a few discus questions

[señor_pescados_felices]

Ive been reading up on discus and I understand that a steady PH is more important than trying to keep a low PH and having it possibly fluctuate.

what I was wondering is,since the fish are sensitive to PH changes,especially sudden ones:

-what do you do when you buy a fish and the PH of the water in the bag is different than the ph in your tank?standard acclimation procedures?

-what do you do when the PH of the water that comes out of your tap isnt exactly the same as the PH of the water that is in your tank,thus the water changes (and frequent ones at that) are causing constant fluctuations in PH?

I also am wondering how many discus keepers here are succesful at keeping beautiful discus with a minimal mortality rate while not obsessing over PH,KH, having to use RO water,etc....(i.e. just making sure they have clean water,regular water changes,varied diet,and as steady a PH level as you can obtain)

 

[kido]

i think with any fish, its best to let them get used to the PH of your tap water.. the fish would just have a hard time adjusting to the continuous changes in PH after every water change if you try and use chemicals or other products to alter your thank PH.. just acclimate them slowly if the PH range is too big from where you got em..

the important thing is to do daily water changes in my opinion

 

[koliveira]

Just age your water and you are set. A lower pH is not crucial unless you are breeding. Minor pH changes are normal in the wild with heavy rains. The pH and temperature change can induce spawning. Below is some info from my website if you have any further questions pm me or post again. I will check up on this thread

Discus Care
You may have heard that discus are hard to kept or that they are to demanding. This is not the case! Discus are very easy to care for if you can meet a few simple needs! First of all, We cannot stress enough temperature. Discus that are breed in captivity like a higher temperature than there wild counterparts. Breeders often keep there tanks 84-90 degrees, This helps ward off disease. In doing this generation after generation, the discus have grown accustomed to higher temperatures. Second, specific pH is not crucial, but the stability of the pH is imperitive for the survival of your fish. We keep our discus at 7.5 but we have seen many people keep them in tap water with a pH as high as 8.2! Those discus were acclimated slowly over a few hours, but days would be better but unrealistic for most.) We have kept discus at tap water pH at LFS (local fish store) and have no trouble. We use the drip method of acclimation and have had great success. The reason we stress stability of pH is that we have seen many people try and keep discus at 6-6.5 this is hard to do, and often ends in failure. This has really discouraged alot of people from keeping discus. Also, many LFS carry very low quality discus as a result of going though cheap wholesalers. The norm is to typically import cheap B grade discus to generate the highest profit margin for the store. This lack of quality fish availability can also be very discouraging. Discus do better when they are kept in even numbers, also they do not ever do well alone. they are social animals (just like people) and need to interact with other members of their species in order to thrive. Adult discus cannot be kept with juveniles. The adults secrete a hormone that will stunt the young one's growth. Now we have come to the water changes. Discus demand 40-50% water change weekly. Discus do not tolerate nitrate well and levels MUST be kept low. If you test for nitrates regularly, you can do water changes whenever the nitrate gets to about 20ppm (parts per million.). Do not forget to heat the water before you make your water change. Excessive, rapid temperature changes can be stressful.

 

[señor_pescados_felices]

thank you guys for the thorough and speedy replies.that pretty much answers my questions.so you pretty much treat them as you would any other sensitive fish.

 

[señor_pescados_felices]

I have a few more questions that I am getting mixed oppinions on and would like to clear up.

how many discuss can go in a 55?

what would be the recommended filtration for said tank? (my LFS deals in AC,marineland,and fluvals......a sump seems pretty much out of the question)

when it comes time to introduce the discus to the new tank can I just stuff the new filter with old media and put them in as you can with other fish,or is this not "good enough" for discus?

 

[señor_pescados_felices]

anybody?those are my last 3 discus questions for now I promise!LOL

 

[JuanTamad]

I have a few more questions that I am getting mixed oppinions on and would like to clear up.

how many discuss can go in a 55?

what would be the recommended filtration for said tank? (my LFS deals in AC,marineland,and fluvals......a sump seems pretty much out of the question)

when it comes time to introduce the discus to the new tank can I just stuff the new filter with old media and put them in as you can with other fish,or is this not "good enough" for discus?

Here's a shot of one of my 55s with wild caught Discus. This one has 6 big Discus, 5 Altums, 1 locally bred White Angel, and 50+ Cardinals filtered by AC 300/70.

Have another 55 wild 6 wild Heckels, 6 Dumerelli/Leopoldi, 1 13 inch Colombian Silver Arowana filtered by AC 300/70.

I change 10 gallons of the water in each 55 twice a week. When I start a new tank, I just soak the new media of the new filter in water where I squeeze the foam filter of an established AC.

 

[Bderick67]

Here's a shot of one of my 55s with wild caught Discus. This one has 6 big Discus, 5 Altums, 1 locally bred White Angel, and 50+ Cardinals filtered by AC 300/70.

Have another 55 wild 6 wild Heckels, 6 Dumerelli/Leopoldi, 1 13 inch Colombian Silver Arowana filtered by AC 300/70.

I change 10 gallons of the water in each 55 twice a week. When I start a new tank, I just soak the new media of the new filter in water where I squeeze the foam filter of an established AC.

Great pic of beautiful fish, I would love to see in person, the flash always washes out some color and macks the eyes look bad.

This is a good example of where rules or guidelines are disproved. Most would say that this tank is over stocked, doesn't have enough water changed and you really can't keep discus and angels together. But looks from the picture that all the fish are healthy.

Your best bet is start with low stocked, over filtered setup. once you establish the setup you can always add more fish or if you have to take away some of them.

With discus water changes are important, but also IMO water test are as important, test weekly so you know what is going on with your water parameters, this way when problems arise they are easier to identify.

Keep your Ph consistant and I would try to keep in 6.6 - 6.8 range very easy to do with buffers. Yes you can keep and breed in higher Ph but why this is not their natural habitat. My first batch of 4 royal blues I raised in 7.6 ph there eyes turned from red to black, according to Jack Wattly this was the cause and can not be reversed.

Keep the temp at 84 degrees, again you can keep them at lower temp but why would you.

Feed your Discus high quality foods also most discus are slow eating mid to bottom level feeders. So if you put with eager eaters such as angelfish they will have to adapt or they may just Get stressed and go into a hunger strick. Nothing worse than seeing a discus go hide at feeding time.

If possible I would start with 7-8 juvinille discus at 2-3" inches and stay with this as they grow may lose one to disease. Make the discus the main reason for the set up and you may and from there.

There is so much more info, but this post is already to long so I'll stop.

 

[señor_pescados_felices]

thanks guys,I guess I could have specified on the tank a little more.
It will be a bare bottom tank with a black background and only the discus,no tankmates.possibly one peice of driftwood I really like becouse it looks like roots.

as it seems alot of people recommend at least one of the filters be an emperor 400 I was going to buy a new one and switch the biowheels on it for the old biowheels off my african tank.

I was planning on getting 6 but maybe I will get 7 like you said.

when the time comes Im pretty sure I know where Ill get them.

is there a garunteed mortality rate for discus?what I mean is am I definately going to lose one or two along the way no matter what?

 

[JuanTamad]

I have not lost a single Discus since I started keeping them about 4 years ago. All of them wild caught and all conditioned to adapt to our tap water. Have not used a single drop of R/O water. But then again I don't breed them. Just like seeing them with my other fish.