Discus Tank Advice

Hello,

I have MTS in full swing, and have the go-ahead from the spouse to set
up a large (90+ gallon) discus-only tank. I currently have a 50-gallon
bowfront with angelfish, 2 gouramis (1 gold and 1 pearl), cory cats,
cardinal tetras, and 2 ottos. In a 10-gallon divided tank, I have 2
bettas and 2 ottos, and then one other betta in a 5-gallon Mini-bow.
Every fish has been healthy and happy so far - I do 20-30% water
changes each week, and feed a rotation of live, frozen, and pellet
food. However, I have never tried a planted tank, yet. I plan to do
this with the Discus, though.

I am wondering if anyone could recommend some books (or email groups?)
for keeping discus. I love these fish, but I know that they are tricky
to keep. I currently use RO water in all my tanks, buffered with Kent
R/O Right and a tiny amount of Chichlid buffer to bring it to 7.0 ph.

Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated!

- Lisa

"Lisa" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello,

I have MTS in full swing, and have the go-ahead from the spouse to set
up a large (90+ gallon) discus-only tank. I currently have a 50-gallon
bowfront with angelfish, 2 gouramis (1 gold and 1 pearl), cory cats,
cardinal tetras, and 2 ottos. In a 10-gallon divided tank, I have 2
bettas and 2 ottos, and then one other betta in a 5-gallon Mini-bow.
Every fish has been healthy and happy so far - I do 20-30% water
changes each week, and feed a rotation of live, frozen, and pellet
food. However, I have never tried a planted tank, yet. I plan to do
this with the Discus, though.

I am wondering if anyone could recommend some books (or email groups?)
for keeping discus. I love these fish, but I know that they are tricky
to keep. I currently use RO water in all my tanks, buffered with Kent
R/O Right and a tiny amount of Chichlid buffer to bring it to 7.0 ph.

Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated!

- Lisa


You could pick up a lot of anecdotal information from Discus posts in
rec.aquaria.freshwater.cichlids and Discus forums, but it sounds like you
have everything under control already ;~)

From your experience, there really isn't much more Discus-unique
information, so I'll just throw in my usual 'couple' of comments ;~).

Like Angelfish, i) they don't do well in strong currents (having to do
with their body shape), ii) they break off into small groups, arranging
their pecking order and sometimes gang up on individuals, and iii) they
prefer to not have large fast fish around.

Suitable tank-mates are shoals of smaller tetras, corys, hatchetfish,
apistos and if you don't mind pinching from other parts of the world
Kuhli loaches (to just name a few choices). If you want to see Discus
fry, I would skip any open water fish (tetras etc), and keep to only
corys, loaches, otos etc. They are imo, easy to breed, but a bit more
problematic for raising fry.

For ground cover, they aren't too fussy, but they don't bottom feed
effectively from dense vegetation, so be sure to leave them an open area
in the front to 'graze' on sinking foods.

If keeping large plants, stick to types which have vertical formations
(ie: tiger lotus) rather than wide horizontal growth (ie: Amazon swords).
Small to medium plants are at your discretion. The same formula applies
to driftwood, low horizontal and/or large/tall vertical or angled pieces.
Other interior designs (ie: stonework) are at your discretion, keeping to
a moderate amount of a type which will not buffer your water by
dissolving calcium into it.

Water stability and feedings are an area where Discus have some
reputation as being more 'sensitive'. This varies tremendously after
they have acclimated though (becoming large hardy fish if they aren't
babied too much ;~). The only relatively common variable is to keep
their water from getting too hard or alkaline (or having the pH bounce
around), and to feed a good variety of higher protein foods. Often,
planted Discus tanks are CO2 charged to help with the plant growth and
hold the pH down (though CO2 should not be thought of as a requirement
for successfully keeping Discus). If targeting certain parameters, a pH
of 6.8, 3dgH, 5dkH at 80-82F would seem to be a good nominal start point,
but always investigate the water they were born into or are coming from.

Discus transport best one to a bag. I have a blurb on my site about
floating expensive fish (air bag, ammo-lock, add water slowly etc). I
find that it takes several months to find good stock. When I would bring
in special shipments, I'd have Discus enthusiasts ready to buy them in
the bags they arrived in (so they would only acclimate once in their
tanks). This was always risky as I couldn't warranty something I hadn't
acclimated, so I would give a risk-discount instead of a warranty. In
your area, the situation might be very different, with specialty shops
have lots of Discus. These fish are almost always available locally bred
as well (due to their mark-up), so that's another good source.

The first week or two can be exasperating as they are somewhat moody when
moved, and will often lose colour, darken, hide and not eat. Be patient
for a few days, and then try some frozen bloodworms ;~). If there are
already other *smaller* Discus in the tank, then they acclimate much
faster. If there are larger Discus, then you see typical cichlid
behaviour, with new pairing and individuals being shooed away from food.
They can't effectively kill or injure each other, so their tactics are to
starve out the chosen 'runt', so if you can't feed the runt and they
don't make peace, then be prepared to move some fish around to other
tanks.

As with all territorial cichlids, the best seems to be to start with the
quantity that you want (plus a few extra), all at a similarly small size
(ie: 3 months). Expect their color to initially fade (dyes, hormone
treated foods and/or just acclimation) and then they will color up to
what their proper colors will be.

Discus are a little bit like children, in that they need a bit more
attention (and usually get it ;~), and are more personable (typical
'thinking' type behaviour of carnivorous cichlids). They are extra
rewarding when all is well, and extra exasperating when all is not ;~).
--
www.NetMax.tk

On 2 Jul 2005 15:40:10 -0700, "Lisa" wrote:

Hello,

I have MTS in full swing, and have the go-ahead from the spouse to set
up a large (90+ gallon) discus-only tank. I currently have a 50-gallon
bowfront with angelfish, 2 gouramis (1 gold and 1 pearl), cory cats,
cardinal tetras, and 2 ottos. In a 10-gallon divided tank, I have 2
bettas and 2 ottos, and then one other betta in a 5-gallon Mini-bow.
Every fish has been healthy and happy so far - I do 20-30% water
changes each week, and feed a rotation of live, frozen, and pellet
food. However, I have never tried a planted tank, yet. I plan to do
this with the Discus, though.

I am wondering if anyone could recommend some books (or email groups?)
for keeping discus. I love these fish, but I know that they are tricky
to keep. I currently use RO water in all my tanks, buffered with Kent
R/O Right and a tiny amount of Chichlid buffer to bring it to 7.0 ph.

Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated!

- Lisa

I'm curious as to why you want discus only in this tank. I have discus
together with other fish (Congo tetras, Black Ghost, a few other fish)
and they're fine, act about the same as I would expect angelfish to
act. When you purchase the discus and have them in the tank, if
they're sulking in some hiding place, won't eat etc., and this goes on
for more than a couple days, I recommend you move your Cardinal tetras
and Corys into the tank with them; the presence of other fish swimming
around eating will draw out the discus, make them more comfortable
with their surroundings.

A few years back I read something concerning discus on these
newsgroups and websites, but I can't find any mention of it now
regardless of the searching I do. It was that a key to keeping discus
is that they want fresh water all the time, so water should be changed
frequently, like every day or every other day in a discus tank. Maybe
someone here can confirm or uncomfirm this?

-Derek

"Derek Benson" wrote in message
...
On 2 Jul 2005 15:40:10 -0700, "Lisa" wrote:

Hello,

I have MTS in full swing, and have the go-ahead from the spouse to set
up a large (90+ gallon) discus-only tank. I currently have a 50-gallon
bowfront with angelfish, 2 gouramis (1 gold and 1 pearl), cory cats,
cardinal tetras, and 2 ottos. In a 10-gallon divided tank, I have 2
bettas and 2 ottos, and then one other betta in a 5-gallon Mini-bow.
Every fish has been healthy and happy so far - I do 20-30% water
changes each week, and feed a rotation of live, frozen, and pellet
food. However, I have never tried a planted tank, yet. I plan to do
this with the Discus, though.

I am wondering if anyone could recommend some books (or email groups?)
for keeping discus. I love these fish, but I know that they are tricky
to keep. I currently use RO water in all my tanks, buffered with Kent
R/O Right and a tiny amount of Chichlid buffer to bring it to 7.0 ph.

Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated!

- Lisa

snip
A few years back I read something concerning discus on these
newsgroups and websites, but I can't find any mention of it now
regardless of the searching I do. It was that a key to keeping discus
is that they want fresh water all the time, so water should be changed
frequently, like every day or every other day in a discus tank. Maybe
someone here can confirm or uncomfirm this?

-Derek

My understanding is that a constant or steady supply of fresh water will
(with the proper diet) increase the growth rate of the fry, and in some
cases induce spawning (not unusual as a spawning trigger). In regards to
adult discus, I've never seen test data indicating that they require more
frequent water changes than Angelfish or other fishes. If you have a
good water source, it would benefit any fish. There was a time when the
key to keeping Discus was using aged water ;~). A happy median is
somewhere in between, though I would tend to watch their behaviour more
closely if the nitrates were to start climbing. jmo
--
www.NetMax.tk

In article .com,
says...

Hello,

I have MTS in full swing, and have the go-ahead from the spouse to set
up a large (90+ gallon) discus-only tank. I currently have a 50-gallon
bowfront with angelfish, 2 gouramis (1 gold and 1 pearl), cory cats,
cardinal tetras, and 2 ottos. In a 10-gallon divided tank, I have 2
bettas and 2 ottos, and then one other betta in a 5-gallon Mini-bow.
Every fish has been healthy and happy so far - I do 20-30% water
changes each week, and feed a rotation of live, frozen, and pellet
food. However, I have never tried a planted tank, yet. I plan to do
this with the Discus, though.

I am wondering if anyone could recommend some books (or email groups?)
for keeping discus. I love these fish, but I know that they are tricky
to keep. I currently use RO water in all my tanks, buffered with Kent
R/O Right and a tiny amount of Chichlid buffer to bring it to 7.0 ph.

Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated!

- Lisa



All the info from NetMax sounds spot-on as usual.
My only experience with Discus was I purchased 4 for a 55 gallon planted
community tank from a local breeder so they were used to my local water.
They were about 1 inch long, a year later they were 5-6 inches, the
largest (dominant) one was kind of chubby ;^).
Tankmates were 10 cardinal tetras, 6 lemon tetras, 10 rummy nosed
tetras, 4 unknown silver disc shaped tetras (like a blue hook fin but
much rounder, smoother outline and mirror-like scales, 2 inches long
adult) and 6 cory pandas.
Water was 75% RO and 25% tap, aerated for 48 hour and heated to the tank
temperature 79F, 8.0PH, 4-5dH, changed 30% weekly and they breed like
rabbits.
The rummy-nosed tetras had ick once, a small case I caught quickly and
treated in the main tank, thinking if ones got it they all got it, and
the Discus never showed any signs of it.
The locally bread discus are as tough as angels, water quality, if
your angels are happy and healthy, you should have no trouble with
locally bread discus.

--
Jim Anderson
( 8(|) To email me just pull my_finger

Thanks, NetMax and Jim, for the great info. I will do some
investigating on local Discus breeders and LFS livestock supplies. My
angelfish are my favorites in the community tank, so moving "up" to
Discus seemed like a natural progression. I may add some corys to
scavenge the bottom - they are neat little fish, too, and will probably
coexist well.

I am really blessed with an awesome R/O system in this house. It can
produce over 50+ gallons in one day! I only had to install a larger
holding tank to get almost unlimited RO water for water changes - over
20 US gallons in one "pull." This system is what led me to thinking
along the lines of "Hmmm. . . .Discus . . . "

I have NO idea why the elderly couple who built and previously owned
this house installed such an extensive RO system. It's true that the
tap water in this area of central coast, CA, is "liquid rock." (We
live near Paso Robles, CA - almost halfway between LA and SF). Super
hard, super-high pH, contains phosphates . . . ugh.

The RO system makes great-tasting drinking water. I suspect that they
may have been persuaded into buying a much larger system than they
needed - maybe a fast-talking Culligan salesman? (At least, I know
they didn't keep fish, or garden, or ????) But, I'm not complaining. I
just need more tanks of fish and stuff to make use of all this free RO
water!

Thanks again,

- Lisa in Central Coast, CA