Question about Discus

[guppy107]

I seen the best looking tanks I have ever seen this weekend. I buy all my used stuff off of one guy. He took me in his house and showed me his tanks. he has 6 125 gal with Discus and Angelfish in them. Some Discus were as big as my hand. He has 8 breeding tanks in his basement of Discus and angelfish. I have read all I could this weekend on Discus and angelfish. These are the fish for me. I have the Discus bug now.
1 I read were discus and angel should not be keep in the same tank
2 should have a bear bottom.
3 temp 85 to 90 f.
4 must be planted
5 What type of plants
6 My PH out of the tap is 7.5 need 6.5 How do I do that
7 at least 50% water change 1 time a week
8 Some info said use RO water
Is all this true I won't to do this right the first time. Thanks for any help

[WhiteDevil]

1) this is TRUE if you have breeding pairs of either or in the tank

2) bare bottoms are good for QT and breeding, the more driftwood the better for discus
3) temp is spot on

4)discus come from regions of the amazon that dont really grow plants

5) any really

6)using RO water helps with this and gives you a better chance of them successfully breeding

7) I do two 50%'s a week on my discus tank its a 20g

8)this is true

9) most of this info is true, ive seen em breed with tap water however the offspring didnt last more then a year once converted to RO, all my tap bred discus have died.

They arent hard to keep but they are a challenge to the novice keeper, Discus are a fish that are best kept in the hands of someone with money. Discus are the ONLY fish I have spent over $500 bucks on medications from fish vets.

[guppy107]

Thanks for the info White Devil. I am going to do this. I do not plan on breeding them till I understand them. Will sand be a good substrate and a lot of drift wood. I am going to set up my 125 for them. I can buy them from Larry. He has them as small as 2 in said I should not start with the little ones. That I should get them 4 or 5 in would be the best to start with. All I have keep for the last 25 year are Gourami. Need to try something ealse.

[WhiteDevil]

Sand is a natural substrate for them, well muck is but sand is perfectly fine however sand doesnt grow plants well due to no nutrients in the material. It also might pose problems with heavy root feeding plants.

He is correct although the 4-5" cost more money they are fish that should be able to live a healthy life. I havnt lost a fish to anything other then jumping out of the tank when they are over 4" in diameter.

RO is not a must but it does truly help them live better. I do suggest a UV sterilizer for your 125, its cheap insurance.

[guppy107]

I will do the UV sterilizer. I had already bought 240 lb of eco-complete for this tank will this be ok. Larry breed his Discus with ro than some how he gets them use to tap Can not wait to get this going. Going to do a lot more reading and learning so I don't screw up Thanks for your help

[Cermet]

Temperature is the key and you know the range except your upper range is too high but is in the medical range - that is 87 - 92 is used only for sick discus and used for two weeks; also, extra air is then critical. Salt is often used at that point and these two do wonders (temp/salt). The prefered temp range for keeping them is 82-86. pH of 7.5 is fine - just not for breeding. They can endure lower temps but that is not good for them. So you need to buy heaters that can go this high (and can hold so temps - that means more watts per gal than normal fish.) Water changes are useful (larger and more often the better) and massive water changes very often (if not daily) is used for breeding

Need groups of six or more so a min. tank is 75 gal (for six) Mine have grown from barely two inch to six to seven inches (less than a year.) High quality food and some live/frozen are important for good health, too. :11:

[3dees]

I have a 120 gal. biotope. temp is 83. ph is 7.6. water changes are 60% every 5 days with tap water and Prime. no plants except for some floating. a thin layer of Carib-Sea sand. 8 adult wild discus, 4 wild Festivums, and 25 lemon tetras. they have been together fo 15 months and I have not lost one fish. I have never added any meds. what I'm getting at is it's not hard to keep discus. there is a lot of myths and half truths out there. some people just seem to make it more complicated than it really is. if you can give them very clean water, quality food, and the right tank mates, you should have no problem keeping domestics or wilds. save your money. unless your water is bad or you are trying to breed wilds you do not need RO, and you certainly do not need a uv sterilizer. the most important tip I can give you is to buy your fish from a reputable breeder or importer. discus are the one fish you do not want to buy on impulse from your lfs. hope this helps.

[guppy107]

Well I did order a UV sterilizer and a ro unit from Foster and Smith last Night. The sterilizer cant hurt. I will save the Ro till I may decide to breed them. I can buy my fish from my buddy Larry His fish are outstanding. I told larry what I had bought he said the same thing that I did not need a Sterilizer or a ro unit. But I like being the only kid on the block with all the neat stuff. LOL

[WhiteDevil]

You dont NEED a UV sterilizer no, but should you have one with THOSE specific fish, absolutely. The temp range is still in debate, While higher temps are used in QT my main 210g tank is set to 86, your number 1 piece of equipment you MUST HAVE but havnt said anything about is a heater controller.

Everyone keeps them differently but still have the same concerns in the end. Mine are a year old, got em as 1"-1.5", I dont have a single discus under 5" a year later.

Here is mine.

Oh what is Larry's business name? If its who I am thinking of, good luck if not then my apologies. Ive heard horror stories of a Larry's Discus but I think the one I am recalling is in texas or florida or something. I ordered mine from hawaii discus and with those first 10 I ordered from him he gave me 3 proven pairs due to being out of a strain I wanted badly.

Your discus will only be as healthy as you allow them to be, feed them top notch foods(mine love kens flakes, kens tubifex and wafers then hikari frozen bloodworms and Organic live blackworms.) its a varied menu for them so they dont get picky on a certain type of food.

RO as I said is not a must but when you get that Ph to around 5.8-6.3 expect some spawning going on.

your eco is perfect for their substrate, Discus need a substrate they can utilize to eat off of. they do use their fins and
Exhale" to kick up foods off the bottom then they eat em once they get back into the water flow.

This is my discus kingdom
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Discus are my most recent field of study. No offense but the more I am learning the more they are similar to a high maintenance woman(or man if thats your deal or you are a female) They can be very very stressing fish to keep if you are not educated on them.

[guppy107]

Larry does not sell on line just to LFS. He is out of Troy OH. I learn all that I can on a fish that I lke befire I buy. My Chocolate Gourami are warm water fish 80 to 88 F I have them In a 30 gal tank The heating system I have for them Is a True Temp Titanium Heating system 150 watt I am going to get the same system but 500 watt never have had a problem with this system. It took me six months to buy my first Chocolate Gourami. It may take me that long to buy my first Discus hope not. I like to know all I can before I spend a lot of money. These fish don't seem like they will be cheap. So with all of your help. I will be ok.

[fishguy66]

Discus are not really hard to keep, as long as you are willing to do A LOT of water changes. That really seems to be the key. I don't know about having to use R/O water these days, as the fish you buy today have been bred in captivity for generations, but I do know a few people that have them & they do daily water changes, & their discus are thriving.

[Sandz]

There seems to always be a debate about how hard discus are to keep... the main fault of the fish is their sucception to disease. Good clean water and proper diet will aid that. You can keep (captive bred) discus at 8.0 ph (seen it done many times in the past 6mo) and still get eggs. I cant guaruntee that they will be fertile all the time but I have seen discus actually breed in these conditions.

With all the breeding out in captivity, discus are being kept in far greater ranges and having more and more success. I have seen some legit tanks that have had 50% w/c's 1 time a week since the fish were 6 weeks old and they grew into plate size in a year and a half.

While this is not the common application or the best application of keeping your fish to the best of your ability, it CAN be done and has. The best recommendation I can give (and what I do) would be to keep the water clean, keep natural wood in the tank and 2-3 w/cs between 30-50% making sure to take out as much fecal matter as you can see. Make sure to keep a stable PH and keep the tank out of a high traffic area. 82-88 degrees. Test for ammonia and all that every other day if your tank is fully cycled (and if its not why the heck are you putting discus in there?!)... If you see even a minute amnt of ammonia, do a w/c and add prime. As a rule I add a quarter dose of prime on 1 of the off days between w/c's to eliminate my worry about ammonia. My ph ranges from 7.6-7.8.

It took my discus 3 days to settle in but since then, they have been doing excellent and each have grown at least a quarter inch in 1 month. They are attentive and look amazing. I couldnt be happier with these fish. As they grow they will be more and more easy to keep.

[guppy107]

I am setting my tank up this weekend to get it cycling. so It will be 4 too 6 weeks before it is ready. I have done a lot of reading in the last few days and what I have found out that nobody says the same thing. I have read were Chocolate Gourami make good tank mates. I have had Chocolate's for 3 year now. I did get a ro unit and a UV sterilizer. I think since the Cholcolate Gourami Like the same water as Discus I will be ok. I will put my Gouramis with the Discus and see how it goes. I hope I am not making a mistake here.