Ok, this is my sad newbie story.

[Leopardshark]

Hello all,

First of all, thank God I found this website! I´ve been reading a lot… and now realize I started the wrong way and I hope you can help me out. Any comment will be welcome.
About 2 months ago I bought a 5 gallon tank in order to keep a betta… just to realize the tank was too big just for him, so I bought 2 angels, 2 corydoras, 1 plecos and 2 golden fish. Everything was great until I saw 1 small discus at the LFS… so I bought him and took him home, along with a 10 gallon tank, another heater and some other stuff.
The fish was acclimating well as he didn´t seemed stressed… but didn´t eat. He didn´t eat flakes, tetra bits, dried bloodworms and only ate live artemia.
The fish was colouring nicely and was the king of the tank (he was kept with all the other fish I mentioned).
So I found a breeder though a web page stating his discus were eating flakes and all other foods, so I bought 3 more discus (snake red, Marlboro yellow and pigeon blood yellow, all of them about 2.5”). I received them the next day and 1 out of them was almost dying, he was the smallest but had his stomach and head pinched, he looked really bad.
At that time all the non-discus fish (except the pleco and cory´s) were placed in the 5 gal tank, and the 4 discus were kept in the 10 gal tank. None of the new fish eats anything but live artemia (another scam from the breeder). The skinny one was being harassed to the point I had to place him in another 5 gal tank (he was the only not eating even artemia and don´t think he will survive this day).
So now I have 3 juvie discus in a 10 gal tank, temp. 85-86, it has some gravel, artificial plants and 2 live plants. It has a HOB filter with only fiber and no carbon. WC about 60% every other day.
The big question is: What to do now?

Thanks in advance.

BTW, I went to another LFS who had these adult discus, they were really pretty… but my question is: is it better to buy juvies or buying adults is a good choice as well.

[rickztahone]

Hello all,

First of all, thank God I found this website! I´ve been reading a lot… and now realize I started the wrong way and I hope you can help me out. Any comment will be welcome.
About 2 months ago I bought a 5 gallon tank in order to keep a betta… just to realize the tank was too big just for him, so I bought 2 angels, 2 corydoras, 1 plecos and 2 golden fish. Everything was great until I saw 1 small discus at the LFS… so I bought him and took him home, along with a 10 gallon tank, another heater and some other stuff.
The fish was acclimating well as he didn´t seemed stressed… but didn´t eat. He didn´t eat flakes, tetra bits, dried bloodworms and only ate live artemia.
The fish was colouring nicely and was the king of the tank (he was kept with all the other fish I mentioned).
So I found a breeder though a web page stating his discus were eating flakes and all other foods, so I bought 3 more discus (snake red, Marlboro yellow and pigeon blood yellow, all of them about 2.5”). I received them the next day and 1 out of them was almost dying, he was the smallest but had his stomach and head pinched, he looked really bad.
At that time all the non-discus fish (except the pleco and cory´s) were placed in the 5 gal tank, and the 4 discus were kept in the 10 gal tank. None of the new fish eats anything but live artemia (another scam from the breeder). The skinny one was being harassed to the point I had to place him in another 5 gal tank (he was the only not eating even artemia and don´t think he will survive this day).
So now I have 3 juvie discus in a 10 gal tank, temp. 85-86, it has some gravel, artificial plants and 2 live plants. It has a HOB filter with only fiber and no carbon. WC about 60% every other day.
The big question is: What to do now?

Thanks in advance.

BTW, I went to another LFS who had these adult discus, they were really pretty… but my question is: is it better to buy juvies or buying adults is a good choice as well.

you have all those discus in a 10g? i'm surprised they haven't all died on you. the reason they are being aggressive is due to the fact that they need at least 10g each. juvies are real territorial. please get a larger tank. the water conditions in a 10g would be almost impossible to maintain. you must be doing like 3 90% water changes daily. where did you get your stock of discus? sounds like a bad breeder.

[Leopardshark]

Thanks for your feedback.
Indeed I´m in the process of buying a new tank today or tomorrow.

[kenhappen2u]

Hello and welcome to SD ....let me start off by saying i am no expert here but if it were me ,,,,,,i would say you need atleast a 29 gal long (min) and as large as a 55-75 gal if you have the room , get the biggest tank you can right now before you find yourself in a couple of months looking for a bigger tank ,so get a tank as big as you can & what you can afford now ,

alot of us here and newbies tend to go with a BB (bare bottom) tank for discus juvi's as its a lot easyer to keep clean and will help the discus show off thier colors more than with a gravel (dark) bottom or a dark background. so try to pick lighter colors when picking out gravel, sand & backgrounds , most of us use a light blue ,light green , etc.

Do not put the goldfish in with your discus !

also when keeping discus , they do much better in groups of 6 or more ,
you also may want to up your WC's to once a day at 60% or more , if you stick to every other day then you may want to do even larger changes like 75-100%

feed them 4-7 times a day as juvi's , thats why you need to do more water changes when you feed that many time a day the water quailty goes bad real fast ,

good luck with your new setup and fish . keep us posted and dont be afraid to ask questions.



ps: adults are gen. easyer to keep as they dont require as much food/feedings. they also tend to be more tolerant to less then ideal water conditions . but for some the fun is watching them grow .

[Leopardshark]

Thank you very much for your input.
I will be switching to a bigger tank in these days.
The discus are not kept with the golden, actually I gave those away to the plumber :-)
As to buying more discus... I´m undecided because the ones being sold in here at the LFS´s does not eat flake food and there are not good reputable breeders neither.
I´m thinking on selling the 3 juvies I have and get an adult instead. I´m undecided and not really motivated since this experience hasn´t been as good as I thought it would be.
But good things are never easy I think.
Thanks.
Marco

[DiscussDiscus]

Hi Marco,

Let us know how things go. Unfortunately discus take a lot of work and a lot of equipment.

If you do decide to keep the juveniles, or even try to trade them in for an adult, it will be important to do frequent water changes to keep your water clean and keep it very stable on parameters.

I would agree that the smallest tank you should consider for the juveniles would be a 30 gallon, although a 55 would be nice if you have the space..

A bare bottom tank is not required, but it DOES make keeping the tank cleaner easier... I personally can't deal with the Aesthetics of a BB tank, and thus my only BB tanks are my quarantine tanks and my hospital tanks for sick fish. So all of my tanks have eco-complete substrate and live plants with some logs.

Let us know what you want to do, there is wonderful information around these forums to help you out whichever direction you go (even if it is to go with other fish types!)

Regards,
Lee

[casw]

The discus are not kept with the golden, actually I gave those away to the plumber :-)

I hope this does not mean you flushed it down the toilet :P Bashing its head in is more human than suffering down some cold tubes with chlorine in your gills then being dumped into a stream of human feces. C02 poisoning is probably the most human way to euthanize a fish but that is difficult for the vast majority of us to provide. Or at the very least just let it suffocate (take it out of the water.)

[White Worm]

Personally, you would be better off getting a 55g tank, saving your pennies and then purchasing yourself 5-6 quality juvies from a good breeder here. You would be surprised that it will not cost you as much as you think. The way you are thinking...your discus experience will continue to be difficult. Even 1 adult is not the best situation. Discus are pack fish. They feel more secure in a group which means comfort and health. This means a good experience for you. You could get yourself 5=6 good quality juvies shipped for much less from the breeders here than you would pay at your local fish store.

[Leopardshark]

I hope this does not mean you flushed it down the toilet :P Bashing its head in is more human than suffering down some cold tubes with chlorine in your gills then being dumped into a stream of human feces. C02 poisoning is probably the most human way to euthanize a fish but that is difficult for the vast majority of us to provide. Or at the very least just let it suffocate (take it out of the water.)

Hello!
Ok, I did NOT flushed them down the toilet:) I actually gave them to the plumber who has a little kid.
But thanks for letting me know about all those "humane" ways to discard a fish, although I personally prefer to give them to someone who will happily take care of them
Regards

[Leopardshark]

Personally, you would be better off getting a 55g tank, saving your pennies and then purchasing yourself 5-6 quality juvies from a good breeder here. You would be surprised that it will not cost you as much as you think. The way you are thinking...your discus experience will continue to be difficult. Even 1 adult is not the best situation. Discus are pack fish. They feel more secure in a group which means comfort and health. This means a good experience for you. You could get yourself 5=6 good quality juvies shipped for much less from the breeders here than you would pay at your local fish store.

Thanks for your input. Ok, I´ll tell you a little bit about me. I used to have a 300 gal reef aquarium, it was filled with acroporas and other hard corals, I also had about 14 fishes. It was an impressive tank, but it consumed all my free time, money and energy. It became part of my lifestyle and it sucked me in. Just to give you an idea it´s lighting system consisted of 4 x 400w metal halide bulbs and 2 VHO 110w bulbs, so you can imagine the cost of keeping those lights on 14 hours a day 24/7.
By that time I was exhausted, so when I moved to another city I decided to sell the tank (sold it for about 9,000 bucks and it was a bargain!). Since then I´ve been out of the hobby (2 years), but you know that once this bug bites you, it is forever, so that´s why I decided to have this little and "maintenance free" tank with freshwater fishes.
That´s I wanted to keep a small tank,,, but I didn´t know what was involved in keeping discus, because along with a 55 gal tank, I need a bigger heater, bigger filter, and it means more $$ and work.

As to this date I haven´t bought the tank, I´m still deciding what to do... and the discus are doing great... they only harrasse themselves while feeding time.

Time will tell huh?

Regards:D

[Eddie]

Well, you could run a 55 EASY! One air pump, 2 Hydro IV sponge filters and Eheim Jager 250Watt Heater. Thats a clean set-up for a 55. Putting my next 55 together this weekend. :D

Eddie

[DiscussDiscus]

I agree w/ Bass on the 55. Or if you think you are looking to do adults and do something a bit more showy go with a 72 bow and adults! :)

Regards,
Lee

[Eddie]

I agree w/ Bass on the 55. Or if you think you are looking to do adults and do something a bit more showy go with a 72 bow and adults! :)

Regards,
Lee

I don't like bows...:o

Sorry Lee, LOL

Eddie

[Joshcat]

If you want something easy go with african ciclids, discus are far from easy.

But it will get easier when you get a routine down. ;)

[Leopardshark]

If you want something easy go with african ciclids, discus are far from easy.

But it will get easier when you get a routine down. ;)

But ciclids are not as good looking as discus...:p

I´m going this weekend to the LFS and probably buy the tank, or probably I will build it myself (don´t worry, I built my 300 gal tank)

[Eddie]

But ciclids are not as good looking as discus...:p

I´m going this weekend to the LFS and probably buy the tank, or probably I will build it myself (don´t worry, I built my 300 gal tank)

Discus are cichlids ;)


Eddie

[rickztahone]

Discus are cichlids ;)


Eddie

lol, that's twice i've read that posted by someone...funny

[Roxanne]

Hi L-Shark, welcome to SD...have you got any pics of the big reef tank you had? Sounds impressive....and time consuming!

If you are getting fish from all over the place you should QT them from each other first.....I found africans cichlids can hide disease pretty good even though they look ok, they don't "fall ill" and act sick like discus do and you can be lulled into a false sense of security...

If you say where you live, the Forum will tell you where to find good stock and a breeder can send fish to you...just thoughts...good luck.

Roxanne:)