My Discus Journey

[stalefish83]

Thanks xraycer. I've got my motivation back to do more than be a bum, and I've been enjoying my time with my fish again, so I think it'll be great therapy. Much better therapy than booze!

 

[FMA4ME]

So crazy, my issue was with my gf of 12 years. Although we haven't technically separated, not knowing how it's going to pan out isn't much better.

 

[Benno87]

Sucks to hear sorry dude it never much fun, awesome tank mate I'd be chuckin another 4 or 5 discus into that massive tank to really mate it look Killa. What sort of filtration do you run ? Sorry if you've already stated lol

 

[Benno87]

Also no Russian roulette in doin 90% water changes for discus, more the better, as long as water is well primed and ph n temp the same and you got good stock of filter bacteria change away. A lot of finatic keepers and breeders do 90% per day and that's all they swear by.

 

[stalefish83]

FMA, I'm really sorry to hear about what you are going through. I don't envy where you're at, being in the middle of it and not knowing was the worst part. That's pure hell! With that said, I can tell you it does get better, even though it’s still hard. It’s more subtle, if that makes sense. It comes and goes, and it’s easier to see how it’s probably for the best in the long run. Do you guys have any kids together? My wife and I have an 8 year old son. Telling him was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but kids are resilient and he’s doing really well. If you do, just make sure your kids always know they are number one, they are always loved no matter what and will always be taken care of.


About the tank, I’ve got two canister filters, an Rena xp3 and an Aquatop cf300. I’m doing better about water changes now, although I admit they are not every day like they should be, but I’m getting there. It’s at least every other day. I’m not doing quite 90%, I’m at about 75%. I have checked the pH difference from the tap and aged, and the difference was .2 so I think that’s OK… and I agree, I want to get at least 3 more discus since it’s all open now. But my funds are a bit limited after losing a good chunk of my income when my wife left, but I really want to drop another hundred on 3 more from Wet Spot. So that’ll probably happen within the next month or so.

 

[FMA4ME]

How ya been doing Sf?? How are your fish?

 

[stalefish83]

FMA, thanks for checking in, life is still kinda crazy, but things are going well all considered. How's everything been with you?

Well, it's been a while since I've been on here, and I thought I'd give a quick update. The Discus tank has been up and running for about a year now, so seems like a good time. After a year my discus have grown from about 1.5 inches to 4 and 5 inches. All but one, he's the runt. I added a Geophagus on impulse... probably shouldn't have, but he's been doing great for about 6 months and everyone is getting along fine. This tank has 6 discus, one angel, one geophagus, and one bichir.

Here's a quick video. Skip ahead to about minute 3 once you're tired of looking at the two discus guarding their eggs

The plants are all different varieties of anubias tied to bogwood. Also, I just picked up a 60" x 18" acrylic tank that I'll be putting African cichlids in. I'll try to post some stuff about that as the project progresses.

Thanks all!

 

[FMA4ME]

Great seeing you back sf! Tank looks great! Like the geo!

 

[mrrobxc]

To all the good folks at MFK,


The below was written about 2 months ago, at which point a major life-changing occurrence hit and derailed… pretty much everything. I’ll get to that; but first:


This is going to be my attempt to document my new journey of keeping discus. It may be long, it may be boring, it will undoubtedly be fraught with things I’ve done/will do wrong… But hopefully it will also help me and others learn and grow in this crazy hobby of keeping discus.


To give you some background (this will redundantly cover things I’ve stated in previous threads, so feel free to skim/skip/ignore whatever you want… you surely don’t need my approval to do so, but should you be inherently in need of other’s approval, it is so given).


I’ve read the comparison to playing “Russian Roulette” a number of times since I’ve started keeping discus, and will admit to having played said game a good few times already, and am still too new to know whether the hammer will strike powder, so time will tell on that one.


I re-purposed what was a SA/CA cichlid set-up, which had been running for about a year with no problems, to this discus set-up. Got rid of all my previous fish (Firemouth, Blue Acara, Honduran Red Point and 6 Rainbow cichlids) and got all new fish:


Senegul Bichir from Petsmart 5/16/15

Angelfish from Nautilus (Springfield, OR) 5/21/15

First 3 Discus from Wetspot (Portland, OR) 5/24/15

Next 3 Discus from Wetspot (Portland, OR) 6/7/15 (all Stendeker Discus according to the guy netting the fish)


I wanted to create a bit of an aquatic haven with a pond feel, experimenting with some different types of plants, hoping to create something a little unique. (Will post pics later)


I didn’t clean the filters or anything in the tank, other than get new substrate (PFS) and changed 100% of the water before introducing the new fish. My first attempt to shoot myself (or my fish) in the head.


My second round of Russian Roulette was my week attempt at a quarantine. By which I mean, I didn’t do one. I let the first couple weeks, without adding discus, serve as a “QT,” thinking I’d see any issues in the main tank if there were any before I added new fish. My tank has always been healthy, and never had issues with sick fish in this particular tank, and I thought I was getting away without an official “quarantine” by observing the Angel and Bichir for a couple weeks before introducing Discus. In all my years of keeping fish, I’ve never quarantined any new fish and never seemed to have any problems, so I was playing the odds.


Upon joining a certain discus community, and getting advise from all the experienced folks who call that site home, I freaked out thinking I was going to kill my fish with diseases that I never knew were there. I found myself studying every drop of fish poo, analyzing every “irregular” movement, and slightly clamped fin, while diagnosing my fish with everything from hex, to worms to swim bladder problems.


I decided it was time to do a deep clean, before trying to “treat” any perceived illness. I went from three canister filters to only two, being sure to split the bio media from the third between the two I was keeping. I gave the filters a good clean, and got new intakes for them which would reach lower in the tank so I could do larger water changes without disrupting the flow from the intakes, and gave them pre-filter sponges. I pulled all the rocks, plants and bogwood and gave them all a good scrub and poured boiling water over the rocks and wood.


So far, I will say that I believe that my fish are doing great, despite all of my freaking out. They are all active, colorful, eat like maniacs, and are growing. I am hopeful that I will be able to circumvent common wisdom and simultaneously grow juvie discus while keeping a show tank complete with sand, live plants, large rocks and bogwood. It’s too early to tell if I’ll have long-term success, but it seems like all was going well.


This is where life got in the way.


After 10 years of marriage, my wife and I separated, and I sunk into a bit of a depression that left me not wanting to do anything that didn’t involve sitting on the couch with a whiskey or a beer; making as much noise as possible on the drum set in my garage; or just not being home in general. I let the tank go about a month and a half without a single water change, and I finally decided on Thursday that enough was enough. I’m an adult and I have responsibilities, one of which is the well-being of these wonderful creatures that I had neglected.


I pulled all of the bogwood and plants out of the tank, moved the plants to my goldfish tank (which now looks much better with the extra color), leaving only the sand and a few large river rocks. I’m still not ready to go bare bottom. Having a Bichir, I want to leave some stuff for him to cruise around. Nothing is stacked and I’m able to maneuver my siphon around everything so it’ much easier to suck up all the debris.


I did lose one discus through all of that, but it was the fish that was already the runt. He wasn’t really eating, even when I was keeping up on the water changes, and would spend most of this time hiding, because he’d get chased if he went anywhere in eye-shot of any other discus. It had lost an eye and I decided to euthanize it via the “cold chamber” (freezer).


I will post pics to show the progression for those interested, and update with newer pics tonight. Kudos to you and many thanks if you made through all this.

Keep your head up and best of luck with your next attempt!

 

[stalefish83]

Got a picture with everyone present!