Introducing baby discus to the community tank

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JenNewbie

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Dec 12, 2003
Messages
211
Location
Davis CA
I still have at least another week to treat my quarantined discus, but I'm wondering about how to make the transition to the main tank as smooth as possible. I have been adding 1 tsp salt/5 gal in my community tank, but haven't bothered in the discus' tank since they get water changes so frequently. Do discus do all right with salt in their water? Just askin...
 
Why not put the Discus in the 40? They typically do better when there is less bio load and you can keep the water cleaner.
 
I know you don't want to hear this Jen but here goes. Those baby discus will not be able to fend for themselves in your community tank. You're going to have to overfeed that tank by quite a bit if they're going to get enough food to grow on. That's providing that they aren't so stressed by the activity of the other fish that they even want to eat. I'm not even going into the issue of keeping the tank and water clean.

What you'll likely see is the discus becoming darker and darker and begin wasting away. Discus are hardier fish than alot of people think, but by placing them in that tank, you're putting them in real jeopardy.

BTW, salt is never an issue. I use it any time I suspect a problem with my discus. Good Luck.
 
Actually, Brian, I do need to hear (read?) these things since I pretty much jumped the gun by getting these two in the first place. Unfortunately, I sold my 40 gallon, thinking I didn't need it and I could use the money more... Bad move. So the way I see it I have 3 options:
1) Buy another tank big enough for the discus alone. Would they be happy with just the 2 of them? And the hassle of doing water changes in a tank on the floor (underneath the 75 gallon) or trying to find room for yet another tank. And spending even more money...
2) Divide the 75 gallon. Do they make net barriers so that water exchange can happen? This doesn't seem like the most practical solution...
3) Sell or rehome the discus. This may be a better solution, even though I won't get to have the fun of watching them grow up, etc.
Any thoughts? The discus that was injured is basically completely healed, but there is still a whitish spot on one of its fins, so I'd like to continue treatment for another week or so.
 
Baby discus also do better in groups... Discus can be so rewarding.

Perhaps, if you can get another tank, at least 4 more discus (same size) and quarantine them in the new tank. This is assuming you use old filter media in the new tank to speed up cycling.

After the quarantine time has elapsed on both tanks you can have a nice discus tank so they can grow fast and healthily....

It depends on how badly you would like to have discus.
 
OK, I hear you Jen. I always think fish do better with people that really want to care for them so I don't much care for option 3.

If you can afford it, buy a 29 gallon tank. I found this the perfect size to grow out discus for the first few months. The reason is it made water changes easier than larger tanks. Bare bottom is better as well because it's easier to keep clean.

Mattrox is correct about them doing better in groups but if they've survived this far as a twosome you should be fine. IME you're better off raising the two of them than adding another one or two discus. For some reason 3 or 4 discus in a tank usually means one is picked on quite a bit. 5 always seemed to work for me without a nasty pecking order. HTH :wink:
 
I hear you Brian... I don't think that I'd put two into a tank with 4 already in it with a pecking order.... I'd catch the 4 and put them in buckets then put the 2 in then add the 4 back one by one... a bit of messing around but re-jigs the pecking order a bit.

I also agree that if the 2 show no signs of stress or shyness that they can do well together.
 
They aren't showing signs of stress, but they definitely spar with each other. Not being that familiar with discus, I don't know if they are typically snotty or excessively snotty to each other. I don't know about getting more discus, if only because they are so rare in the lfs available to me. I could always post for local breeders, but I may not have any luck there, either. Would adding other large peaceful fish help at all? Maybe silver dollars or angels? I've posted on craigslist for a tank, so we'll see if anything materializes. And I'm watching the classifieds.
 
Sparring is OK Jen. One cringing in a corner of the tank is bad. If they're both eating you should be OK without adding any other fish.
 
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