My discus tank today

[danieldaddy]

 

[ahmad.echols]

How big is that tank

 

[danieldaddy]

Its a 20 hex. But let me please inform you before you tell me its not big enough. They love this tank. I had them in it for 6 months then moved them to a 40 bow front they never came out the only time they did was to eat. They have now been back in the hex for 3 days and stay out swimming all day

 

[bribo12]

Did the discus tell you they love it? It also looks like you only have 2 discus which require schools and are much less shy in larger groups as they're a schooling fish. Add in the angel and you're looking at 3 fish that get over 6" in height and 3 cichlids who will probably brawl over territory eventually.

They're out swimming because they have nowhere else to hide...they should also be twice that size after 6 months. Discus are pretty quick growers and with proper care can get to adult size in a year-year and a half. They look kind of oval shaped as well which is a sign of stunting. It's probably not what you want to hear but they need a larger tank.

 

[Brookster123]

This is all wrong. Even the decoration.. do some research if you're serious about keeping any fish.. especially discus.

 

[toolman]

Why you you keep such a marvelous trio of fish in such conditions. They're out as a previous poster says because there is nowhere else for them to go. When they grow bigger, it will obviously be stunted, there could very well be a bloodbath. You mentioned a 40 something tank, it's also not big enough. They need room to swim not gallons, but room to swim and turn around a 48" long tank(or more).

 

[HUKIT]

This is all wrong. Even the decoration.. do some research if you're serious about keeping any fish.. especially discus.

Texas holey rock with either raise or buffer your PH levels depending on your water parameters which isn't a good thing for discus who prefer warm and soft water. As mentioned before they do much better in schools and much larger foot print. I've never understood those tall hex tanks and they don't really serve any practical purpose in my opinion. I'd also use a darker substrate, doesn't need to be black but more a natural sand will help reduce the stress of the fish.

I have bred over a hundred of species of cichlids including discus and that's one species of fish that I will not keep again as it's simply too much work between the RO water and water changes. They are beautiful but not worth the time to me personally. I'd do some homework on what they require and I think you'll find you're way off base here...

 

[V227]

Danieldaddy, you obviously know your stuff, successfully keeping relatively fragile discus fish in a smaller tank alive is an accomplishment.
I kept a school of 7 or 8 many years ago, grew them from quarter size to dinner plate size. I remember the need for a very clean tank and very warm water.
As for tank size, discus aren't normally extremely fast or active swimmers so your smaller tank for now is okay. I kept mine in a 58 gal. Oceanic tank with an old magnum 330 canister filter. Not really that big of tank for a large school of discus but they did fine.
Just a suggestion, in the long run you might consider a 55 -75 gal. Tank using a darker substrate and maybe a small peice of driftwood to slightly stain the water. Your discus will look better swimming side to side in a longer tank rather than up and down in more confined quarters. IMO hobbiest who can successfully manage a discus tank are ones who are on top of the game. Good luck.

 

[lady2017]

Danieldaddy, you obviously know your stuff, successfully keeping relatively fragile discus fish in a smaller tank alive is an accomplishment.
I kept a school of 7 or 8 many years ago, grew them from quarter size to dinner plate size. I remember the need for a very clean tank and very warm water.
As for tank size, discus aren't normally extremely fast or active swimmers so your smaller tank for now is okay. I kept mine in a 58 gal. Oceanic tank with an old magnum 330 canister filter. Not really that big of tank for a large school of discus but they did fine.
Just a suggestion, in the long run you might consider a 55 -75 gal. Tank using a darker substrate and maybe a small peice of driftwood to slightly stain the water. Your discus will look better swimming side to side in a longer tank rather than up and down in more confined quarters. IMO hobbiest who can successfully manage a discus tank are ones who are on top of the game. Good luck.

They were previously in a 40 gallon tank with dark substrate and driftwood along with three other discus. The other three were chased and pestered and believe they ultimately died from stress. These three mesh perfectly together even though they aren't the "textbook" number to live together. This tank is temporary until they can get moved back into that tank. Also for whoever mentioned can the fish tell us that they're happy. Can your dog or cat tell you that they are happy? Unless you have a rare animal that speaks a human language the only way to know they're happy is by observation and knowing your animal. So when my discus are in their "ideal" tank barely eating once a day and in the "wrong" tank eagerly eating three and four times a day, yes I would say they are much much happier. Also the angel is 100% non aggressive. He moves around the tank right along with them like he is no different. Thank you V227 for the advice we are working on getting them back to this

 

[Brookster123]

They were previously in a 40 gallon tank with dark substrate and driftwood along with three other discus. The other three were chased and pestered and believe they ultimately died from stress. These three mesh perfectly together even though they aren't the "textbook" number to live together. This tank is temporary until they can get moved back into that tank. Also for whoever mentioned can the fish tell us that they're happy. Can your dog or cat tell you that they are happy? Unless you have a rare animal that speaks a human language the only way to know they're happy is by observation and knowing your animal. So when my discus are in their "ideal" tank barely eating once a day and in the "wrong" tank eagerly eating three and four times a day, yes I would say they are much much happier. Also the angel is 100% non aggressive. He moves around the tank right along with them like he is no different. Thank you V227 for the advice we are working on getting them back to this

Did your user name change??yah my dog tells me its happy by wagging it's tail and bouncing around like a nut. My cat purrs.. you can write in your own reality all day long.. fact is that tank is all wrong and those fish will never thrive in those conditions
Show me your discus smiling like this

 

[lady2017]

Did your user name change??yah my dog tells me its happy by wagging it's tail and bouncing around like a nut. My cat purrs.. you can write in your own reality all day long.. fact is that tank is all wrong and those fish will never thrive in those conditions
Show me your discus smiling like this

Guess if you had read the rest of the post instead of only what was addressed to your portion of replies you would have seen this tank is only temporary. This isn't the only tank in our house nor the first time caring for fish. Glad your dog can smile although if you really wanted make your point you would show me your fish smiling nor your dog My discus, my angel, and my long fin ram swim up to the glass and wag their fins to meet me so I guess if that's me living in my own reality I'll be the crazy fish whispering lady lol

 

[V227]

Lady2017, my discus had a very ridged pecking order and the smallest few had a pretty ruff go of it. No death though. Only the mated pair where at peace with each other. I fed them frozen blood worms and frozen brine shrimp.
A member mentioned that discus require soft water to thrive. IMO that was true 35 years ago. Discus are bred and raised in soft and hard water now a days. My discus were in water so hard that minerals would build up and flake off the heater. I believe it's more important for the water to be well filtered and the gravel bed kept clean.
As for your holey rock decoration, I'm no geologist but it looks artificial. It's true that limestone will alter your water, buffer and increase ph. But with regular WC' s it minimizes the effects. I hope this helps.

 

[Brookster123]

Guess if you had read the rest of the post instead of only what was addressed to your portion of replies you would have seen this tank is only temporary. This isn't the only tank in our house nor the first time caring for fish. Glad your dog can smile although if you really wanted make your point you would show me your fish smiling nor your dog My discus, my angel, and my long fin ram swim up to the glass and wag their fins to meet me so I guess if that's me living in my own reality I'll be the crazy fish whispering lady lol

I got healthy fish too...

 

[lady2017]

Lady2017, my discus had a very ridged pecking order and the smallest few had a pretty ruff go of it. No death though. Only the mated pair where at peace with each other. I fed them frozen blood worms and frozen brine shrimp.
A member mentioned that discus require soft water to thrive. IMO that was true 35 years ago. Discus are bred and raised in soft and hard water now a days. My discus were in water so hard that minerals would build up and flake off the heater. I believe it's more important for the water to be well filtered and the gravel bed kept clean.
As for your holey rock decoration, I'm no geologist but it looks artificial. It's true that limestone will alter your water, buffer and increase ph. But with regular WC' s it minimizes the effects. I hope this helps.

The rock is very fake. A replica from Petco actually. As are the discus. My boyfriend who actually posted the pictures so no name changing going on here actually prefers big aggressive cichlids and mostly that's all he's ever had. My love is "colorful" fish although I do love his fish too, discus were ones that I really wanted. He told me to do the research on them and we would see. Petco fish are bred and bred and let's be real they don't typically follow the strict expert conditions to thrive. However we do try to keep their tank and water and decor as close to what it should be although my boyfriend would very well agree with you that conditions are not the same anymore. Obviously I know these are not high quality fish and yes they may very well be stunted but with it being our first time keeping these fish it doesn't hurt as bad to lose a low quality fish as it would be to lose a high quality one. And if we could perfect their conditions then yes we would certainly move on to better quality fish which is eventually the plan. He really just posted the pictures to show off their color and the crispness of the water. We are amazed at this tank because the water always looks like this and is always in perfect parameters with very little effort having to be made on his end. I think everyone was so quick to jump to conclusions. Once their tank is back up again they will be going back in there.

 

[V227]

I don't think your fish are stunted nor do I think they are poor quality. One looks like a cobalt blue, the others look to be turquoise variants but the photos are a little dark. Just keep doing what your doing and eventually they will be show fish.
Just a word of advice reference your petco holey rock. I have seen that same decoration at petco and I know how expensive they are. I bought approx. 300 lbs. Of real Texas Holey rock from a couple of local rock yards for 12 cents to 25 cents a pound. It was a lot of fun searching for trophy rocks, decorated three tanks with it, and saved a whole lot of money. I don't know why several of the AA members jumped on you and your boyfriend but I believe they meant well. Good luck.

 

[lady2017]

Thank You! One of our next adventures is going to be an African cichlid tank with real texas holey rock. Our better quality LFS sells it but it's very expensive there as well. I'll have to look around town for a better deal

 

[Brookster123]

All I'm saying is that the tank setup is all wrong for 2 discus, an angel and what looks like a long fin ram. Temporary or not. It's not how those fish should be kept. It's fact. A breeding pair in a bb 20 gal standard tank is done by some, it also gets like a million wcs a day. What you have is not that. I'm not here to argue, in just saying... you posted it, I responded.

 

[Bisqueshoppe]

"did they tell you..." ???
You know your animals better than any stranger. It looks lovely.

 

[lady2017]

Well I think everyone on here can agree that while not ideal it certainly wouldn't be in their best interest to go in any of our other tanks which house large aggressive cichlids that would gladly eat my tiny fish for a snack or kill them for sport while they literally cannot be in their correct tank. And the other cichlids cannot be with each other to give up their tank. They aren't stressed and are eating like pigs so id say for the time being they are okay

 

[dalto]

The rock is very fake. A replica from Petco actually. As are the discus.

For some reason, the first couple of times I read this I thought you meant the discus were fake. I actually went back and looked at the picture and was trying to figure out if they were photoshopped or something