Discus

[CooFish]

So I bought some discus a few weeks back. So now I have 13. I change the water %20 every two days and once a week %40-%50. Six of my discus are young,like 2". So everything is going just fine,a few of them are dark,new home,new tank,so normal kinds of things. The PH is around 6-6.5,water temp. at 86 and good food. The tank is 50 gallon hex. tank. So anyways, back to the dark Discus..... 3 got their color, and the other 3 turn their color on and off every day. So I come home from work this evening and two of the dark ones died! Anyone have an idea?

[syb65]

So I bought some discus a few weeks back. So now I have 13. I change the water %20 every two days and once a week %40-%50. Six of my discus are young,like 2". So everything is going just fine,a few of them are dark,new home,new tank,so normal kinds of things. The PH is around 6-6.5,water temp. at 86 and good food. The tank is 50 gallon hex. tank. So anyways, back to the dark Discus..... 3 got their color, and the other 3 turn their color on and off every day. So I come home from work this evening and two of the dark ones died! Anyone have an idea?

u have 13 2" discus in a 50 gallons? with that amount, u should be doing at least 50% water changes everyday minimum depending on your feeding. they r under alot of stress. also, i would suggest u dont play around with water parameters, that also adds alot of stress.

[CooFish]

Okay,but I talked to a lot of discus people and they said that as long as they are small,for a period of time it would be alright.

[geleen]

Sorry to be this direct!

You are asking for a lot of trouble with this set up. With that many discus in a tall 50 gallon; you should look at a much larger tank in the at least 125 gallon range, and for now step up the WC to 80 % per day. No other way possible to get your fish healthy. 10 gallon per fish is about right.

Also as mentioned no need to change the PH. The discus likely died from stress of shipping and or conditions in your tank ie. water and or tank mates. Your tank is tall so fish have no place to hide, a long tank is recommended.

Keeping discus is a huge commitment in time...read WC. Sourcing them right is also important to minimize losses you have experienced. Have a look at www.simplydiscus for expert advise.

John

Edited January 30, 2010 by geleen

[syb65]

and also, to keep u discus keeping for a while i would suggest u go out and buy a 55 gallon rain barrel and an airstone to age your water, 24 hr. minimum, instead of using a dechlorinator.

[CooFish]

Thanks guys. What about RO water?

[jewels]

Do not be discouraged. Hex is a bad word to some. Take heart, a 55 Hex has has a 6% BIGGER footprint than most 4 foot tanks.

Have others successfully kept Discus on your water supply?

If your considering spending that kind of money first determine the need - realise an RO unit would be twice the price of a used 6 foot tank.

[geleen]

Thanks guys. What about RO water?

Unless you are breeding it is not required. The 4 foot wide tank give fish a chance to get further away from others if need be.

J

[CooFish]

Thanks again everyone. I'm looking into a 150 gallon right now. I'm also getting a sump set-up. I'll get there!

[werner]

If your considering spending that kind of money first determine the need - realise an RO unit would be twice the price of a used 6 foot tank.

That must be a cheap tank. You can get an RO/DI system for under $150 on

eBay.

[RD.]

You don't need RO water to breed discus in Calgary, nor do you need to adjust the pH.

RO water might help glean larger spawns, but it's certainly not required.

[Burbot]

You don't need RO water to breed discus in Calgary, nor do you need to adjust the pH.

RO water might help glean larger spawns, but it's certainly not required.

RD, please expand on this. Are people spawning discus in regular Calgary water without changing pH, etc? Just asking as the Discus bug keeps nipping and I have a nice tank ready to go. I just don't think I want to put myself through the stress of monitoring and adjusting water parameters everyday and always being concerned for the fish, much more so then keeping the Africans which seem to thrive in Calgary water.

:beer:

Cheers

[jewels]

If your considering spending that kind of money first determine the need - realise an RO unit would be twice the price of a used 6 foot tank.

That must be a cheap tank. You can get an RO/DI system for under $150 on

eBay.

love is where you find it

/ you get what you pay for

[RD.]

The only time one might need to tweak the pH is when dealing with wild imports.

I mean I wouldn't attempt at keeping wild caught Heckels in a pH of 8.0, but all domestic strains of discus will do fine in the pH of your local tap water, whether it's 6.5, or 8.0

Using RO water can give you a better hatch rate, but if you're not overly concerned about maximizing the number of fry per spawn, then that isn't important either. Those fry that do survive will actually do better in moderately hard water with a higher pH, such as Calgary tap water. The increased mineral/calcium content provides better growth for the young fish.

The biggest thing is keeping up with your water changes, as young grow outs require clean water, and lots of it. Stay away from messy foods, such as beef heart, and you shouldn't have any problems. I know a breeder that has every Discus in his fishroom eating 1mm pellets exclusively. (Stendker, Wayne Ng, etc) The fish are growing like weeds, have great color, and require a LOT less maintenance than if he was feeding frozen foods, especially beef heart. Some of these juvies have already paired off, and are breeding, and producing fry, in our local water which is approx. pH 8.0

In the Dec 2006 edition of TFH, Jack Wattley stated:

"I've moved in a new direction regarding the feeding of discus, and after many tests feel that a top quality flake or pellet food formulated especially for discus is perhaps the best direction to take.

Yet many discus people will tell you that you MUST feed beefheart in order to get optimom growth in juvie discus. I think that Larry waybright said it best when he stated:

I could write a book about all the "urban myths" surrounding the keeping and breeding of Discus. The Discus keepers, perhaps more than any other aquarists, rely on constantly repeated mantras that have little basis in fact. It can make having meaningful conversations with them difficult because they inevitably parrot back what another Discus keepers has told them or inaccurate statements from old books.

IMO the biggest issue with Calgary water is in the winter the cold water holds a LOT of C02, that needs to be dissipated before adding to your tank, or that C02 will peel the slime coat right off of the fish. Something that you will never experience with African cichlids. You can use pre-treated water in holding vats, add the water directly from the tap, but in a very agitated state to allow the C02 to escape before it enters your tank, perform smaller more frequent water changes, or refill the tank at a slow trickle. Any one of those options should resolve winter C02 issues.

So while discus demand more work than your African cichlids, overall they aren't any more difficult to keep than most other fresh water species, if you start with good quality fish, and have a decent understanding of their needs.

HTH