Discus ID please and urgent help.

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kashif314

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
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What kind of discus breed is this?

https://youtu.be/tVnw4dhQUV8

It belongs to a friend of mine who had to leave suddenly for two weeks and i am suppose to take care of this pair.

I put them in my tank. Tank temperature is 80F and i can't raise more because don't want to fry my HC. Tank is 16 gallon which i know is small for them. They are adults and almost size of my palm but please have a look if there is enough space for them. I made a video to give you some idea.

https://youtu.be/EuWJo8SJrwk

Here are few questions please.

1) What kind of discus this is? Doesn't look like red melon as red melons are more red. They have same colors with him as well so its not that there colors are faded with stress or something.

2) I have harlequin rasboras which are not very skittish but fast. I switched siamese algae eater to my other tank to not cause discus any stress because siamese may suddenly become very fast. So now tank have 9 harlequins and 3 dwarf rams. Rams I am not worried about as they are ok with discus. Please let me know if harlequins are ok with discus?

3) I know they are super finicky eaters. What and how i can feed them and how often. How to induce there appetite to eat if they don't eat? I do have some terta discus bits in my stock which i feed to angels. Shall i try that or something else?

4) how many times i need to change water and how much?

5) They don't seem stressed even though the tank is small and they are swimming and moving all around tank and swimming together. But please let me know if any special precautions i need to take.

6) Are they fine with pressurized co2?

Please help. Thanks

(PS: Please don't say me about animal abuse as i know they need to be in groups and require bigger tanks but i could let them to fish store where they would be highly stressed so I took them to my home)
 
Who in their right mind hands that pair over and says good luck. Thanks for the efforts haha
 
They were washed out red melons. Now they're probably dead
How come they grew this bigger if they are washed out means something not right with them. But he bought them like this and with him for many months and he had them same colors since forever. Poor diet?
 
I bought some bright red and a couple washed out like that?? Breeders have all types of tricks for coloring discus. I feed all my strains the same thing. Could be poor genetics too.
 
I bought some bright red and a couple washed out like that?? Breeders have all types of tricks for coloring discus. I feed all my strains the same thing. Could be poor genetics too.
Yes could be or maybe they didn't get proper diet. Well can you please reply to questions i asked above specially about there diet. I get very worried when a fish doesn't eat. For how long it is acceptable for a new discus to not eat? Also please reply to my other questions. Thanks.
 
No, if you had done any research prior to accepting these discus youd know everything you've done is horribly wrong.
 
So nothing I can say will make it ok or save these fish. You already signed their death certificate
 
No, if you had done any research prior to accepting these discus youd know everything you've done is horribly wrong.
So nothing I can say will make it ok or save these fish. You already signed their death certificate
Maybe you don't know how locals here treat fish. If i wouldn't have offered help these fish would have been neglected and was without food or maximum would have been in fish store where they change water once a month which i confirmed from them. But ok thanks for your help. Much appreciated. I ll still do my best to keep them alive and THRIVE because i have seen at stores they are kept even in 10 gallons and stays there for weeks till a buyer comes. I ll try my best to make them live.
 
"It belongs to a friend of mine who had to leave suddenly for two weeks and i am suppose to take care of this pair."
 
"It belongs to a friend of mine who had to leave suddenly for two weeks and i am suppose to take care of this pair."
And? Local Arab cant be my friend? Maybe you don't know but i am not a peasant here or look after there camels. I do have some good local friends.
 
Anyone else than Brookster who is willing to REALLY help me please give me some tips so i can keep them in good shape for two weeks. I posted my questions in first post. Thanks.
 
Looks like a pair of Marlboro Red Discus.
Thanks. I spoke with discus specialists here who deal with German discus

www.discus.ae

This guy told me they are red melons and the colors are not washed up because of poor keeping. Its the Asian discus and these asian breeders feed hormones to there fish which starts to fade when fish grow just like parrot fish.
 
As you know already they need much, much larger tank. Yes they are often kept in small and poor conditions in fish stores AND in peoples homes.

They like warmer water normally, and will enjoy worms like blood worms or black/tubifex.

They want to have perfect water never any pollution. Siphon out uneaten food after feeding. Frozen Hikari foods /others only if they mention they are parasite/pathogen free, black worms and blood worms. Frozen are nice if you can order/buy them. Freeze dried might work if soaked first,

They ae picky. Often decide to die of starvation if they are too upset.

Do not too bright light / maybe put a more shaded darker corner. I have used a poly report cover or
poly tabbed dividers for notebook, in the blue to allow some light to reach the plants but have it be shaded.
www.officesupply.com/office-supplie...&creative=81913645877192&device=c&matchtype=e

I cut one of these kind/ blue, open to give shade from light
https://www.walmart.com/ip/5-Tab-Write-On-Dividers-with-Pockets/14935357

Water changes every day or 2 would be helpful and see if there would be a less light tank for them, and more heat so you do not ruin your plants and cause these guys to not be able to thrive.

If there is any way to find what these fish were eating before, that would be great.
 
As you know already they need much, much larger tank. Yes they are often kept in small and poor conditions in fish stores AND in peoples homes.

They like warmer water normally, and will enjoy worms like blood worms or black/tubifex.

They want to have perfect water never any pollution. Siphon out uneaten food after feeding. Frozen Hikari foods /others only if they mention they are parasite/pathogen free, black worms and blood worms. Frozen are nice if you can order/buy them. Freeze dried might work if soaked first,

They ae picky. Often decide to die of starvation if they are too upset.

Do not too bright light / maybe put a more shaded darker corner. I have used a poly report cover or
poly tabbed dividers for notebook, in the blue to allow some light to reach the plants but have it be shaded.
www.officesupply.com/office-supplie...&creative=81913645877192&device=c&matchtype=e

I cut one of these kind/ blue, open to give shade from light
https://www.walmart.com/ip/5-Tab-Write-On-Dividers-with-Pockets/14935357

Water changes every day or 2 would be helpful and see if there would be a less light tank for them, and more heat so you do not ruin your plants and cause these guys to not be able to thrive.

If there is any way to find what these fish were eating before, that would be great.
Thanks a lot fof being kind and polite in answering unlike Brookster who is concerned about animal abuse but still didn't want to offer help for those animals for whome he is concerned and this is a very strange behaviour to me really. Like what to do now? Throw these fish or fry and eat them? Its not my fault that I offered help to someone who doesn't care if these fish die or live.

Anyways, i love the idea of a shaded area where they can go if they are stressed but for now they don't seem bothered by light and swimming actively in tank without being cornered so that's a great sign. But i am gonna give them a shaded area as you suggested. Ordered garlic guard by seachem but will reach to me till Monday. Also ordered hikari discus food for them. Do you have any experience with this food?

About water changes i want to ask something. I always read people do lots of water changes but what i am concerned is that doesn't stress the fish? Like changing water every other day. Even hardy fish get stressed when we do a partial water change. This guy use to change water like after two weeks. 50 percent. So these specimen are not used to frequent water changes so please advise.

Once again thanks a lot for being polite and kind. You are always very sweet.
 
I would assume the guy you got these from had a larger tank so he probably got away with changing the water less. In your tank I would be changing 50% of the water every other day including a light bottom vac for excess food and poo. If you are keeping these for only a couple weeks in this tank then I'd bump the temp up to 82. That seems to be the minimum temp for discus. I agree with Autumn's recommendation for food. If you get stuck with these fish long term then I would seriously consider getting a 55 gallon tank.
 
Thinking about the changing water options to reduce stress in the experience.

Perhaps a clamp with tube in the tank which can stay while the Discus are in there.

Set up pump on it to remove water and then a pump to add water at basically the same time. If you had a Python style water change system. Or if not adding water into the opposite side of the tank into a filter pad to reduce splash and noise.

This would keep the changing of the water more low key and a little bit more gradual change on water parameter differences, though you might need to change a little bit more water to compensate not doing a straight 50% at one time.

I have never used the Hikari Discus food. Their other stuff is adequate but not ideal as the only food to be fed.

These fish can be picky. I hope it works out and they end up being very hungry and eating well. That would also help their overall health.
 
I guess an apology would quell this situation? I came to this forum years ago in search of help and answers. The out pouring knowledge was overwhelming, imagine that? More help than I could process! It was really something.. discus are not as popular as they once were. The basics remain the same though. A simple search will bring you all the info you could ever want/need to keep these fish.
 
I would assume the guy you got these from had a larger tank so he probably got away with changing the water less. In your tank I would be changing 50% of the water every other day including a light bottom vac for excess food and poo. If you are keeping these for only a couple weeks in this tank then I'd bump the temp up to 82. That seems to be the minimum temp for discus. I agree with Autumn's recommendation for food. If you get stuck with these fish long term then I would seriously consider getting a 55 gallon tank.
He has a large tank yes. But it is really very neglected and I do believe these discus got use to some abuse so maybe thats why they didn't show any stress in my small tank. I ll do frequent water changes as suggested. Thanks.
Thinking about the changing water options to reduce stress in the experience.

Perhaps a clamp with tube in the tank which can stay while the Discus are in there.

Set up pump on it to remove water and then a pump to add water at basically the same time. If you had a Python style water change system. Or if not adding water into the opposite side of the tank into a filter pad to reduce splash and noise.

This would keep the changing of the water more low key and a little bit more gradual change on water parameter differences, though you might need to change a little bit more water to compensate not doing a straight 50% at one time.

I have never used the Hikari Discus food. Their other stuff is adequate but not ideal as the only food to be fed.

These fish can be picky. I hope it works out and they end up being very hungry and eating well. That would also help their overall health.
Thanks Autum. I have a pump to pour and take out water. Will use that. It will be less stressful for the fish. About hikari well thats the only reputable brand here other than the stendker frozen beefheart which will reach to me very late. So i ll try hikari. Also ordered garlic guard. Its only two weeks but i don't want these fish to get sick so wanna do everything possible in my reach.

There is one update. Today they nibbled at food. They took and spitted out. I ve seen my mono angels did that when they were new to tank. So is this a good sign that they atleast tried to eat? They didn't like food or if its the usual normal thing and they ll eat food eventually if they now at least tried the food?
I guess an apology would quell this situation? I came to this forum years ago in search of help and answers. The out pouring knowledge was overwhelming, imagine that? More help than I could process! It was really something.. discus are not as popular as they once were. The basics remain the same though. A simple search will bring you all the info you could ever want/need to keep these fish.
Brookster dear I understand your frustration as this is animal abuse but its just two weeks and I am doing my best as possible so that's why looking for help. I read and read and there is one misunderstanding happened on my part as well. They said 10 gallon per one discus but they were saying 10 gallon for additional discus and usually 50 gallon to start with. So i misunderstood and thought well they ll be fine if one requires 10 gallons only. I later understood what they were saying. On top of that i called lfs and he said a pair is fine in 16 to 20 gallon which of course is false info. Maybe he was thinking i am gonna buy a pair from him and my tank is small so he maybe just said to sell his discus.

Anyways i see they are not stressed so that makes me less stressed as well. I hope they start eating soon. I cranked the temperature to 82f
 
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