Discus, i need help

[Abercrombie6202]

I planned on getting 3 dicus at my lfs for a total of $50.00, but i hae been doing research for awhile, i understand they need a ph of about 6.0, special foods, anmd a lot of water changes, and more. I was confused on why do you have to do more water changes and how do you make special diet foods. Also is it okay to get 2 of one kind of species discus and 1 of another kind. How do you tell if there male or female?

I've done research, but i think i need to know more to make sure my discus will be happy

 

[1979camaro]

i am by no means a discus expert, but there are ph regulating products to lower it which you will need to buy...i reccomend not getting "pH down" simply because it is tough to dose, look for something which tells how much it will do, etc...aquarium pharmaceuticals makes a product i believe

i think you ought to be able to buy the food, wouldnt need to make it

what i have read indicates discus need a 10% change daily...not sure why this is, other than they simply need clean water

i see no reason not to get two of one type and one of another

more help could probably be found in the discus section

Kevin

 

[fishboy]

How large of a tank are you planning on putting these fish in? Barebottom or planted? How large are these fish you are purchasing? If they are juveniles you need to really have them in a barebottom tank because they need large water changes daily and it is so much easier to clean up all the excess food and waste.

Discus really arent that hard. They just need a lot of determination, care, and TLC. Contrary to the common belief you do not need to have a low Ph. Just keep it at what your LFS has it at. With young discus they need top quality food. Live, frozen, and dry. I suggest different brands of discus pellets, Frozen Hikari Bloodworms, Frozen Brine Shrimp, Live Black worms, Live Brine shrimp for now.

Young discus require large water changes and almost constant feedings so they can grow. They need very clean water, so with young fish atleast 80-85% water changes must be done every day. You must also wipe down the insides of the aquarium becuase detrius will often attach itself to them.

Keeping multiple strains of discus together is fine, it really doesnt matter, more of personal taste.

Telling sexes is very difficult. The only way you could would be to witness them spawning, and assuming you are going to buy young fish, you have a long way off.

I suggest a 55 gallon and having 6 fish to grow out. This should be bare bottom, and cleaned daily. Feed them heavily 4-5 times a day with healthy foods i mentioned above. The temperature must be kept around 82 F aswell because discus need higher than other fish. Get a few good powerfilters on the back, cycle it, and you should be set.

Are the discus's eyes you are planning on purchasing large in comparison to their body? If so these fish are stunted, and you should really not buy them.

I also suggest you look at these sites and research.
Simplydiscus.com

daah.com



Good luck,

DanielAquaforums.com

 

[AndyL]

You really need to know more to keep discus happy.

Firstly 3 discus isn't a nice group - you'll have a dead discus quickly. 6 is the usually recommended number then the dominance aggression gets spread out.

No fish require a specific pH - you've been on this board more than long enough to understand this... pH 'needs' are simply something the pet store and mfg'ers use to sell you more junk you dont need. ** Caveat some fish (some apistos come to mind) need soft water but, still do fine in a range of ph.

Yes discus do need 'special food'. Well not so special actually. They need a variety of good nutritious foods. You can't just feed them flake and expect them to grow up to 7-8" round discus with nice small eyes. If you've read up, you know most serious discus enthusiasts use a beefheart mix, and or California black worms (CBW). BH is cheap to make CBW is a live food that just about any fish will go insane over. Add to that various frozen foods (krill, mysis shrimp, blood worms). And flake and you've got a good discus diet.

You need to do so many water changes because they are dirty fish. They eat and poop a lot, and you need to keep the nitrates down (below 5ppm) or you end up with stunted fish (shaped like footballs with big eyes). Discus are also common targets of various parasites, gill flukes, intestinal worms etc. The extra w/c's help keep the parasites out of the water.

I wont even start on the LPS discus... find a breeder instead.

Originally posted by Abercrombie6202

I've done research, but i think i need to know more to make sure my discus will be happy

You haven't researched enough - to go the websites fishboy mentioned, read read read.

Andy

 

[mfj]

the main thing that u want to avoid about pH is that you don't want ph to go down too much... e.g. if lfs is 8.5 and your water is 6.0, that could be a problem. if lfs is 6.0 & yours is 8.5 that shouldn't be a problem.

sounds like u know what you're getting into. good luck! have you checked out the "discus discussion" forum on this site?

 

[Luca]

mfj is correct in that going from a higher ph to a lower ph will/could acid burn the fish depending on the degree of change. It is recommended you change the ph of fish by only 0.2 every 24hrs. e.g 6.8 to 6.6 in 24hours.

definitely check out www.simplydiscus.com as fishboy suggested. it is best to read everything first, so try to hold off on them for a little while and do all the reading. That's what i've been doing and i'm still doing and learning heaps

it seems daunting at first but will get better.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

1 word of advice..... www.simplydiscus.com

 

[cannonj22]

if you want more acidic water, replace the carbon in your filter with a small amount of granulated peat. It works wonder and it makes the water softer and a great tea color that is actually closer to the 'blackwater' that the discus live in in the wild. Since I assume from the price that you are buying juveniles make sure you feed them plenty of beefheard at least a couple times a day. I think you should do some more research.

 

[wayne]

More research. Discus need clean, warm water, but aren't as fussy re pH as many people like to think. 3 is unlikely to work - bullying will be a problem.
Unstable pH is not good , doesn't matter if it 6 ->8.5 or vice versa, that will cause problems. Most people lettheir discus acclimate to their tapwater pH (as long as it's below 7.8) so water changes don't involve fooling around with RO water or whatever 2 times plus a week