First group of Discus.. some advice

[3dees]

where are you getting your info from, because your off to a bad start. first, you bought the fish from a lfs and it's rare to find quality discus there. they are usually culls. like you I don't want a bb tank, but I started with fish that were all over 4". if you must have the sand then use only sand. wait on the plants until the fish are at least 4" get the temps up. juvies need warmer water than adults. 84-86 is good. what are you feeding them? how large is your tank? do you have any other fish in the tank? how about wc's? your not giving us enough info. discus are not hard to keep. my tank has been running for close to two years eith 8 wilds and this is my first try with discus. that being said, juvies require a lot more work and is the number one reason that people fail. the advice your getting is correct. you need to do more research. go thru all the old threads here and sign on with simplydiscus.com.

 

[MFNRyan]

If you did alot of research then you should have known that 78deg is way too low for discus. They should be kept at a minimum of 82deg to keep down health issues. The reason for the massive water changes is...juvies of that size require alot more feedings in a day..between 5-8. More feedings means more leftover food in a planted tank especially..and more feedings means more poop. Good luck trying to keep up with that in a planted tank. Thus the bb for younger discus. This allows for pristine water quality. And yes people can raise discus in a planted tank...but they will never reach their maximum potential if they live at all. And that is with an extensive amount of work to keep a balance in the tank.

I see what your saying.. I feed twice a day right now.. they eat until their stomach are big.. Don't get much left over but do get a lot of poop. I have a electric vac I suck the poop out of the tank usually an hour after a feeding. My water params as of right now are as follows Temp: 81degree, Ammonia 0, NItrites, 0, Nitrates 5, pH 6.4. I do weekly water changes with my delicate piranha, on this tank I have been doing bi weekly water changes. I don't ever change more then 30% of the water at a time.. this way I don't have a spike or drop in tank temp, pH or new water. I treat with prime when I do my changes. This is my first shot at discus but I have been feeding hard to keep fish for some time now. I have never done an 80% water change on any tank with fish in.. that is to much new water at once. I never seen a writing on keeping discus in an 80+ degree tank. I did however read they are hard to feed new foods, need a good diet, very pristine water and as little change to any water param as possible. I have 6 tanks right now.. none of mine have params move much at all. I always have my tanks 4-9times the filtration needed for the tank. Depending on the fish in the tank and the bio load they produce. This tank had my ray in it before these guys and the bio load difference is night and day. I have a eheim 2180, cascade 1500, two mag 25o's running this tank right now. Have never had a param move on this tank minus the temp that I bumped up slowly to get up where you guys said it should be.

 

[MFNRyan]

where are you getting your info from, because your off to a bad start. first, you bought the fish from a lfs and it's rare to find quality discus there. they are usually culls. like you I don't want a bb tank, but I started with fish that were all over 4". if you must have the sand then use only sand. wait on the plants until the fish are at least 4" get the temps up. juvies need warmer water than adults. 84-86 is good. what are you feeding them? how large is your tank? do you have any other fish in the tank? how about wc's? your not giving us enough info. discus are not hard to keep. my tank has been running for close to two years eith 8 wilds and this is my first try with discus. that being said, juvies require a lot more work and is the number one reason that people fail. the advice your getting is correct. you need to do more research. go thru all the old threads here and sign on with simplydiscus.com.

Thanks for your help.. Just like anything it is easy to get mislead when doing research online. You get contradictive answers. Which is why I came here to people who keep the fish and are not trying to sale the fish for true answers.
I have a 100g tank, Discus are the only fish in the tank. I have 3 total right now and all of them came from the same LFS. Quality of the discus.. I couldn't tell you.. but I can however take a picture of them for you. IDK how you measure a discus.. do you go by length front to back.. or the total round of the disc? From top to bottom my fish are 2.5 - 3". I feed blackworms, and the discus frozen cubes. I feed the cubes because this is what the LFS was feeding and they take easily. I use blackworms becasue I read it was a good food source for them and I have a ton that have been cleaned and some treated with vitamin due to my rays. They are starting to eat these now. My LFS never gets big discus in so this is why I have the younger guys. I feed when I wake up and when I come home for lunch they still have the buldge belly.. so I don't feed them at lunch time, from what you guys say I probably should start doing this. That won't be a problem. Fed them just now.. I'll try to get pictures up and you can tell me what I have as far as quality. I know none are wild caught.. the LFS names were, Pigeon Blood marbled, Blue Diamond, and one was off named

 

[3dees]

well. your tank is large enough for up to 8. with less than 5 you will probably get aggression issues. measure from tip of nose to tip of tail. a close guess is good enough. I wait til they swim past the front and use my hand for reference. i'm guessing you fish are around 3". they should be fed more than twice a day. I feed my adults twice but some people do it once. blackworms are one of the best foods for discus. I don't use live, just freezedried. my fish go crazy over them. they also get Prime Reef flakes, frozen bloodworms and brindshrimp with spuralina and Sera's discus pallets. pics would be nice. try to get more discus before you get a bully and problems down the line.

 

[MFNRyan]

well. your tank is large enough for up to 8. with less than 5 you will probably get aggression issues. measure from tip of nose to tip of tail. a close guess is good enough. I wait til they swim past the front and use my hand for reference. i'm guessing you fish are around 3". they should be fed more than twice a day. I feed my adults twice but some people do it once. blackworms are one of the best foods for discus. I don't use live, just freezedried. my fish go crazy over them. they also get Prime Reef flakes, frozen bloodworms and brindshrimp with spuralina and Sera's discus pallets. pics would be nice. try to get more discus before you get a bully and problems down the line.

Thank you for the help. I called a store in pittsburgh they have a few on hand that are around 4-5 inch. I paid for 4 more. So I will have 7 total. Yes I think your right. 3 inches seems to be a good guess at front to back length. I will take pic's here in a bit and get them posted up

 

[MFNRyan]

Sorry about picture quality. Took these with my cell phone just real quick. In the middle of getting a new back ground and clearing some plants out of the tank

 

[Water]

30% bi weekly doesn't even come close to the amount of water changes needed for juvi Discus. The function of these large water changes is to remove most of the toxins left from their poop/uneaten food/food bits. The even low amounts of these toxins will stunt young Discus. This is why large water changes are done, to avoid that from happening. Before you start doing large daily water changes, I suggest you test the pH of the water in the tank and the pH of the water coming out of the tap. If they are the same, you're clear on doing large water changes. If they are a bit off, leave the water in a barrel with some air bubblers and allow it to sit for a day or two so the pH can correct itself. As for worrying about killing beneficial bacteria(bb) from the large water changes, that simply will not happen if the water is treated. I have done 100% water changes on my tanks before and I have NEVER experienced mini cycles. If your tank hasn't been up and running for a while, then adding Discus to the tank wasn't a good idea to begin with.

Also, the Discus pictures you posted up are of stunted Discus. Buying from LFS's are never a good idea unless you know what to look for. Try returning those Discus.. and read up on how to select healthy juvenile Discus.

 

[MFNRyan]

How can you tell they are stunted? it does not matter to me if they are really... I think they are beautiful fish and if they don't grow an inch I'm fine with that. They look cool to me and are just something to watch swim around. the only reason I do WC is to remove nitrates.. I try to keep mine below 10ppm. I never have ammonia or nitrites in my tank. I do a water change and let it settle a little.. then check my nitrates.. if they are around 5ppm I do more water. I am not a noob to fish keeping.. I would not throw any fish in a new or uncycled tank LOL. I don't store water so doing such a large WC would be ludicrous for my tank. With my filtration toxins are not bad enough to ever need to change that much water off lol

 

[arowanas lover]

stunt isnt just the fact that the fish wont grow its the fact that the fish can grow into a deform shape. discus are suppose to be round and a stunt one will be mre of a football shape so they will look REALLY odd. trust me this is your fish time with discus start with nice ones that you will enjoy!

when i first started i only had a 55 set up for discus and as time passes and as kenny gets more shipment in i find myself rehming alot of my fish to make room for new discus. i suggest you get in contact with kenny he will send you discus that will get you addicted

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forum...-s-Discus-(Kenny-Cheung)-Daly-City-California

 

[MFNRyan]

stunt isnt just the fact that the fish wont grow its the fact that the fish can grow into a deform shape. discus are suppose to be round and a stunt one will be mre of a football shape so they will look REALLY odd. trust me this is your fish time with discus start with nice ones that you will enjoy!

when i first started i only had a 55 set up for discus and as time passes and as kenny gets more shipment in i find myself rehming alot of my fish to make room for new discus. i suggest you get in contact with kenny he will send you discus that will get you addicted

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumdisplay.php?119-Kenny-s-Discus-(Kenny-Cheung)-Daly-City-California

thanks for explaining that... so these guys are going to football shape on me and won't be as nice as a good round discus? You think I should get rid of these guys?