The one per 10 gallon rule

[jacobfata]

Ime discus keeping needn't be difficult. You can make it difficult by how you keep and feed them, but it doesn't need to be (that said I would have to have a very lightly stocked tank to only do 25% weekly water changes). As far as pH, there's a distinction between species in the wild that many discus keeping 'experts' don't make, which is that green and heckle discus come from low pH, but wild brown/blue discus come from pH varying from 6.0 up to 7.8, this according to Heiko Bleher who has spent many years in their wild habitat.

During the years I kept them I started at lower pH, that's what all the books said at the time. But with experience I learned this isn't necessary (I had variations of red/brown/blue discus, including wilds and some of the very early pigeon blood discus) and by the time I was in Florida with pristine well water at 7.6 I found they did great in that water-- which makes even more sense now in view of their varying native habitats. That said, I wouldn't personally keep them much over 8. My observation over the years is fish that can tolerate higher than their natural pH may do fine but not live as long if it's too much higher, though this varies by species. And if you want to breed them, discus tolerate higher pH than what is necessarily good for successful breeding.

As an example of species variance, without retelling the story, I found red head geos are tolerant of pH a good bit higher than guianacara-- so it does vary by species. Different species have different ranges of adaptability. You could simplify and say this graduates from comfort level to tolerance level to low level stress you may not detect (but can shorten their life-span), to a level causing distress or noticeable susceptibility to illness.

As a consequence, I prefer not to keep fish at or near their limits of tolerance. Someone can say I keep my discus at 8.8 and they're fine, but personally I wouldn't go there-- my opinion.

I am also located in Florida, South Florida near Miami. My pH for my Water is roughly 7.8 and my fish seem to thrive in it also. Are you saying though is keeping these fish in this higher PH is going to shorten your lifespan?

 

[neutrino]

I am also located in Florida, South Florida near Miami. My pH for my Water is roughly 7.8 and my fish seem to thrive in it also. Are you saying though is keeping these fish in this higher PH is going to shorten your lifespan?

Don't know what the exact number would be for discus, somewhere over 8, maybe. But I've seen evidence pH too high can shorten lifespan in some species, meaning they can be healthy but just not live as long.

So, speaking for myself, considering they're beautiful and expensive fish, I wouldn't keep discus much over 8-- which is my opinion. I see people who do it and say they're fine, but so many discus keepers also think they should live 4-6 years when they can live 10 or more.

 

[Ulu]

. . . discus keeping needn't be difficult. . . I prefer not to keep fish at or near their limits of tolerance. . .

This is the Golden Rule of fish keeping.

Make it easy on the fish.

 

[Ulu]

By the way, the second most important rule is, if you make it easy on the fish keeper then he will keep the fish happy.

I am constantly trying to improve my systems so they work better and are easier to maintain.

 

[jacobfata]

Don't know what the exact number would be for discus, somewhere over 8, maybe. But I've seen evidence pH too high can shorten lifespan in some species, meaning they can be healthy but just not live as long.

So, speaking for myself, considering they're beautiful and expensive fish, I wouldn't keep discus much over 8-- which is my opinion. I see people who do it and say they're fine, but so many discus keepers also think they should live 4-6 years when they can live 10 or more.

Yeah I would never let it go near 8. My tap for the most part stays at 7.6-8 and they do excellent. They’re active and already growing in the two months I’ve had them. I just don’t understand how %20 weekly water changes would be safe for nine adult discus (mine aren’t adults). But this is coming from the Jack Watley. That’s how he did every discus aquarium he ever had!!

 

[Ulu]

These discus are so lovely that it is motivating me to start a discus tank.

But I'm currently operating 8 and my wife would probably get upset, because I told her I was going to get rid of some when I had seven, and then I moved another one in.

To start a discus tank I will have to sell off some of my other fish.

I'm currently preparing to set up my first saltwater tank ever. I can't get distracted!

 

[jacobfata]

These discus are so lovely that it is motivating me to start a discus tank.

But I'm currently operating 8 and my wife would probably get upset, because I told her I was going to get rid of some when I had seven, and then I moved another one in.

To start a discus tank I will have to sell off some of my other fish.

I'm currently preparing to set up my first saltwater tank ever. I can't get distracted!

I would suggest you order from Jack Watley only his fish are hardy and watch his tutorials on you tube under Jack Watley, his parter took over the store after jack passed. It’s surprisingly simple. Never thought I’d say that but it has been for me so far. Go for it haha

 

[malcourt]

You have a couple extremely nice ring leopards in your tank! The last pair of ring leopards I had a guy offered me $800 for the pair which I readily sent down the road with him. LOL! I have kept in touch with him and have six more of them now out of my pair and he says he has made his money back already 50 times from that pair. Ring leopards can be extremely valuable. If you have a male and female definitely try and pair them. You will get more for them than almost any other color. Also, with the amount of discus you have and your tank size you do not need to do the amount of water changes you are! I would do 40% once a week and that's all which would be great. Why are you removing your stocks every day? Eventually your running the risk of having a crash in your tank and have everything die! With all the water changes and removing the socks every day you're taking too much beneficial bacteria out of your tank which can cause your water levels to get to high and become unstable. I've been breeding discus for 30 years and over that time I've had many things bad happen and they were always because of something stupid I did! Like trying to keep the tank spotless! I'm serious. Anyway if you want to breed your fishes I would get 20 gallons breeder tanks and separate them. I leave the babies with the parents for two weeks and then I removed the parents. A lot of times they will end up eating the baby so they can breed again. This especially happens in a group tank. Anyway to each his own. Many times people have to find out the hard way for them to finally understand and believe me this happened to me a lot. LOL! Good luck with your discus. Whatever you do if you have a male and female with those ring leopards I would try to develop them and grow out the babies and find the ones that have predominately more rings which is what I did and it ended up working great for me!

 

[malcourt]

If you would be interested in selling both of those Ring Leopards please let me know. Possibly we can work out a deal. Yours already have some good rings and they haven't even been developed yet. Hopefully you have a male and female but if not I definitely will find one of each so I can have two pairs to cross breed in an attempt to get back what I had before. If you do not want to sell them hopefully you will contact me if you have fry. Even if you bring one of those leopards to a different strain they will still have the ring gene. I would recommend not breeding them to any white and red strain like pandas or something. You can end up getting peppering which really depreciates the quality and selling price of your offspring.

 

[jacobfata]

Is this the fish you are referring to? I only have one. My fiancé fell in love with some many different strains we had to have one of each lol.