starter advice please

[HarryDk]

Hi all,
after weeks of research I finally pull the trigger.
My experience with discus before this was "wow, that fish look nice, what are they?" level, but good thing is I am not new to keeping exotic fish. I had Arowana and rays before.

I order my custom tank 120x45x60cm, with drilled overflow and sump. White frosted background, bare bottom or some white ceramic tile.
The only decoration may be some driftwood and moss on them.
I have 1x300w eheim, 1x150w frural heater.

The more i read around the forum, the scarier it get.
I am ordering 10x 8cm red discus from a well-known fish store. I didnt know much about name and stuff, but I like red so they could be red melon or marlboro. Well, as long as they are red !:grin:

Please help me with the following question and give me some idea what to do and where to start! :book::book: :fried:

1. Is the tank too large for such a small fish?
2. How much water changed needed for discus of that size? I do not think I will have time to do daily w/c, but weekly or biweekly is totally doable. I read some post saying we must do 30-50% daily water change :eek:, and it is scary. How much w/c is minimum acceptable?
3. The water flow of the return pipe may be a bit strong, how do I know if it is too much for the fish?
4. Are my 2 heater mentioned above good enough to keep them happy?
5. How much light do I need? 120cm LED? or 90cm with decent brightness is good enough?
6. What are the best food to start with? and How often/ how much should I feed them? Which give them the red color supplement?

I live in Melbourne South East, so the tap water here wouldnt be too bad, ph range 7-7.4, ph down and driftwood may help keeping these princesses happy I hope
I am not planning to have them breed, my goal is to have 10 healthy, sexy looking discus in my tank at the end of the process. May be will add some more discus and smaller tropical fish for fun, some catfish for clean up etc .

Please help me out guy, will have pictures upload as soon as they are ready.

[Mattgoanna]

Welcome to the world of discus.
Your tank and heaters should be fine as long as the temperature stays 28 or above (a 300 watt should have no problem with that). Discus don't need a lot of light, so you will be fine with a 90cm. If you wish to maximise their colour, there are LED and Fluro lights that enhance red.
Feed a variety of foods, such as discus pellets (like tetra bits), discus flake (tropical astacolor), Australian freeze dried black worm (available on line) and occasionally frozen blood worms. If you want maximum growth you can feed beef heart but you will need to clean more. I feed in the morning and then about 3-4 times in the evening.
As long as they fully open their fins and stay in one place without much effort, the flow will be fine. if in doubt, place the same kind of grill on the outlet that you normally have on the inlet of a canister filter to diffuse the water.
As for water changes - people on here will tell you to do as much as you can. The key is to get out as much waste each day as you can and keep nitrates very low (assuming your filter will take care of the ammonia and nitrite). You will need to work out how much that is. For an interesting view on this, look up stendker discus stocking density.
The reality is that you are likely to have some problems along the way, so just do your best to keep them clean, warm and well fed.
The biggest mistake I have made (and still make) is using fish medication when something goes wrong. Check in here before you do.

[Filip]

Hi Harry and welcome to discus and forum .

1. No , the tank is good for a start but might get slightly overstocked once the discus grow large . I would aim for eventually choosing the 7-8 favorite discus for the long run .

2. Wcs and regular glass wipe outs and prefilter cleaning should be performed daily for a young and growing discus.
50%' WC daily with regular poop siphoning is a good start.You can skip a day here and there , but 4- 50 % wcs a week should be your minimum , at least for the first 4-5 months period of growth.
After that period you can cut the feeding and maybe get away with 2-3 50% wcs a week and a sexy looking discus

3. What's your GPH and what filtration do you use ?
Using spraybars close to surface and pointed upwards can help a lot with reducing the overall turbulence.

4. Yes 2 heaters mentioned are fine . Optimal temp. range is 28-29 celsiuss.

5. Light is your personal preference,Discus prefer dim lights.
Living room window light is optimal if you ask them.
Just go with different kelvin range and red hues to make their appearance more eya appealing.

6. Beef heart , tetra discus granules or similar , frozen brine shrimps, fresh dried black worms ....
Astaxantine enriched fish foods , salmon fish , paprika in BH mix enchanses red pigment an colour in discus.

Good luck with your first round and do post some pictures of your sexy discus once they arrive :-).

[HarryDk]

Hi Harry and welcome to discus and forum .

1. No , the tank is good for a start but might get slightly overstocked once the discus grow large . I would aim for eventually choosing the 7-8 favorite discus for the long run .

2. Wcs and regular glass wipe outs and prefilter cleaning should be performed daily for a young and growing discus.
50%' WC daily with regular poop siphoning is a good start.You can skip a day here and there , but 4- 50 % wcs a week should be your minimum , at least for the first 4-5 months period of growth.
After that period you can cut the feeding and maybe get away with 2-3 50% wcs a week and a sexy looking discus

3. What's your GPH and what filtration do you use ?
Using spraybars close to surface and pointed upwards can help a lot with reducing the overall turbulence.

4. Yes 2 heaters mentioned are fine . Optimal temp. range is 28-29 celsiuss.

5. Light is your personal preference,Discus prefer dim lights.
Living room window light is optimal if you ask them.
Just go with different kelvin range and red hues to make their appearance more eya appealing.

6. Beef heart , tetra discus granules or similar , frozen brine shrimps, fresh dried black worms ....
Astaxantine enriched fish foods , salmon fish , paprika in BH mix enchanses red pigment an colour in discus.

Good luck with your first round and do post some pictures of your sexy discus once they arrive :-).

Thanks very much, I will run 2200LPH pump and some bakki balls, K1 as biofilter, foam for mech, I'm thinking about adding some chemical filter + UV, but still doing the research.

[Filip]

6 tank volumes per hour is not a strong flow IMO .
Just put an spraybar if you think its too strong and you are good to go.
Prefilter foam or a sponge on your intake is a must have for discus, so do put one and clean it regularly.
Avoid too much , if any mechanical filtration in the canister or otherwise you'll have to clean the canister at least every month.Relay more on prefilters and leave the canister clean .

P.s. its a little late now for changing your plans , but if you are about to go with only 2 Wcs and cleanings a week then it would have been better to go with 6 grown up discus and just feed them 2 small and dry meals a day.

[John_Nicholson]

Good advice listed above. Raising discus comes down to your goals. If you want the fish to reach their potential then you change water daily. If you just want some fish that do ok then change water a couple of times a week. At minimum siphon the tank daily and change water a few times a week.

-john

[HarryDk]

Thank you all. My tank will be ready in a few days, any suggestion with the first cycle? Is using product like API quickstart sufficient? Or I must try something else, I do not want to wait weeks for it :9, any suggestion please :)

[Filip]

Thank you all. My tank will be ready in a few days, any suggestion with the first cycle? Is using product like API quickstart sufficient? Or I must try something else, I do not want to wait weeks for it :9, any suggestion please :)

API quick start along with a daily large water changes will allow the benificial bacteria time to colonize the filter materials without too much of a toxic buildup in the water column.

[HarryDk]

Yay, this is the first view of my tank. Not much yet, I haven't have time to tie the plants onto driftwood or finishing the hardscape. My plan is to have 10 of those discuses, but since the tank is bigger now, I may go upto 15-20 of these. They are Raffer and Red face melon, around 5 inches. Need to save some money @_@

103908103909103910103911103912103913

[HarryDk]

Hi Harry and welcome to discus and forum .

1. No , the tank is good for a start but might get slightly overstocked once the discus grow large . I would aim for eventually choosing the 7-8 favorite discus for the long run .

2. Wcs and regular glass wipe outs and prefilter cleaning should be performed daily for a young and growing discus.
50%' WC daily with regular poop siphoning is a good start.You can skip a day here and there , but 4- 50 % wcs a week should be your minimum , at least for the first 4-5 months period of growth.
After that period you can cut the feeding and maybe get away with 2-3 50% wcs a week and a sexy looking discus

3. What's your GPH and what filtration do you use ?
Using spraybars close to surface and pointed upwards can help a lot with reducing the overall turbulence.

4. Yes 2 heaters mentioned are fine . Optimal temp. range is 28-29 celsiuss.

5. Light is your personal preference,Discus prefer dim lights.
Living room window light is optimal if you ask them.
Just go with different kelvin range and red hues to make their appearance more eya appealing.

6. Beef heart , tetra discus granules or similar , frozen brine shrimps, fresh dried black worms ....
Astaxantine enriched fish foods , salmon fish , paprika in BH mix enchanses red pigment an colour in discus.

Good luck with your first round and do post some pictures of your sexy discus once they arrive :-).

Here are my sexy fishes !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTo-ccfdOH8

[Discus_Diva]

Yay, this is the first view of my tank. Not much yet, I haven't have time to tie the plants onto driftwood or finishing the hardscape. My plan is to have 10 of those discuses, but since the tank is bigger now, I may go upto 15-20 of these. They are Raffer and Red face melon, around 5 inches. Need to save some money @_@

103908103909103910103911103912103913

Lovely fish, especially like the one centre of second photo :D

[Pices]

Nice! Looks like they've found a happy place in your tank. Good luck-you'll do great if you follow the advice of experts here. They've kept mine healthy and thriving since I found this site.
Patty