Never kept discus, please help.

[leather]

I have never kept discus, I would like to if I can but don't want to try and fail because of something that could have been prevented.

Tank: 150 gallon standard 6 foot. Working with plants and seeing what thrives, so far I have rotella, java, fine grass, and a type of sword, The rest is filled up with fakes until I can take them out. Lots of rocks and caves of different sizes. I am currently running 2x filtration for the size. I just got an eheim 2128, for a deal and am going to add that to it. Temperature is at 82 and always has been.

Occupants: Common pleco about 8 years old, very mellow and does fine with other fish and plants. Young siamese algae eater, probably won't stay in there, he was cleaning up what the big pleco missed but is getting too big himself. About 12 neons, 8 cardinals, 6 silver tip tetras, 4 blue tetras, 9 rummynose tetras, 4 black neons, and 6 three inch roseline sharks (red torpedo barbs).

My biggest worry is the roseline sharks getting along with the discus. The silver tips can be a bit nippy but have settled down since the tank has become more populated. I also will be adding a pressurized co2 setup I have.

My ph is also a concern, 7.8 to 8.0, this has never stopped me though. As you can see most of what I keep prefers soft acidic water and haven't had a problem from it. It is stable and comes from my personal well.

Anybody who has experience with discus please advise, more preferably those who have kept them with roseline sharks.

I would like to get 4 or more, but don't know what type/color and if getting larger fish would be better.

Thank You

 

[leather]

Funny, was just sitting here watching the tank and remembered because they came out that there are also two clown loaches in there. They are on snail duty and will be shortly joined by at least two more, for comfort.

 

[Snowflake311]

I think your tank mates would be fine with discus. But a ph of 8 is a little hard. Could be a problem or not. Discus are not much harder to keep then any other sa cichlid. Just don't slack on wc.

 

[rocketgypsy]

Definitely check out upperorchard.net

CO2 injected discus tanks have been a learning curve for me. Your tank setup seems fine. I've had an almost identical set-up for 2 years with Discus, but in a smaller tank:
Rena XP1 canister
Current USA UV sterilizer always on
pressurized CO2 injection with power reactor
aeration
digital pH meter, always on
growlights - which discus don't like but they learn to live with

My discus never got plague or ick, but have gotten fin rot. The main things I attribute to success to are:
1. using RO water (with Kent Discus Essentials, Kent RO Right, and Kent blackwater extract which by the way is removed by activated carbon, so I stopped using carbon), and doing weekly 40% water changes (Or daily 5% water changes which they like better) Discus are definitely more sensitive than tetras, so your well water at 8.0 might be OK for tetras but maybe not for discus. RO unit is a pretty good investment. If your discus are "breathing hard" it could very well be that the water is too hard.

A few things I learned...

-With the right blackwater parameters, my discus started to pair up and breed, and that's when their various courtship moves are thrilling to watch. In harder water, my discus "survive" but they don't act like discus should.

-But one advantage to having "harder" water is that your pH remains stable while injecting CO2. This is why I found a planted discus tank is so scary - the tug of war between enough CO2, soft enough water to breed, and stable pH. Typical pH buffers use phosphate so that leads to algae and they're not really designed to counteract CO2 acidity. SeaChem makes a non-phosphate planted tank buffer that I've never tried. I never got into adding baking soda, but you might experiment with that. I've actually let my pH gradually drop to 4.8 a couple of times before I got too scared and resorted to using buffer, but the discus and tetras did fine in such extreme acidic water - it was more my fear than any actual harm. I've read on upperorchard.net that he doesn't get concerned about super low pH, but I never had the nerves to just let it go like he does. But what he says about using chemical buffers to artificially adjust the pH makes sense (bad).

2. UV sterilizer, running all the time, and generous amounts of freshwater aquarium salt during acclimatization phase to help gill function and counteract ick. (Salt eventually goes to zero through water changes.)

3. not having too many fish in the tank. The discus will like to hide in the plants from the bright lights but like lots of space. Let the discus be the lords of the tank instead of the roselines. (I'm not sure the roselines are a good idea...see if anyone posts who has done them together.) A zillion skittish tetras sound fine, but anything that places continuous stress on your discus will eventually show up as fin rot. You DEFINITELY want to get rid of the algae eater and loaches because anything with a sucker mouth (pleco is an exception) will learn to suck the mucus off the discus at night when no one is looking, and slow-kill your discus. Learned, unfortunately, through experience.

4. feeding generously, 3x per day. Discus have big appetites.

5. keeping temperature up between 84-88 deg F. If other tank mates can't go that high, get rid of 'em.

If one of your discus starts to seem like he is getting finrot, isolate him immediately and treat him with BiFuran+ by Hikari, and Melafix the main tank. Then figure out what caused it. Probably too many tank mates using up all available elbow room, and not enough food (my experience with finrot.)

I hope that helps.

 

[leather]

thanks for the replies anybody else out there?

 

[sassyfishwater]

thanks for the replies anybody else out there?

I have kept and breed Discus for years they are easy to keep just follow a few simple rules. They do good with acidic soft water, Tank mates avoid fast swimming fish they will stress the discus. Keep only compatible fish with the discus. Keep only Placos for Algae eater or brisal nose cat.
Feed well and differant types food, Blood worms brine shrimp a little beef heart and some flake foods. Keep the water clean.
My discus water has a pH of 6.0 and soft a TDS of 20 ppm. Water changes I can,t tell you for I do not do any I haven't done a water change in 7 years I just maintain my filters. I do keep a couple of angel fish with them in the main tank this I do for pairing and breeding reasons.

 

[leather]

No water changes? How is that possible your nitrates should be through the roof, do you have a very heavily planted tank?

 

[MChorse13]

the cardinal and neon tetras might be a prob the discus might kill them. i learned the hard way :/ black neon's should be ok as long as u feed the discus enough. i didnt feed them last night and woke up to my discus trying to attack the neon's. as soon as i fed them everything was ok

 

[Jhekker123]

I put 12 neons with Discus and now I have 4. I am not sure if it is the discus or the pleco picking them off. I have an 6" pleco. I only do 40% a week Water change. I have had my fish for almost an year. I am just trying them out. I think that I might have a few that are dwarfed or stunted. I am very amature and am just learning as I go. I am trying to learn as much as possible. Simplydiscus.com has a lot of info.

 

[WyldFya]

Ditch the loaches, pleco and algae eaters. The algae crew will start sucking the slime coat off the discus, and kill them. The loaches will harass the discus, and out compete for food. The pH should be fine, but your tank size is a little big to start young discus in. I would recommend getting larger discus, in the 4.5"+ range. Water changes are a must, not only to keep your nitrogen down, but also to keep your mineral content up. Do not try to feed extra light to keep your nutrient levels down, as this can stunt discus, and will cause the weaker member of the pack to die off slowly.