Discus Water Conditions

[ryansmith83]

Not only do some of those discus already look a little behind in growth, but at least half of them are not blue scorpions. Blue scorpions are a cross between a blue diamond and a snakeskin, so they should have the characteristic fine-lined snakeskin pattern and 14+ vertical bars. Several of the fish in those pictures have thick striation and the normal 9 bars, so they look like cobalts or turquoise.

 

[phreeflow]

Thank you so much! Your knowledge and experience is much appreciated. Just to clarify, what’s the reason behind not adding 2 inch discus to a planted tank? Is it the maintenance or the hard water? Also although I do have hard water, I can definitely find ways to lower the gh and change the ph. Would that be recommended or should I just stick with larger discus. The reason why I rather not buy the large specimen is because I like seeing fish grow to adults and the price really sky rockets lol. I don’t think I can afford 100+ a fish at my current social economic status (college student). I’ll definitely provide plenty of water changes. Do you think a strict regimen of a water change every week and lowering the stock (say 3 discus and 2 angels in a 75) would keep these fish healthy and happy? Sorry if I’m being a bit headstrong. It’s just larger fish are not in my budget range lol.

Discus, like most fish, can adapt to a broad parameter of water conditions. What you need is clean stable water. It’s best you don’t mess around with the water parameters, especially since you’ll need to be doing large and frequent water changes if you plan to keep discus and not stunt them.

A breeding pair should be kept in soft acidic water to give you a higher chance of success with the eggs.

That being said, you’ve been given good advice. If you want to keep discus in a planted tank, you would be better off buying adults. It’s not clean enough in a planted tank to grow out discus without stunting them. Besides, if you end up doing huge water changes to do right by your baby discus, you’ll be stripping the water of nutrients that are beneficial for plants.

To grow out dinner plate sized discus, you need to be putting them in a bare tank with very clean water, lots of water changes, and good quality food. By lots of water changes, I mean that even doing large daily water changes wouldn’t be out of the question.

This doesn’t mean you can’t keep juvenile discus alive and growing in a planted tank, it just means the likelihood of them getting stunted and you being disappointed is very high. They’ll get bigger but won’t ever reach plate size. This is why you should buy adults to start with and put them in your planted show tank. Growing out discus to full size is not easy

 

[Rayfishowner]

Discus, like most fish, can adapt to a broad parameter of water conditions. What you need is clean stable water. It’s best you don’t mess around with the water parameters, especially since you’ll need to be doing large and frequent water changes if you plan to keep discus and not stunt them.

A breeding pair should be kept in soft acidic water to give you a higher chance of success with the eggs.

That being said, you’ve been given good advice. If you want to keep discus in a planted tank, you would be better off buying adults. It’s not clean enough in a planted tank to grow out discus without stunting them. Besides, if you end up doing huge water changes to do right by your baby discus, you’ll be stripping the water of nutrients that are beneficial for plants.

To grow out dinner plate sized discus, you need to be putting them in a bare tank with very clean water, lots of water changes, and good quality food. By lots of water changes, I mean that even doing large daily water changes wouldn’t be out of the question.

This doesn’t mean you can’t keep juvenile discus alive and growing in a planted tank, it just means the likelihood of them getting stunted and you being disappointed is very high. They’ll get bigger but won’t ever reach plate size. This is why you should buy adults to start with and put them in your planted show tank. Growing out discus to full size is not easy

Okay that clears it up a lot. Since I wasn’t sure why a planted tank would not be good for juveniles. Now I do have a 30 gallon quarantine tank set up (and I know everyone is saying against it but I need to just press once more) if I keep the juveniles in bare bottom weekly water changes for a year will they grow fast enough to be added to my planted tank? For me, I just want to experience discus for the first time as these are not any high quality strains or anything crazy. Idk if that makes me sound selfish or crazy, but I wouldn’t mind the trial and error just so I can have some experience when keeping more expensive and high quality discus in the future. Thanks again I’ll keep y’all posted on what I do. Still 50/50 on the decision!

 

[Rayfishowner]

Not only do some of those discus already look a little behind in growth, but at least half of them are not blue scorpions. Blue scorpions are a cross between a blue diamond and a snakeskin, so they should have the characteristic fine-lined snakeskin pattern and 14+ vertical bars. Several of the fish in those pictures have thick striation and the normal 9 bars, so they look like cobalts or turquoise.

yep. I was wondering that as well. Thanks!

 

[phreeflow]

Okay that clears it up a lot. Since I wasn’t sure why a planted tank would not be good for juveniles. Now I do have a 30 gallon quarantine tank set up (and I know everyone is saying against it but I need to just press once more) if I keep the juveniles in bare bottom weekly water changes for a year will they grow fast enough to be added to my planted tank? For me, I just want to experience discus for the first time as these are not any high quality strains or anything crazy. Idk if that makes me sound selfish or crazy, but I wouldn’t mind the trial and error just so I can have some experience when keeping more expensive and high quality discus in the future. Thanks again I’ll keep y’all posted on what I do. Still 50/50 on the decision!

You can always try, no harm in that. You just won’t see the kind of growth rate you’ve experienced with your angels and they are unlikely to get to full size, not even with weekly water changes. It sounds crazy but a lot of discus keepers do water changes 3 times a week or even daily when growing out juveniles. In a year, in great conditions, you can get a discus to 6”...otherwise, you might end up with some 4” ones with big eyes lol. Also, like mentioned. there’s only a few scorpions in that group and the rest are cobalts. Try finding a local breeder and get some good stock to start with

 

[Rayfishowner]

Hey guys, just want to update y'all on the situation. I've listened to all your opinions and have decided that I want to keep discus, but will grow juveniles out in a 30 gallon with water changes 2-3 times a week and frequent feedings, instead of directly adding them to my planted tank. My only question is whether the "blue scorpion/turquoise/cobalt" discus that I have pictured are still salvageable or already too stunted. I could go with other options but if frequent water changes, massive feedings, and overall great water quality can still get them to be "decently healthy" discus I am considering picking them up. I know that "decently healthy" is very vague but I'm not sure how else to describe it. I'm not looking for show quality discus or anything special, just something that can grow to average size and live a healthy life before I experience with more expensive and quality strains in the future.

Additionally, out of the group of 9 or so which should I choose. Im thinking of getting all the larger ones since if they are from a similar batch, it should mean they are fairing the best. I did a lot of research this weekend and found that the eye to body ratio is not ideal, but I'm curious if this is the case for more juvenile fish and whether they can outgrow this or this is a case of bad stunting.

Finally, what would be the reason for having some blue scorpion and a few the other? Does that mean they are from 2 different parents or the same parents yielded two strains. Again, first time even considering keeping discus so sorry in advance if I'm asking lots of questions!

Here is the link for a video fo the discus that the seller sent me.

Here are some more photos:

 

[phreeflow]

If you’re going to pick out of there, just grab the most active ones that have a nice full belly. Avoid the thin ones