Obligated to share

[Guinness]

Hi, trooper is a cool name and a very nice fish. He is in fact a blue turquoise discus. Discus should be kept in groups (5 or more) so he would appreciate some friends. Just be aware that they can get very big as adults about 14" in diameter.
I don't know how big your tank is that he is in. Just something to think about.

When selecting discus friends for trooper try to find discus about the same size as him.
There is a pecking order with discus and any smaller ones may lose out on food. Also the reason for 5 or more is that it stops them being aggressive with each other as the more there are the more there focus is distracted from the fish they are chasing if you get what I mean.

 

[Mlani]

congratulations for owning a discus fish - they are truly the kings of the freshwater aquarium. they are so beautiful and gentle but proud fishes - i have 3 (2-3 years old) and im planning to buy more once my new tank is completed i will add 3-4 more.

try to make its diet diverse like i do so it can grow faster and healthy - mix it with beef heart, artemia, tubifex, krill and bloodworms so that he gets different nutrition.

Thank you I agree with you completely! I want to get more. I just wasn't sure how Trooper would take to new roomies and I'm a little afraid to stress him out especially knowing that he could break out with either of the ailments he beat already. I've heard that once the fish has been exposed there's a greater chance of them getting it again when stressed? Do you know if there's any truth to that? I feed him frozen (thawed first in a cup) blood worms and mysis shrimp also cichlid pellets and flake. He seems to like everything. I almost picked up some tubifex the other day but wasn't sure. I will get some next time.

 

[Mlani]

Hi, trooper is a cool name and a very nice fish. He is in fact a blue turquoise discus. Discus should be kept in groups (5 or more) so he would appreciate some friends. Just be aware that they can get very big as adults about 14" in diameter.
I don't know how big your tank is that he is in. Just something to think about.

When selecting discus friends for trooper try to find discus about the same size as him.
There is a pecking order with discus and any smaller ones may lose out on food. Also the reason for 5 or more is that it stops them being aggressive with each other as the more there are the more there focus is distracted from the fish they are chasing if you get what I mean.

Thank you I think he earned his name. It's good to know he's a blue turquoise thanks. I thought he was a turquoise of some kind but wasn't positive which kind. I have him in an 80 gal 4' long tank right now. I've been considering getting more but am hesitant to stress Trooper out. Do you have experience with discus that have overcome what he has? Will it effect his health more because of it? Or is it like chicken pox, shouldn't get it again after beating it?

 

[FishieMomma]

What a beautiful fish! I don't know much about discus fish but I want to go learn now!

 

[Discusapisto]

Just quarantine any new discus for 2-4 weeks and add in with trooper that way you can catch any discus diseases if they occur, and keep them all the same size as well. I'm glad he is doing well

 

[Guinness]

Thank you I think he earned his name. It's good to know he's a blue turquoise thanks. I thought he was a turquoise of some kind but wasn't positive which kind. I have him in an 80 gal 4' long tank right now. I've been considering getting more but am hesitant to stress Trooper out. Do you have experience with discus that have overcome what he has? Will it effect his health more because of it? Or is it like chicken pox, shouldn't get it again after beating it?

Hi,

Being the only discus in the tank he will be a bit Lonely on his own. It won't stress him out if you put more in with him, I would buy another 4 at the same size as trooper and add them all at the same time, that way they won't abuse eachother.
Fish can get white spot at any given time and it doesn't matter if they have had it once or a hundred times, if the fish gets to stressed it will get it. I have fish that have recovered from white spot and they are still alive 18 months later and are as healthy as ever. I do have a discus only tank about the same size as yours and as long as you keep the water parameters good and the PWC up to date you will have little problems with them. I brought 3 to start with but had to buy another 2 pretty quickly as they just chased and harassed eachother all the time as soon as I added more the fighting stopped.

As mentioned already make sure you quarantine the new ones for about a month before you add them to troopers home. That way you can be sure they are all ok.

 

[laoski]

Thank you I agree with you completely! I want to get more. I just wasn't sure how Trooper would take to new roomies and I'm a little afraid to stress him out especially knowing that he could break out with either of the ailments he beat already. I've heard that once the fish has been exposed there's a greater chance of them getting it again when stressed? Do you know if there's any truth to that? I feed him frozen (thawed first in a cup) blood worms and mysis shrimp also cichlid pellets and flake. He seems to like everything. I almost picked up some tubifex the other day but wasn't sure. I will get some next time.

hmm i never had any problems with my discus - except some "pimples" grow on the skin but it comes off as fast as it appeared. ^_^

as for the tubifex - it has some properties that makes the fish really large lol - but at the same time fish would lose its colours - so make it a balance diet of tubifex and artemia (brine shrimp) the artemia can brighten the colors of the fishes. artemia is also the food of flamingoes that keep their color pink alive lol.

 

[Mlani]

Hi,

Being the only discus in the tank he will be a bit Lonely on his own. It won't stress him out if you put more in with him, I would buy another 4 at the same size as trooper and add them all at the same time, that way they won't abuse eachother.
Fish can get white spot at any given time and it doesn't matter if they have had it once or a hundred times, if the fish gets to stressed it will get it. I have fish that have recovered from white spot and they are still alive 18 months later and are as healthy as ever. I do have a discus only tank about the same size as yours and as long as you keep the water parameters good and the PWC up to date you will have little problems with them. I brought 3 to start with but had to buy another 2 pretty quickly as they just chased and harassed eachother all the time as soon as I added more the fighting stopped.

As mentioned already make sure you quarantine the new ones for about a month before you add them to troopers home. That way you can be sure they are all ok.

I had a qt, it's now holding some of my other fish. (recently learned the lesson about mixing cichlids) I've spoken to a local breeder, who will have quite a few discus ready to go for April. That gives me a month to get another tank up and running. I'm not sure how I'm going to pull that one off. Worst case scenario, I wait a little longer to get more discus. The pet store that I purchased Trooper from said to put metro+ and garlic guard with his blood worms in a cup to soak for 15-20 mins before feeding them to him. I've been doing it, but now I'm hesitant, it feels like I'm drugging him? Should I cease?

 

[Mlani]

hmm i never had any problems with my discus - except some "pimples" grow on the skin but it comes off as fast as it appeared. ^_^

as for the tubifex - it has some properties that makes the fish really large lol - but at the same time fish would lose its colours - so make it a balance diet of tubifex and artemia (brine shrimp) the artemia can brighten the colors of the fishes. artemia is also the food of flamingoes that keep their color pink alive lol.

Thank you, good information to know. Trooper needs no help with his colors. He seems to be brightening up more and more each day. I'm really quite taken with this fish. He shows so much character! He plays with my albino shark, the cories and me. Lol! When I'm in the tank doing pwc's and what not he rubs up against the back of my hand. He stays in area of the tank closest to me when we're sitting in the living room. I've even switched spots to see if it was just chance. My kids and husband are even starting to notice he's not like the other fish. So any advice I can get, I'm open to

 

[laoski]

yeah a strict rule with the discus is that to keep them in optimum water shape - but i guess from experience - they can adapt to the environment - not too much water change/high-low ph (lol)/different sets of diet etc. the only thing thats giving me a headache is when they throw "tantrums" for ex. doenst eat for days or just hide behind the tank. very temperamental but i like it - its the challenge of the fish hahaha. they really have character and when my discus' are on the "mood" they just flash their fins and give out full colors.


glad to know that lil trooper is doing well inside your tank - quite strange though - lol because i also had an albino shark (still there in my old tank and i will donate it to work soon) with the discus'. the problem is i have to separate them because i saw the shark sucking the discus' and ive read alot that the discus has special coating in its scales to protect it from disease or something like that which sucker fish family could suck out and destroy the protective coating of the fish. - just look closey if the albino shark is doing that.

and one thing ive noticed - after seeing so many short vids of discus in youtube - the environment they live in the amazon is a flooded river biotope with submerged roots - so i recreated something like that in my new aquarium and they love it - they love swimming and circling under rhe "submerged roots". as what the other aquarist here says - its better if hes in a group because discus by nature are swarming fishes.

this is a vid i found in youtube because i was so curious how dicus' live in thier natural habitat!

 

[Mlani]

Oh WOW! I would love to do something like that! What a video! So fortunate to be able to experience that. Thank you for sharing it with me. At first I thought, there's only 1-2 of them swimming together. Then watching further seeing just how large the group is that stays together really shows me how important it is for Trooper to have friends. Watching how they protect the younger ones by keeping them tight inside the group it's just amazing. Thank you again. I see what I need to do more of in my tank too. I have one side where the plants come up like a canopy and a large piece of driftwood. I think before I get more discus, I'm going to pick up another piece of driftwood and more plants. Right now it's pretty one sided in the tank the other side has short plants and an open swimming space. My albino is around 5" now and super fat! Lol I don't think I have to worry about him going after Trooper. I researched that some fish do like the slime coat on discus and have made sure NOT to include them in this tank. I wasn't aware that my albino might too. Everything that I researched and everyone that I asked never said anything about the possibility of it. Mind you, it was hard to find a lot of info on the subject to begin with. Not a lot of people had personal experience with the combo. It's good to know though and I will definitely keep an eye out for any behavior of that kind with the albino. Thank you for letting me know. Whoops.. I wrote a book..sorry lol!

 

[Guinness]

I had a qt, it's now holding some of my other fish. (recently learned the lesson about mixing cichlids) I've spoken to a local breeder, who will have quite a few discus ready to go for April. That gives me a month to get another tank up and running. I'm not sure how I'm going to pull that one off. Worst case scenario, I wait a little longer to get more discus. The pet store that I purchased Trooper from said to put metro+ and garlic guard with his blood worms in a cup to soak for 15-20 mins before feeding them to him. I've been doing it, but now I'm hesitant, it feels like I'm drugging him? Should I cease?

I'm not familiar with metro and don't know what it is or what it does, what I would say is if he is healthy and feeding well just feed him and that's it. No need for medication! keep on top of your PWC and keep the water parameters good.

As for getting a qt up and running, if you have an external filter running on troopers tank you could put the filter media into that from your qt so it builds up the natural bacteria, then when you are ready for your fish to go into qt just do a PWC on troopers tank, put the water you take out into the qt and take the filter media out of the external and put back into the filter for the qt. your good to go, nice and easy. Does that make sense?

Just make sure you leave the media in the external from troopers tank for about a month to give it time to build up the bacteria it needs.

 

[Mlani]

I'm not familiar with metro and don't know what it is or what it does, what I would say is if he is healthy and feeding well just feed him and that's it. No need for medication! keep on top of your PWC and keep the water parameters good.

As for getting a qt up and running, if you have an external filter running on troopers tank you could put the filter media into that from your qt so it builds up the natural bacteria, then when you are ready for your fish to go into qt just do a PWC on troopers tank, put the water you take out into the qt and take the filter media out of the external and put back into the filter for the qt. your good to go, nice and easy. Does that make sense?

Just make sure you leave the media in the external from troopers tank for about a month to give it time to build up the bacteria it needs.

I have two canisters on Troopers tank. One has ceramic cylinders (bio stones) and the other is my micron filter. I also have another sponge filter inside the tank. I could always swap one of those out to use. They're nice and "gummy" lol! As for the metro+ it's a multi purpose treatment for disease. I'll attach a photo of it. I've stopped putting it on his food, but I'm still doing the garlic on one of his three feedings a day. I figured I'd watch him closely and see how he does without it. Thanks for your help. It's really nice to throw ideas off other people and hear what they think in return.

 

[Guinness]

I have two canisters on Troopers tank. One has ceramic cylinders (bio stones) and the other is my micron filter. I also have another sponge filter inside the tank. I could always swap one of those out to use. They're nice and "gummy" lol! As for the metro+ it's a multi purpose treatment for disease. I'll attach a photo of it. I've stopped putting it on his food, but I'm still doing the garlic on one of his three feedings a day. I figured I'd watch him closely and see how he does without it. Thanks for your help. It's really nice to throw ideas off other people and hear what they think in return.

That's good that you have options with your filters. Makes life easy.

Garlic is good for fish immune systems it keeps their digestive system in good condition. I buy frozen brine shrimp and garlic from my lfs for my discus. I would stop using the metro if trooper looks ok. Just keep an eye on him like you say.

 

[laoski]

lol i dont mind though - i like to to read long messages because it can help me too in the future!

hmmm mind if i ask if you can send us a pic of your tank too? ^_^

 

[Mlani]

I do that too. Read through and see what I can learn. I'll post a full shot of my tank when I get home. (on mobile app) My tank is still a work in progress. I'm going to get more plants and already have another piece of driftwood coming.

 

[Mlani]

Here we go. I'm still waiting for my glass top and I want to get different lighting too. I have a really long want list. Lol!

 

[laoski]

thats so nice! a panorama aquarium! you will really love it when discus swim and swarm with each other and swim back and forth the tank! but i dont see trooper there - is he hiding lol?

you can get 3-4 more discus!

 

[Mlani]

thats so nice! a panorama aquarium! you will really love it when discus swim and swarm with each other and swim back and forth the tank! but i dont see trooper there - is he hiding lol?

you can get 3-4 more discus!

Lol! Yes he is, I took the picture after his last meal for the night. He usually eats and then gets ready for bed. He's quite comfy with his routine . I was thinking about getting 4 more to make it 5 in total. I heard they do better in odd numbers? My tank is a panorama? I picked it up for $75.00 and rebuilt it. All I know about it is that it's around 10 yrs old?

 

[janky]

Awesome discus!!! I'm looking to get some set up in my 55 gal as well, so I'm sure I'll have lots of questions for you!!