Future discus owner with some questions.

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skillzdatkillz

skillzdatkillz

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Mar 25, 2006
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So I am going to set up a not-so monster 55g disucs tank. I was thinkin 5-6 disucs and I was planning on planting the tank and was wondering how discus do in planted setups. I was going to run a continous diy co2 setup and use gregwatson ferts, would these hurt discus in anyway? Im just trying to get as much info as possible before i jump into the world that is discus keeping. Also what do discus like to eat?
 
You could start with 6 juvenile discus but once they reach adult size they may be to crowded. They are and act like cichlids I have 8 4-5 inch in a 85 gallon, two have paired off and they own half the tank the other 6 stay in the opposite half.

Mine is a planted tank I use a diy CO2 and have a wet/dry trickle filter. The plants do Ok but with the wet/dry and all the water changes they don't get all the CO2 the could.

Discus need a high quality diet, I feed mine a combo of Frozen foods (beef heart, blood worms, brine shrimp, Jack Wattley discus formula) and freeze dried tubifex worms and tetra min flakes and tetra color flakes.

If you do a Discus tank they need to be the primary concern regarding, temp, water conditions etc.

Disucs are great fish that do require a little extra work so research alot.
 
They do very well in planted tanks but they grow much faster and obtain larger sizes in a bare tank. Below is some info from my web site.

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. Rapid temperature changes can be stressful!

Best Regards,
Kory
 
If you really want Discus you could try buying some for cheap from this site below.

http://www.somethingsphishy.com/index.php?cPath=21&ad=AquariumFishDiscus

From my experience they are not difficult fish like many have claim that they are. As long as you keep 20%-30% water changes every week they will be fine. I've kept discus with PH that was to high and they were doing perfectly fine at PH 7.0 to 8.5 also. They say to keep PH low around 6.0 because natural instincts Discus knows that they cant lay eggs at higher ph and will not breed. For breeding you need PH at 6.0 to 6.5 and temp above 90F to 92F in order for the eggs to hatch and the frys to survive. It's best to keep discus's temp above 86F to 88F this helps prevents ich from reproducing and Ich and some other dieases can't surive above this temp. Some people keep thier temp above 90F all the time, but the problem with this is that it increases their metabiliom and makes them grow faster, and will need air stones at this higher temp because of lack of oxygen.
 
Hi there... There are many different opinions on keeping healthy discus.. Before undertaking your project I suggest you do lots of research.. While there is some useful info on this site, I highly recommend you checkout the site simplydiscus. It is dedicated to discus and has many very experienced discus keepers/breeders offering valuable info. Keeping discus has a learning curve and while discus are not the delicate fish they once were thought to be, requires a commitment to their special needs. Experience in keeping discus is measured in years not months and the folks on that site have many years of experience. You will also find plenty of info on local breeders etc.
Best of luck in your project. They are wonderful fish to keep.. Sue:D
 
Pellegrino80;3090090; said:
If you really want Discus you could try buying some for cheap from this site below.
Click to expand...

Discus and cheap should never be used in the same sentence.

Pellegrino80;3090090; said:
"As long as you keep 20%-30% water changes every week they will be fine."
Click to expand...
Fine and thriving are worlds apart. And if one is feeding their discus like they should 20%-30% a week IMO is a little sub-par. IMO why bother going thru the trouble if that's all you're gonna do.

Most people who do water changes like that are using buckets. . .screw buckets!
Pellegrino80;3090090; said:
"They say to keep PH low around 6.0 because natural instincts Discus knows that they cant lay eggs at higher ph and will not breed. For breeding you need PH at 6.0 to 6.5 and temp above 90F to 92F in order for the eggs to hatch and the frys to survive."
Click to expand...

Raising fry is one thing. . .

But discus "breed" and lay eggs at higher phs all the time.
Bottom line is if your fish never lay eggs. . . they're either

A: unhappy or B: all dudes lol.

A happy group of discus in optimal condtion with good water quality lay eggs quite often sometimes. Some pairs/groups more than others from my exp. but they lay eggs none the less.
Pellegrino80;3090090; said:
"It's best to keep discus's temp above 86F to 88F this helps prevents ich from reproducing and Ich and some other dieases can't surive above this temp. Some people keep thier temp above 90F all the time, but the problem with this is that it increases their metabiliom and makes them grow faster, and will need air stones at this higher temp because of lack of oxygen."
Click to expand...

Yes discus like it hot. Yes it's good for cooties.
We keep ours 82-86 leaning towards the higher end.
90s is a bit extreme and uneeded IMO.

Jacking up the fishe's "metabiliom" is good. (That's really where alot of the cichlid disease resistance at higher temps is derived from IMO.) And at 86 trust me it's pretty jacked up lol. But how is making them grow faster a problem? It shouldn't be if someone has adequate tank space and maint. schedule. And I would hope so if they've done proper research and preparation before getting into discus.

A discus is last fish that should put in a "grow out". With as little as discus dig change period, if at all possible it's best to make their first home with you their permanent home. Besides all that you should start with decent sized fish and tank to begin with. IMO 4''+ and get a big honking tank :naughty:

If someone cringes at the price tag of big fat juicy discus and adequate tanks then IMO you may need to reconsider the discus hobby cuz it isn't a cheap one lol.

As far as the airstones being needed when the tank is up in the 90's...
Not that I would keep them that hot but since you brought it up, discus have a relatively low oxygen demands. They were kind of designed that way being where they're from and all. It's not the most turbid of waters.

I had one group in the field that after a hurricane went without power for almost 3 weeks. 175bow. No equip running. No AC. The fish were FINE. Admittedly a little pissed off and worse for wear. . . but fine.
What's extra crazy is the fish were even being fed the whole time by the eheim autofeeder.

Yeah I know. . .what the hell???? :screwy:
 
koliveira;611794; said:
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. Rapid temperature changes can be stressful!

Best Regards,
Kory
Click to expand...

A bit of advice for anyone who reads this. Do not drip fish that have been shipped. Long story short it can cause ph burn. From the ammonia that can accumulate during transit being turned into ammonium. Believe it or not EDUCATED importers just float bags for temp. adjustment and then open the bag and pick up the fish by hand and place them in the holding system. Not recommending anyone do this at home though. I acclimate discus in the field almost weekly sometimes.

I personally do kind of a halfass quick drip with 1/2'' hose with my thumb over it over 20min. or so to adjust for temp since I refuse to but them in bags. Discus HATE bags :grinno:. Granted these are typically fish going from local water to local water so there's not a lot of water chemistry difference on my end but I guess what I'm getting at is overall at is they're not that difficult to acclimate IMO.

IMO PAINFULLY slow discus acclimation seems to be another myth that will soon join all the other discus myths that have discouraged so many hobbyists and damned many others with misinformation.
 
skillzdatkillz;611546; said:
I was planning on planting the tank and was wondering how discus do in planted setups.
Click to expand...

Not that it doesn't happen. But OVERALL discus do much better in a unplanted tank. Theres a huge laundry list of reasons why but I'm to tired go into lol.

Besides if you want the TRUE discus biotope get some driftwood and ADA sand. Tada! Everyone wants discus to come from this lush green aquatic plant covered world. As nice as they look in it. . . it's not there place IMO.

It's kind of like you're putting discus in a plant tank and not putting plants in a discus tank if that makes any sense :grinno:
 
if you want some plants, buy a few fake plastic plants, then some ada sand and driftwood. the fish will be much happier. if you make a enviroment like there home.
also adding plants to the tank will take up space taking up volume meaning not as many discus can go in the tank.
 
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