New Newbie

[jkolps]

Hello all :D

Ive been doing a lot of research on discus and came to this forum plenty of times and only decided to sign up just now.
Right now i have a 75 gallon tank in the process of cycling and its coming close to done. so with all this free time i have decided to keep discus! they really are so unique and pretty. I have a few beginner questions and was hoping you could help me out. ive heard that its best to go with a bare bottom tank but since i originally planed to do a peaceful community tank i added sand to my tank along with two large faux pieces of driftwood with like four lava rocks and have a lightly planted setup. Plant such as anubias, java fern, moneywort, crypt, jungle val. Most of them i think will do okay with my plans to add discus. its also going to be low tech just adding osmocote root tabs and that's it no co2 or anything like dosing.
also have two marineland emperor 400s running & 2 two hundred watt heaters going
i have experience keeping successful smaller freshwater tanks and keep up with maintence well like water changes and currently am raising a bunch of guppy fry lol which isnt too difficult but still requires some knowledge haha. i know alot about the nitrogen cycle and fishless cycling and not using chemicals its always best to do water changes and treat a illness with that first before running to chemicals. i know its bette rto leave my ph alone rather then mess with it and have a fluctuating ph which will cause very unhapy fish :(
- i also know a little about peppering with pigeon bloods shows stress
- stunted growth but not alot
-domestic and wild bred varieties
-what to look for in a healthy discuss
-and that they will darken when stressed or unhealthy
(just some things ive learned so far so you can tell how much of a beginner i am haha)

* I can include a pic of my tank if it would help

On to my questions..

1. How many adult discus (i say adult cause ive read its best for beginners) would be best i know i could do 6 but is that enough or would more be best?

2. this may sound silly but what do discus eat? ive read so many different things like flakes, homemade food, pellets. im just so confused. i dont mind feeding a frozen food like a bloodworm type food since my mom has two dwarf puffers and i feed them on occasion for her. Also wheres the best place to get said food?

3. i plan on ordering my discus once i have enough money from kennys discus. Any help on how to do that? :confused: lol do i email him and go from there? or is there another way that im just not seeing haha.

4. Any suitable tank mates for discus ? i was planning on adding neon tetras to my tank first since ive heard people had success with them getting along. i dont mind keeping it a discuss only tank if thats whats best for them. however would like another small schooling fish for a nice balance in the tank.

5. Will Malaysian trumpet snails be okay? since i have sand i wanted to add some and let them start a good population to keep my substrate air-rated.

6. Im aiming more toward red leopard skins or penang erruptions i think?

7. Would i have to quarantine the discus if i bought 6 at a time ( or more) and added only them to the tank if i don't get neon tetras or anything else?

Annnnd thats all my questions sorry if its overwhelming. theses are the things i haven't found a good answer that im sure of yet.
any help is greatly appreciated :)

[warblad79]

If you want just the discus, I would stay away with plant tank. Keep it simple as possible, I've seen a lot people ask ask help in the disease section and guess what most them have discus in planted tank. Never mind put any snail because chances are they might carry disease or parasite

[jkolps]

Hmm so maybe i shouldnt keep discus? since i cant just throw away my plants
This is sad but if its best i just wont get them
thanks

[mkng07]

Hi and welcome!

I just want to give you a little word of caution from experience, this hobby can be very addictive! Beware! lol
I'll try to answer some of your questions based on my personal experience and knowledge from this forum.

1. How many adult discus (i say adult cause ive read its best for beginners) would be best i know i could do 6 but is that enough or would more be best?

To answer this question, it really depends on your maintenance habits and the size of discus you want to keep.

2. this may sound silly but what do discus eat? ive read so many different things like flakes, homemade food, pellets. im just so confused. i dont mind feeding a frozen food like a bloodworm type food since my mom has two dwarf puffers and i feed them on occasion for her. Also wheres the best place to get said food?

From reading this forum... there doesn't seem to be a standard or best option when it comes to food. Its more of a personal preference when it comes to deciding which food is best for your discus as all the things you mentioned are adequate for discus. However there are some deciding factors depending on which type of food you choose that might narrow it down.

Dry food (example:flakes, pellets) - Are easy to feed discus using an autofeeder if you can't be there to feed 3 times a day. (I can't so I use this)

Wet/perishable food (beef heart) - Is considered a super food for discus especially the young ones and recommended by a lot of the experienced breeders here on SD. Downside is that if you have a full-time job, you most likely can't feed this exclusively to young discus however if they are adults, than once a day feeding of BH should be alright.

3. i plan on ordering my discus once i have enough money from kennys discus. Any help on how to do that? lol do i email him and go from there? or is there another way that im just not seeing haha.

I've ordered twice from kenny these past two months and he is exceptional when it comes to customer service. Hes so nice it makes me feel guilty because I can tell hes got like a million of other things going on. Here is his email. kennysdiscus@gmail.com

4. Any suitable tank mates for discus ? i was planning on adding neon tetras to my tank first since ive heard people had success with them getting along. i dont mind keeping it a discuss only tank if thats whats best for them. however would like another small schooling fish for a nice balance in the tank.

I would first add the discus and see their behavior without any other tank mates and than add the tank mates after to see if they have an adverse effect toward their behavior. Also don't forget to quarantine these fish before adding them.

5. Will Malaysian trumpet snails be okay? since i have sand i wanted to add some and let them start a good population to keep my substrate air-rated.

I've never had snails before

6. Im aiming more toward red leopard skins or penang erruptions i think?

My advice here is to take your time when deciding which fish and stock you want to have in your tank. For me this is one of the best parts of the hobby (planning out my tank and layout). I can't tell you how many times I've impulsed bought fish and then regretted it or wish I thought about it a little more before doing it. If this hobby has taught me one thing, its patience.

7. Would i have to quarantine the discus if i bought 6 at a time ( or more) and added only them to the tank if i don't get neon tetras or anything else?

No need to quarantine the fish if your getting them all at once

[jkolps]

Thanks this helped alot! answered alot of my questions i had :) however im weary now since i have a planted tank as the other person said its is bad for discus? and cause disease?

[mkng07]

I don't have experience with plants but i've seen some gorgeous planted discus tanks here on SD

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?113975-600-gallon-low-tech-planted-tank

[jkolps]

thanks i was under the impression that i couldnt keep them with any plants, am feeling a bit discouraged now as this seems alot harder than expected aha i though i had a good head start on this subject.

[Akili]

If you wish to have a planted tank then get adult discus and any additions to the tank must be quarantined for 6 weeks minimum.

[fishguy456]

1. How many adult discus (i say adult cause ive read its best for beginners) would be best i know i could do 6 but is that enough or would more be best?
I would honestly recommend nothing smaller than 5" as i've read thats the main cut off for once fish get past that point it is very unlikely for them to get stunted. However, if you took the substrate, or at least the drift wood out, then you could go much smaller, there is a post somewhere on here where someone started with 25 VERY small discus in a 75g bare bottom

2. this may sound silly but what do discus eat? ive read so many different things like flakes, homemade food, pellets. im just so confused. i dont mind feeding a frozen food like a bloodworm type food since my mom has two dwarf puffers and i feed them on occasion for her. Also wheres the best place to get said food?
I would get some of Al's (another sponsor here as well as an admin.) Freeze dried black worms. My discus devour them, you could also get beef heart flakes or frozen beef heart mix but if you want to make your own there are PLENTY of recipes on this forum.

3. i plan on ordering my discus once i have enough money from kennys discus. Any help on how to do that? :confused: lol do i email him and go from there? or is there another way that im just not seeing haha.
I would email him now to recieve the update emails on when his orders will come on, he is also under the sponsor section here. Highly highly highly recommend Kenny! Love my fish from him they all look great.

4. Any suitable tank mates for discus ? i was planning on adding neon tetras to my tank first since ive heard people had success with them getting along. i dont mind keeping it a discuss only tank if thats whats best for them. however would like another small schooling fish for a nice balance in the tank.
The problem with Neon's is that they will on occasion et eaten by a hungry discus... check out the tank mates section for more info here.

5. Will Malaysian trumpet snails be okay? since i have sand i wanted to add some and let them start a good population to keep my substrate air-rated.
I Wouldn't add snails for the same reason warblad79 has said, but what I would do is completely remove all substrate.

6. Im aiming more toward red leopard skins or penang erruptions i think?
It's all preference here, leopards and penangs do not pepper though which is nice

7. Would i have to quarantine the discus if i bought 6 at a time ( or more) and added only them to the tank if i don't get neon tetras or anything else?
Not if they are all purchased at the same time from the same person and put into a tank without fish, Still watch for any signs but if there is nothing they can infect with an illness then you are essentially qt'ing them.

I would highly recommend removing all(or most) substrate and all plants and drift wood, makes the daily wc's much easier as well as siphoning all the gnasty stuff out of the tank, i tried doing the same thing as you did but messed up big time and eventually just removed all gravel, other fish, and driftwood/plants.
Glad to see you are getting info before purchasing though. You can look at some of my threads for more pictures of kennys discus

Here is the link to Kenny's account here on the forum:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumdisplay.php?119-Kenny-s-Discus-(Kenny-Cheung)-Daly-City-California

[Kyla]

Hmm so maybe i shouldnt keep discus? since i cant just throw away my plants
This is sad but if its best i just wont get them
thanks


thanks i was under the impression that i couldnt keep them with any plants, am feeling a bit discouraged now as this seems alot harder than expected aha i though i had a good head start on this subject.

i also had plants i didnt wish to part with. when i started my 180g discus tank i potted them to make cleaning the tank easier. they grew so well in the pots i ended up selling over half the plants to make more swimmig room. ive attached a pic of my planted BB tank. i have sold off a lot of these plants now, but it will give u an idea of what i mean.

because this is your first crack at discus i do recommend a bare-bottom tank, even though you are getting adult discus. it doesnt have to remain BB forever, but i'd suggest to start it BB and then once you are comfortable with the fish and have a steady maintenance routine, once everyone is healthy and eating etc, then you could consider a thin layer of sand and take ur plants out of their pots.

BB will help immensely with clean-up (because u can see all the debris), and it will give u a clear idea of just how messy discus are... it will help u keep ur tank very clean. you may find that u like BB so much u dont want to switch back to substrate ;)

also, new fish can be picky eaters for a while before they settle in, so a BB tank lets u suck up any uneaten food easily.

re: food, i def recommend to pick up some freeze dried australian black worms. my discus (and all my other fish) go CRAZY for it. its always the first type of food my new discus arrivals will accept.

BB is also essential in cases where you need to treat the fish - having substrate and plants can render some meds less effective. hopefully you wont end up having to treat your fish, but in the long term its a good idea to have a quarantine tank on hand just in case. if u buy all ur stock at once u dont need to QT them. BUT if u choose to add any more discus to your tank in the future it is absolutely essential you quarantine new fish for 2 months before putting them in ur main discus tank. the same goes for any other species of fish u want to add to the discus tank.

i dont recommend neon tetras because the high temperatures are hard on them. cardinal tetras would be a better fit. BUT if you are buying adult discus you may run into problems with them trying to eat the small tetras....

good luck! def keep us posted :)

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm182/kylasfish/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsrm26wbqx.jpg (http://s296.photobucket.com/user/kylasfish/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsrm26wbqx.jpg.html)

[Kyla]

i forgot to chime in re: malaysian trumpet snails. i have snails in all my tanks. at first i liked them, for the same reasons u want to get them... because they "aerated" my substrate. BUT over time i have grown to hate them.

sure, they aerated the substrate, but only the very upper layers. in my heavily planted tanks they did not travel more than a few centimeters into the substrate, so the bottom layers were never aerated at all.

they also eat and poop and add a bioload to the tank and use up oxygen. in a tank with substrate their numbers EXPLODE, and their bioload can be large. i ended up having to hand-pick hundreds at a time (not exaggerating) out of the tank to lower their population. to this day i still have to net them by the dozens out of my BB tanks. although it is much easier to remove them from the BB tank i STILL havent been able to eradicate them

they do not stay in the substrate, they travel all over the glass and plants too, and they look messy, they get in the way when i take pictures, and WORST of all, they get into the filter parts! i have scrape the teeny tiny babies off the filter parts, all the o-rings/seals etc and it is a pain trying to get them all out

if you want to use white sand in the future, they make it look awfully dirty because they are dark-coloured.

in conclusion, i dont recommend snails for aeration of the sand - just get a long stick and stir your sand during maintenance. it will do a better job and there are no draw backs :)

[afriend]

Phina,

Welcome to the forum.

The fact that you understand the nitrogen cycle and that you are cycling the tank before adding the fish is the right approach. Also spending time to understand and plan ahead is also good.

The best advice I can give you is to read and understand the following link:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?120956-What-Are-Bioload-and-Biomass-and-Why-They-Are-Important

This is the key to what is important to know in order to be successful at keeping healthy discus.

Good Luck to you.

Paul