Finally trying discus. Maybe.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Y

Younglin

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 17, 2010
1,936
2
0
34-24-36
I have loved discus for a long time but never had an empty tank for them. Sadly my beloved flowerhorn has dropsy and will most likely die despite my efforts. So I decided to try discus. I was thinking 4 discus and 3 angelfish with a few tetras.

My questions; what species of tetras should I go with? I was thinking serpae tetras and cardinals. Also, does anyone know of a good pellet or flake food for discus? I use hikari for my cichlids but I'm thinking of switching to NLS.

Any general tips/advice is greatly appreciated. I will be getting juvenile discus and angelfish FYI.
 
i don't know much myself as i just started with discus also, but i found that forum.simplydiscus.com has some really good information
 
Id go with all discus but thats just my opinion and its usually much easier to just get adults. Juvies can be a huge pain in the butt. Just keep the water clean and mine will eat all day. I have serpae, lemon and rummy nose tetras with mine including odessa barbs, clown loaches and skunk botias. My discus will kill just about anything though if it strays away from the pack. Besides my cls that is. I do wc's once to twice a weak of about 50%. Most discus keepers stay away from black backgrounds also unless you want some peppered discus and juvies are usually raised in a bare tank since they enjoy cleaner water and frozen foods which will help them grow faster.
 
If you want to be successful with discus you have to keep up with your water changes (large water changes and often). Juvenile discus can be tough to keep. It is a lot easier to go with adults. Hikari and NLS are good foods. Lots of good flake food out there for discus. Live foods (blackworms) can also be fed. Avoid tubifex worms.
 
since its your first time trying discus i would;

start with atleast 5 discus(depending on the tank size (minimum of 55g)

buy discus at 4"+

use a bare bottom tank

keep it as a discus only tank until you have more experience and understand their requirments better then you can add tank mates
 
I dont even bother with live food cause they're a pain in the butt. But stay away from tubifex cause they will just cause problems. Surely get atleast 4'' + fish. Ive had a few juvies and they aren't easy at all. Wilds are awesome but aren't as resilient as most domestics. Just go for it man youll do fine if you stick to the basics
 
I decided to go with 6 discus instead of discus and angelfish. Still getting juvies though. Well, I want them to be somewhere in the 2" range. Still not 100% sure about getting them. My flowerhorn has held on for a lot longer than I thought he would but he is still in really rough shape. Hopefully he makes it but if he doesn't I'll go ahead and get the discus.
 
if you insist on juvies then you HAVE to go with a bare bottom tank.
 
If you're going with Juvies, go with a bare bottom tank. Water changes, water changes, water changes, oh and did I mention water changes? High quality PELLET(Flakes are not as nutrient dense as pellets). I suggest getting the NLS Growth Formula. The Discus formula isn't bad either. Avoid live/frozen foods. I'm sure you know how genetically weak FH's are, and it's no different with Discus. You're going to need Metrodinazole and PraziPro to name a few.
 
I'm not going bare bottom. I hate the way it looks. I'm going to use the NLS discus food. The bamboo and water changes will keep the tank more than clean enough.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom