I'm a newbie at Discus, please help!

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what are you water parameters and how frequently are you changing water and feeding? Also, what are you feeding? I have 5 juvenile discus in my 75g. I keep the temp at 86, feed 5-6x a day, and do every other day 50% water changes. I am a bit overzealous, but want them to grow quickly.
 
3 is a bad number for discus. The 2 will beat up on the one. It's best to have 4 or more, so the aggression gets spread around.
 
i think it's your water condition.. and i am just wandering how will you be able to clean the tank with all those plants and gravel in the tank?

i heard that if you got them as a fry or juvenile, it has to be a barebottom tank for ease of cleaning and for ease of maintaining the water quality.. and for them to grow faster.. that's what i have read mostly from any forums regarding discus..

by the way, i am not a discus expert.. i just read alot of article about them.. actually, i just got my 11 juvenile discus and they are about 2"-3" sizes.. i got them this weekend.. FYI.. crossing my fingers that they will survive in my care..

good luck..
 
thanks everyone for your help, I took away all the plants, so now the tank just have some roots and riverine stones, I really don't want to leave the tank "naked" but I know it is an exellent way to make little discus grow a lot. I hope you can keep helping me!
 
mrquad;2355423; said:
i think it's your water condition.. and i am just wandering how will you be able to clean the tank with all those plants and gravel in the tank?

i heard that if you got them as a fry or juvenile, it has to be a barebottom tank for ease of cleaning and for ease of maintaining the water quality.. and for them to grow faster.. that's what i have read mostly from any forums regarding discus..

by the way, i am not a discus expert.. i just read alot of article about them.. actually, i just got my 11 juvenile discus and they are about 2"-3" sizes.. i got them this weekend.. FYI.. crossing my fingers that they will survive in my care..

good luck..
You're correct though in stating why barebottom tanks are needed for juvenile discus. Mind you, these fish are easily stunted from poor water conditions. You'll find why some specimens have eyes disproportionately large for their body size, a sign of stunting.
 
Roberto G;2356867; said:
thanks everyone for your help, I took away all the plants, so now the tank just have some roots and riverine stones, I really don't want to leave the tank "naked" but I know it is an exellent way to make little discus grow a lot. I hope you can keep helping me!
Keep it simple for now until your discus can gain body size.
 
fishfries;2368618; said:
I wanna start a discus tank also but i wanna learn more before i start.....
Post all your questions in a new thread and we'll be more than happy to help you wherever needed.
 
here's a quick update of what is happening at my tank, a Snakeskin discus was bought, the poor guy is having a tough time trying to enter the group created by my other discus (Pigeon Blood, Gold, Turquoise) they are always bothering the poor snakeskin, at least he is eating! I removed all the other fishes from the tank (Polyps, Dollars, Gold Catfish)... thats all for now!
 
Roberto G;2399158; said:
here's a quick update of what is happening at my tank, a Snakeskin discus was bought, the poor guy is having a tough time trying to enter the group created by my other discus (Pigeon Blood, Gold, Turquoise) they are always bothering the poor snakeskin, at least he is eating! I removed all the other fishes from the tank (Polyps, Dollars, Gold Catfish)... thats all for now!
did you QT your new bought discus? you don't know where it came from, and it might bring disease into your fully setup tank.. you will not see it today, you might find it 2-4 days. just observe your old fish if they act the same, or act differently after you put in your new bought discus. if they act normal, i mean, the same.. then, you are lucky.. as i have read, they're not lucky after they brought in their newly fish to their establish tank.

i read it from a lot of source, that whenever you put a newly bought discus, it should be QT for at least 1 week or 2 weeks (correct me if i'm wrong)
 
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