Hello from a newbie and a couple easy questions

[Wsinbad1]

First off I would just like to say hello. I am new to both Discus and this forum, but not to fish in general. I currently have a 10 gallon guppy breeder, a 75 gallon planted tropical community tank, a 180 gallon reef, and a 25 gallon hex that is temporarily housing my 4 new discus in my fish room/office. In about 8 weeks I hope to have my 130 gallon tank up as a new permenant home for my discus.

I have been reading everything I can get my hands on regarding Discus for about the last 4 months. This was when I decided I was finally going to get the King of fish that I have been wanting for so many years. As I was browsing the internet tonight I came across this site. It is exactly what I was looking for. I look forward to becoming part of this community and learning more about caring for my new friends. (And possibly making some human friends too. ;) )

Anyway for the easy questions. First off I sort of came into 4 discus that needed a home. I don't have thier permanent home ready yet, but I relocated some other fish so I could use my 25 gallon hex tank. Of the 4 fish one is about 2", two are about 3", and one is about 4". They have been in their new home for 3 days now. Is this home large enough for the 4 of them for the next 6-8 weeks while the 130 gallon tank is set up?

I also have a question about their coloration. All but the smallest fish, which is supposed to be a solid color rather than striated like the rest, show black vertical bars. Are these bars due to stress and should I expect them to fade as the fish become used to their new home or is this the permenant coloration of the fish?

These fish are currently housed with a Black Ghost Knife who has resided in this tank for several years. I had nowhere else to put this fish so I left it in with them. The Discus have not seemed botherd by the knife nor the other way round. The knife is not large enough to harm the Discus so I wonder if it is OK to leave it with them for the 6-8 weeks. One benefit would be that the knife will clean up anything the discus dont eat, but I wonder what it will think of the elevated temps.

Anyway, one last time, Greetings to everyone. :D

[Robin764]

Greetings and welcome!
A 25g is a bit small for 5 fish. I would definately make sure you keep up on your water changes, at least 50% a day till you can get them settled permanently. I've seen discus kept with knife fish before, but I have no experience there. I would just keep an eye on them. There might be someone else with more experience that could probably help you out there.
The bars will most likely fade a bit after they settle, but depending on what they are...some show bars all the time, some some of the time, some never....consider it a mood bar...lol.
I have two beautiful Golden discus that I would have never guessed had bars...but they sure showed em, while caring for their fry. Just a hint of them, but definately there.
You found the right place for discus!
Again...welcome aboard!

Robin

[Cosmo]

Good Morning Wsinbad1, and welcome to SimplyDiscus :wave:

Like Robin said, 25 is little on the small side so keeping the water clean will be key. If you have gravel of other substrate on the bottom of the tank it would probably be best to remove it in order to ease cleaning and maintaining water quality. Discus don't particlarly enjoy strong current flows, so you probably don't want powerheads or anything in the tank. Keep the temp about 86 and insure good gas exchange..

The bars are referred to as stress bars, but are also used as a communication tool (inter-fish :) ) .. Discus are stressed by less than optimal water quality among other things, but so long as you don't notice other sympoms such as clamped fins, hiding, darkening in color, or white stringy feces you're probably ok.

Like Robin said also, some strains, such as most Wild strains, show their bars all the time. Most of the more colorful domestic bred ones however don't

Having said all that lol If you can fit a slightly larger tank into your budget and space until the 130 arrives, might not hurt to do so to play safe..

But welcome aboard :) and one of these days you gotta post some pics of the other tanks as well as the Discus .. that reef tank sounds pretty awesome :D

Jim

[ecrew]

Welcome Wsinbad1!!! :)

I had a Brown Knife Fish with my Discus at one time. The only problem I had was there was not enough hiding places. Knife fish like caves etc... I had only one hiding place in this tank with 2 Discus and the knife fish. They all tried to hide in the same spot and it aggravated the Discus. I've since given the knife fish to some friends.
I don't think they'll harm the Discus, but if the knife fish doesn't have it's own place, then the Discus will get aggravated when they can't get away from the light when they want to.

Hope that helps! Again, welcome!! Please post some pics soon! At one time I wanted a saltwater tank, but i've read some about them and realized I didn't have the time nor the money to invest. One of these days i'll have one though!

Liz

[Wsinbad1]

Thanks for the welcome. I knew Discus people would be good people cause most fish people are.

I realize that my 25 is a little small, but I am doing daily 50% water changes, (at least,) and am also working on finishing a refurb on a 40 gallon tall that needs new silicone. When this is done I will change out the 25 for the 40. I'm trying to get the stand built for my 130, but I'm a tax accountant and this is not the month for large woodworking projects. That's why the big tank is on hold for a few weeks.

The tank the Discus are in has a faux rock that sits in middle of it. It is hollow and quickly became the home of my knife fish. Nobody even knows it's in the tank until I feed it. The Discus like to hide behind the rock when they are nervous, but I have been very happy the last couple days that they will actually come out and see me when I sit by the tank. Especially at feeding time. One of them will actually come take the food right off the end of the pipette I use to feed them.

I've been dreaming of keeping Discus for almost 20 years so I just can't get over my new friends. I think I'm going to be really pleased that I'm getting into Discus.

When I get my 130 gallon tank up I am planning on planting it. I've heard some people say that I should wait until the Discus are used to the environment before planting. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Also, as I am new, where would it be appropriate to post pics of my other tanks and my new Discus friends?

[Howie_W]

Hi Wsinbad1 and welcome to Simply! :)

You are welcome to post pictures wherever you like. There is a photo gallery where many us like to share our various pics, and also a general discussion section that covers anything any everything.

I hear what your saying about making time for DIY projects. My advice would be as follows; Start by going out and getting all the wood you will need for your stand...half the battle is having all the parts ready and waiting.

In the meantine, if you can go to an intermediate size tank such as a 40 gallon, this would be much better suited for the Discus as a temporary home.

A 130 gallon is a large tank, and I would suggest taking extra time to get it properly set-up and running for a while before adding any Discus. Allow time for the substrate to settle, and plant roots to settle into thier new home. I find that when I set-up a planted tank, I end-up making changes such as moving plants around, adding additional substrate, more plants, etc, before I'm happy with the way everything looks...all things that are much easier to do before adding lots of fish, and less stressful on the fish.

Good luck and keep us posted! :)


Howie

[Wsinbad1]

Howie_W, I hear what you're saying about the wood. Problem is I've had it for several months now. Just been busy doing taxes. My plan is to get the 130 up and planted with some of the plants I have been holding onto in my 75. They are just too tall for a 75, but will be perfect in the 130. It has the same footprint as a standard 75, but is twice as tall. Them give it a month or more just to cycle.

Speaking of cycling, what types of algae eating fish do people recommend for discus tanks. I thought about Oto's or Siamensis. I may eventually go with a few Cory Cats as well.

My dream is that once I have a good community of Discus I would love a school of 50 or 100 Cardinals. We'll see what becomes of that though.

What do most people use for filtration in their Discus tanks. In my other freshwater tanks I use Hang on Back filters, but am looking at Sponge filters for the discus tank. There is one in the Foster & Smith Catalog that says it is good for 130 gallons. I was considering going with 2 of them. Anyone see any problems with this?

[Eddie]

Hope this helps. I personally use powerfilters along with sponge filters but to each his own. ;)

http://forum.simplydiscus.com//showthread.php?t=42427

[Wsinbad1]

For those who wanted to see it here is a pic of my reef.

[Eddie]

Damn that is nice! All the colors. Easily a desktop backround! :)

[Wsinbad1]

I'm quite proud of it.

Basshead, thanks for the pointer to the other thread. A friend of mine an Ehiem she may sell me cheap, but I understood that Discus didn't like a lot of water movement so I was thinking of just moving it with the air pump in the spongefilters. Guess I'll have to do more reading up on the subject.

[Eddie]

I liked Ryan's idea. I would go for an AC or Emporer with a couple of added simple Hydro sponge filters. It's so easy to maintain.

Eddie

[ecrew]

Gorgeous reef tank!!!! :thumbsup:

One of these days i'm going to do something like that!!! I love the
saltwater setups. I just don't have the time to devote to one right now.

Keep the pics coming!! :D

Liz

[ecrew]

We have a Fluval and a Pengiun bio wheel on a 40 gal tank. Both of these do create too much current and the Discus don't like it that much. I think we over did it. :o
I have a Penguin double bio wheel and a Fluval for my 75 gal which I think will be a lot better and not create so much current. I think we're going to need to rethink our
filtration on the 40 gal at some point. During our learning process, we've gone through
different types of filtration. Right now, my husband really likes what's on the 40 because he feels that the filtration is a lot better. However, I can see the Discus don't like the current too much.

[Wsinbad1]

So, I was doing a water change the other day and said, this tank seems a little smaller than I thought it was. I thought it was a 29 gallon hex. To figure out how much it held I filled up 5 gallon buckets when I vacumed the bottom of the tank. I figured I would stop about halfway and see how many buckets I had. Well by the time I had two full 5 gallon buckets the tank was 2/3 empty. Turns out it is more like 18 gallons.

This kind of made me worry. If a 29 was maybe a little on the small side an 18 was definately on the small side. Now what am I going to do. Nothing today I have to work was the answer.

Yesterday at work a client of mine that knows I am into fish asked if I knew anyone who would want a 45 gallon hex tank as they were getting rid of one. I told her I was actually looking an how much did she want for it. Her reply was, "If you take the fish with it you can have it." So now my discus have a new 45 gallon tank to hang out in until the 130 goes up and her few community fish are in my community tank happy as can be. How awesome.! I'll post pics later. (It's still in the process of being set-up.)

[Tiptoptank]

When it comes to filtration I would not go with a hang onm back fiter on a planted tank. Get one of the real big eheims or a two big classic ehiem. They really don't move that much water but do a great job. www.marinedepot.com has some good deals on ehiem.

[Wsinbad1]

I have heard several times that hang on back filters are not best for planted tanks. Does this have something to do with the removal of CO2 due to the surface agaitation? I currently have one on my 75 gallon planted community tank.

Also turns out I lied again about the size of my new tank. After setting it up I pulled out the paperwork I was given with it. It is a 60 gallon hex, not a 45. Even Better!