Starting a discus tank

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taveras008

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Aug 26, 2009
Messages
2
Location
CT
Im looking foward to start a discus aquarium however some people tell me they very difficult to have other people say they not.. so can someone tell me some imformation about the discus fishes and the most important thing they need.
 
Hopefully the discus expert will chime in. There is a couple on this site. I cant remember his screen name. I will find out and tell you.
 
BS6749 is his screen name. You could probably PM him and ask questions. I believe he breeds them. He knows all there is to know about discus.
 
Well, from what i know about discus (very little... no experience) they require a soft, acidic water. They also do best in an aquarium with no substrate and water changes every day or every other day... I also know they are expensive. Thats about it for me though
 
Discus are not hard to keep at all. They require STABLE water conditions. They should be put into a well cycled tank with no parameter fluctuations. If you are going with juvies you may want to consider a bare bottom tank depending on how small the discus are. Makes cleaning easier.

What size tank are you thinking of putting them in?

I have a heavily planted 75 gal tank and have had discus in there with no problems for 6 years. As juvies I did 3 water changes a week, keep in mind the tank is heavily planted and the plants use up nitrates.

As adults I know do one water change a week at 50%. If I were keeping the discus in a non planted tank I would probably do 3 water changes a week depending on how many discus were in the tank. A good rule of thumb is 10 gals per adult discus.

As juvies they can be stocked more heavily but you must be prepared to get rid of some of them as they mature.
 
Im looking foward to start a discus aquarium however some people tell me they very difficult to have other people say they not.. so can someone tell me some imformation about the discus fishes and the most important thing they need.

First, you are in a VERY nice location. I recommend becoming a member of www.simplydiscus.com/forum The owner of the site, Al Sabetta, is located in CT. He is a very nice guy and is very knowledgeable. He has nice stock and will treat you well. There are also many other discus keepers in that area. There's a guy in NJ for example with nice stuff that I highly recommend, and then there is Hans in Baltimore, MD. All of them will treat you well and all of them have nice stuff.

The most important things they need are 1. clean water, 2. a varied diet with nutritious foods, and 3. clean water. It is essential to keep the water clean as you may have seen already.

bs6749... he was telling me all i needed to know about keeping them, then spoonman convinced me to go with mbuna :)

BS6749 is his screen name. You could probably PM him and ask questions. I believe he breeds them. He knows all there is to know about discus.

I don't breed them, though I do have breeding pairs of them. I do know how to raise some nice looking stock and do know quite a bit about their care. An expert that knows everything there is about discus? That couldn't be further from the truth. I'm constantly learning about them and though I'd consider myself to be well more educated in discus keeping than most general aquariasts, I am by no means an expert. There are hundreds of experts with FAR more knowledge and experience than myself just on the site I recommended above. It's the best dicus site I've found thusfar.

Well, from what i know about discus (very little... no experience) they require a soft, acidic water. They also do best in an aquarium with no substrate and water changes every day or every other day... I also know they are expensive. Thats about it for me though

Wilds are found in soft and acidic water and generally these conditions must be recreated for them when they become captive, but that's about it for the truth on them needing a certain pH or a certain hardness. My discus thrive and breed in water that has a pH of 8.0 and a GH of 300+ ppm with good fertility. Other hobbyists have similar experiences with "poorer" conditions. Clean water and stable water chemisty is the most important thing to keeping discus healthy. There are benefits of keeping them in an acidic pH and breeders often say that fry and juvies have better bone structure when grown out in harder water with lots of calcium.

JUVIES do best in a barebottom tank and adults can be placed in a tank with a substrate. I used to keep my adults in a tank with pool filter sand but during my recent move I decided that their home would now be a barebottomed tank.

Also, they aren't expensive unless you buy them in a local fish store. You can get a group of 6-8 fish for around $250 shipped to you and those will be VASTLY superior in quality, health, bloodlines, etc than your typical LFS discus. Being in such a great location as the OP is means that about $100 could be shaved off of this pricetag because of not needing to ship the fish via overnight delivery, and it also means the ability to handpick stock...the best of both worlds. Fry around 1-1.5 inches can typically be purchased for around $10 +/- $2. The guy in NJ has some nice stuff right now that he is selling for $8 each and I'd jump on that in a minute if I had more room. I don't recommend fish smaller than 3" for a beginner though as they require far more attention and maintenance than a 3"+ fish. They are easily stunted and require 5-6+ feedings per day andmore frequent water changes until they reach about 3" and then 1-2 feedings can be cut and 50% water changes done every other day.

My advice is to join Simply Discus and start reading and asking questions before you purchase anything.

Also to the person that said that discus are skittish, this isn't true at all. My discus eat right out of my hand and have done that for the most part only 1-2 days after I've had each of them. They are a "smarter" fish since they are a cichlid and can spot me from 25 feet away and then they begin to beg for food at the front of the tank. I usually give in...
 
I'd heard discus could be skittish around faster fish in the aquarium. Thanks for the awesome info. I'll certainly be headed to simply discus shortly, i've always wanted a discus tank ;)
 
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