Discus fish

[Joeysdiscus]

I have two things to say 1: Scott your discus are absolutely beautiful well done the hard work has paid off! And 2: listen to Scott if you want your discus to be happy colourful and illness free! Otherwise don't buy discus and put them and your wallet through that!

 

[Cactuspixie]

So I'll share my fish and setup too if its helpful.

What a beautiful setup you have. Those fish are absolutely stunning! Your efforts truly show.

 

[leopardfrog]

I'm in a similar position of thinking about adding discus to a South American communitope. I keep hearing the large water changes mentioned with respect to keeping them. I'm wondering why? What function does the water change serve? I use a ro/tap mix, I add tap and slightly harden up the water for stability. My ammonia/nitrites/nitrates are all 0, and I only do 10% a week. Its a 220gal tank so much over this is difficult to manage. Current stock is 40 cardinals, 20 bentosi, 10 kerri, 8 sterbai, 5 adolfoi, 3 agissizi, pair a.hongsloi, pair a.cacautoides, pair a.nijsseni, starlight bristlenose, green phantom, gold nugget, around 40 Amano shrimp.

Would a group of say 5 discus be ok? The tank is quite heavily planted, but has large open swimming areas. My tetra don't shoal overly well, so I want something big in the mid levels.

 

[Erod714]

I wondered with so many water changes how do they keep up with replenishing the electrolytes and how often do they replenish.. Every water change .. Bi weekly.. Etc.. Ro/di water of course

 

[leopardfrog]

Seachem do something called replenish I think. Its to add minerals back into RO water. I can't see the point, I just add some tap and leave it a few days. I think there's too much baffling with science at times. I control my water to a specific hardness, keep a check on the usual three and change a small amount of water each week, usually because the fx5 holds 20litres which is flushed out as well as draining about 25-50litres from the tank.

 

[Cynic]

I'm in a similar position of thinking about adding discus to a South American communitope. I keep hearing the large water changes mentioned with respect to keeping them. I'm wondering why? What function does the water change serve? I use a ro/tap mix, I add tap and slightly harden up the water for stability. My ammonia/nitrites/nitrates are all 0, and I only do 10% a week. Its a 220gal tank so much over this is difficult to manage. Current stock is 40 cardinals, 20 bentosi, 10 kerri, 8 sterbai, 5 adolfoi, 3 agissizi, pair a.hongsloi, pair a.cacautoides, pair a.nijsseni, starlight bristlenose, green phantom, gold nugget, around 40 Amano shrimp.

Would a group of say 5 discus be ok? The tank is quite heavily planted, but has large open swimming areas. My tetra don't shoal overly well, so I want something big in the mid levels.

You may have an issue with temperature compatibility.

 

[Cynic]

Discus almost do use a different set of rules. The many many water changes (or DWC implying DAILY water changes) can hurt your bio filter. I know a breeder who teaches not going overboard with DWC. He says multiple changes per day and high percent (90%+) changes everyday leads to a ineffective bio filter and therefore ammonia spikes. He still does teach DWC, just not crazy DWCs.

I think my canister filter always protected my from this bioload issue, because I never could truly do a 100% DWC.

RO is not usually required unless you want to do breeding. Even then many people never need to go RO. I use it for my breeders, because so far they've not been effective at converting eggs to wigglers.

Large water changes won't affect your bio load at all so that's incorrect.

 

[JustinKScott]

Large water changes won't affect your bio load at all so that's incorrect.

I guess I mistyped. What I meant was he (the professional discus breeder) believed that too frequent of WC's removed the ammonia before the bio filter had a chance to 'eat' it, therefore starving the bacteria. So when the fish generate ammonia after their large meals, the bio-filter wasn't capable of keeping up. He shared stories of his tanks clouding up (sign of ammonia), and reducing the amount/frequency of DWC helped that. He only seemed to use sponge filters, bare-bottom, and large DWC.

I've personally never seen what he was suggesting, I was just sharing. I also have always run canisters and almost never do 100% WCs; so there will always be ammonia left in my water column for the bacteria to survive.

 

[leopardfrog]

I knew discus like it hot, but is 25'c really too low? I'm not interested in breeding.

 

[JustinKScott]

I knew discus like it hot, but is 25'c really too low? I'm not interested in breeding.

25C = 77F; so yes it is too low. They should be in 84F (29C)

 

[pcdebb]

So I'll share my fish and setup too if its helpful.

7x adult discus, neons, and 3x Siamese algae eaters

75g tank, 70% water changes twice weekly with aged tap water.

Fluval G6 canister filter running only biological and mechanical filtration, as chemical will remove my fertilizers.

4x T5HO plant growth bulbs, 8hour photo period, 1 hour siesta at mid-day.

Pressurized CO2, and root medic ferts (twice weekly)

Diet of frozen BLACK worms (not bloodworms), and beef heart.

Twin aqueon pro 250w heaters @ 85F; with O2 pump to offset the heat and CO2.

beautiful discus! where do you get your blackworms? I heard they are better than bloodworms. my discus just dont dig beefheart right now.

I currently have 4 medium discus in a planted tank with substrate. 46 gallon right now, but im preparing to move them to my 75 whenever I break it down. Also have a dozen neon tetras, approx 8 or so male endler guppies, two panda corys, two botias and a pleco.

I did alot of research before even thinking of discus, because I always heard they were difficult to keep. I've heard various things about water changes, enviroments, etc. In all honestly I'm finding these parameters can vary widely depending on if they are wild discus or from a breeder. I've only had one death, which has been attributed to a sick fish from the beginning (LFS owned up to it and credited me with another fish)

I do a water change 3~4 times a week with aged ro/di water that I make here at home, about 20%. I have two marineland powerfilters and one heater (thinking of adding a second one). I keep the temp at 84F.

I dont know everything about discus, but I've wanted to keep them for almost 10 years and never had the guts. I love sitting and watching my PB rule the tank

 

[JustinKScott]

beautiful discus! where do you get your blackworms? I heard they are better than bloodworms. my discus just dont dig beefheart right now.

I currently have 4 medium discus in a planted tank with substrate. 46 gallon right now, but im preparing to move them to my 75 whenever I break it down. Also have a dozen neon tetras, approx 8 or so male endler guppies, two panda corys, two botias and a pleco.

I did alot of research before even thinking of discus, because I always heard they were difficult to keep. I've heard various things about water changes, enviroments, etc. In all honestly I'm finding these parameters can vary widely depending on if they are wild discus or from a breeder. I've only had one death, which has been attributed to a sick fish from the beginning (LFS owned up to it and credited me with another fish)

I do a water change 3~4 times a week with aged ro/di water that I make here at home, about 20%. I have two marineland powerfilters and one heater (thinking of adding a second one). I keep the temp at 84F.

I dont know everything about discus, but I've wanted to keep them for almost 10 years and never had the guts. I love sitting and watching my PB rule the tank

Sounds like you are doing a great job. Keep it up! It's not hard, just have to keep doing it. Fast water pumps from your aged barrel helps. So does a water alarm (usually for freezers).

California Black worms, I get from here:
http://www.aquaticfoods.com/worms.html

Their prices include next day air to your house, and you can get either live or frozen. My discus LOVE live BW, but they are soo much more work. I've gone to frozen and will never go back.

 

[leopardfrog]

Having done a bit more research I doubt i'll get into it. Despite advice being given to people on virtually every forum I've browsed to keep them at 84'f or above, irrespective of the op's other stock, I cant raise my temps high enough. I think the original poster on here also has various fish that will not tolerate those high temperatures. I'm continuing looking into it as their wild habitat can be quite cool.

 

[leopardfrog]

Just as an example above, 29'c is too hot for neons and siamese algae eaters. It kind of seems that discus are kept at the expense of their cheaper tank mates in a lot of discus tanks.

 

[giffmastaflex]

What kind of fish can I put into the tank with a discus?

 

[pcdebb]

What kind of fish can I put into the tank with a discus?

Discus like a calm environment. Cardinal or neon tetras are perfrct , corys for cleanup duties, I've read blue rams can go with them. I have a dozen neons, two corys, a few endler guppies, and a pair of botias in my tank. Be mindful of parameters with the tank mates as well (temp, pH, etc)

 

[Cynic]

Discus like a calm environment. Cardinal or neon tetras are perfrct , corys for cleanup duties, I've read blue rams can go with them. I have a dozen neons, two corys, a few endler guppies, and a pair of botias in my tank. Be mindful of parameters with the tank mates as well (temp, pH, etc)

I believe only sterbai cories can handle discus temperatures just as a warning

 

[leopardfrog]

I agree with cynic. Sterbai are pretty versatile and will stick it pretty warm, although 29'c is at the top of their limit. I don't think there are really any other commonly available cory's that will, certainly not your pandas. 29'c is far too hot for neons and a bit too hot for cardinals. I keep my cardinals at 25'c and growth and colouration is superb. For rams its again right at the top of their range. Basically your just going to shorten the life of those fish just to keep your discus growth optimal, really not ethical.

 

[leopardfrog]

There are a few nice L numbers that like it warm. Browse planet catfish and you'll find some.

 

[pcdebb]

I believe only sterbai cories can handle discus temperatures just as a warning

Not sure what sterbai is but I have panda corys that have been in the tank since its been setup. They are doing great. So are the neons. Can't speak for anybody else's tank buy mine is doing good.