high quality but I wanted to test the waters of Discus before I make a full tank of what my dad told me were some of the prettiest fish he has seen. My father passed away very unexpected Monday night. He was my best friend and had a long life ahead of him that he will now not get to live. Only being 20 he taught me everything I know in life, he taught me to hunt, fish, build things, work on vehicles and basically everything else I know. He turned 50 in January and he was fascinated with the fish i kept. I don't live at home so he never got to see them in person but i always showed him pictures. We were on google and we stumbled across a picture of what i think was a red turquoise discus. He said " Wow, that fish is really pretty," and i began to explain to him that i've heard discus are a pain to keep. So anyways I was thinking I would make a tank for him of these truly beautiful fish. So i decided to go to my lfs today just to take my mind off of things and I came across some adult (Looked to be a low quality red turquoise with the nice shiny blues and reds but mostly orange body). Then I looked to the tank beside it and saw some that were probably about 4". I asked what they cost and the lfs owner (I used to work there) told me $35 and i was bummed because I only had $75 store credit and i wanted a trio. Then he pointed me to some he was acclimating and said he could sell them to me for $20, they are about 2-3". So I got a trio of them. I came home and moved my payara out of his 30g bare bottom quarantine and started acclimating them. I did it very slow because i forgot to ask if they were in RO or tap. I put them in the tank after about 35 min with a nice piece of driftwood. I was worried at first because they were breathing very heavy and they looked very stressed. After about an hour i came back to check on them and they were all 3 out swimming around and looked happy. Then i tried feeding them some brine and one of them surprisingly ate. Then before lights out while i was feeding the others i tried feeding them bloodworms and all three of them ate, I was shocked and very happy. Im basically looking for tips on keeping them healthy and growing them to full potential. I never thought I would have a discus tank but I wanted to for my dad. If all goes well I will add some more once they are bigger and empty one of my 75g for them. Any help is appreciated. I am keeping them at about 84* and plan on feeding them about 4x a day along with 50% wc daily.

 

[Rachel.Cody]

Forgot to mention for filtration im running a cycled marineland c160 full of ceramic rings and pond matrix. I maybe switch it out for my marineland c220.

 

[stalefish83]

Hi Rachel,

I'm new to the forum, and also new to discus, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your loss. I lost my dad unexpectedly when I was 14, and now 17 years later I still miss him. But there's always so much joy in his memory, as I'm sure there will always be for your dad too!

I recently set-up a new tank with discus and angels, and only very recently discovered that my dad had angelfish when he was younger. I had not known that my dad was into keeping fish before I had started, and knowing that he had angelfish makes mine all the more special. We are so much like our parents, and our parents are such a huge part of who we are. As cheesy and it sounds, your dad will always be with you!

Since I'm also super new to discus I have nothing to offer other than what I've researched. As far as growing them, I've read that when their younger they need more protein, but they also have trouble digesting it. So I've been feeding mine frozen beef heart, frozen krill and frozen brine shrimp. Then I feed them some frozen daphnia to help with the digestion and another feeding of omega one super veggie flakes.

I've only had them 4 days though, so results are still to come.

 

[FMA4ME]

Wow, my condolences to you and your family. This has all just been so recent I really feel bad for you. I wish you strength.
I'm just as new as you except maybe a few months, but from what I've found so far is these fish, specifically juveniles require a lot of time. This may or may not be what you're looking for now. You'll spend more time than ever changing water and cleaning your filter, so be ready for that. I'd start there, cleaning out your canister, rinsing the bio, maybe even replacing the sponges if they're really old. Also put a sponge prefilter on the canister intake, you don't want ANY food sitting in the filter. Yes food will collect on it, but between feedings your fish will pick it clean, if not you may be overfeeding. You clean your prefilter under a faucet at every water change, poop generally gets siphoned out.
Another thing that I'm doing is keeping all of my Discus tank equipment completely separate from my other tanks. Separate nets,
buckets, siphon hoses, everything to prevent cross contamination, that will happen quickly during all those water changes. Speaking of water changes, as many and as large as possible. I'm trying to stick to 95% water changes every other day, it's hard. During the water changes you wipe down all the surfaces of the tank also.
When I feed, I try to feed a variety of foods, high in protein. I also think about where I am in my wc schedule. If I just did a wc, I won't feed them beefheart, because beefheart is hard on water quality, so I'll feed beefheart right before a wc.

 

[Rachel.Cody]

Thank you for you kindness. You have a great point with the prefilter and cleaning the canister more. Never thought of that. I also have a large sponge filter that i put in yesterday. The cross contamination is also a great point too. I do the same, beefheart right before wc. So far im doing 4 feedings a day and 50% wc daily. Feeding brine shrimp, cobalt cichlid flakes (until i get their discus flakes) bloodworms and beefheart. Theyre actually doing great. Thanks for the input though!

 

[xraycer]

Sorry for your loss!

I almost had a chance in April to try discus again, but things completely fell through on the day I was headed out to buy them.

 

[Wailua Boy]

I'm very sorry for your loss.....My condolences to you and yours.

 

[Rachel.Cody]

Thank you guys. So far im really liking them.

 

[FMA4ME]

Cool man, I just got my second group of Discus on Thursday, also a young trio. Generally it's recommend to start with a group of around 6 or more to spread out aggression. So far so good for us both.

 

[fattubwhale]

So sorry to hear of your loss, My condolences to you and your family!

Keeping discus is not as hard as people make it seem or rather what you read on the web and on forums! 20yrs ago it was hard!!! Now a days discus are so hardy they adapt to many different water parameters. (unless your working with wilds) As long as they are properly acclimated, quarantined, provided with a high protein/variety diet, large water changes and can keep the water clean and pristine you shouldn't have any problems
What i would do is invest in a few more juvies so you have at least 5-6 they would do much better and will be happier in a group that size.
With young juvies you should offer them a hight protein diet like beef heart a few times a day a perform at minimum of 80-100% water change daily with full tank wipe downs till they reach 4-5". If your going to run a canister filter i would use a pre filter sponge on the intake like FMH advised.