Is discus right for me?

[htlv22003@yahoo.com]

I am new to tropical fish (starting from last Christmas).
40 g tank; 4 dwarf gourami + 8 other small fish, 12 plants... So far, so good.
Water parameters: NH3/NH4+ 0; Nitrite 0; Nitrate less than 10 ppm; pH 7.0; Temp 78F; GH 150 ppm; KH 40 ppm.
WC: 5 g weekly; adding prime to warm tap water (hand-feel the same temp as the tank water); pump circulation/aeration for 20 min; then pumped into fish tank.

I love discus and plan to have some soon. However, after reading this forum about WC, I feel a little nervous. Any comment on these questions is much appreciated.

1. Will pH7.0 and GH 150 ppm be OK for discus?
2. I can take care of the water temperature part. But Will 15% weekly water change be OK. To my understanding, WC is to make sure you remove the fish waste which would be harmful to fish. If that’s the case, will it be OK as long as you can keep the NH3/Nitrite read at 0, regardless of WC frequency? Why a lot of people do WC daily or even twice daily? Is that required or just habit?
3. Many people use aged water. Will prime + tap water be just OK? Anybody has experience?
Thanks in advance.

[dadecountyalan]

if your new to fish i dont recommend going straight into discus. also wc depend a lot on what size fish your going to be having but i could tell you that 15% for a 40g isnt enough.

and prime with tap water is ok

[moon_knight1971]

welcome to the forum! I think you're going to have some problems when you get your discus.
1) Tank is too small
2) Temp is too low. You raise it to at least 84 degrees and it will make life hard on your existing fish.
3) Water changes once a week, in a tank that small, is just a setting you up for failure. Discus need pristine water so based on what you are using (40 gal) I would suggest at least 30 % every other day.
4) You need to add a sponge filter.
5) What type of filteration are you using? Might need to upgrade that too depending on your reply.
6) Is it planted? Gravel? Sand? All those things can complicate your water conditions too.
7) How many discus do you plan on adding to your 40 gal tank? For your community tank size I would think you would have the most success with 2 domestic adult discus. Most people say groups of 6 should be the minimum though

[ericatdallas]

I'm still new to discus so I'll mostly (I'll post my experience below) reserve my opinion/advice to ornamental fish in general...

40G is too small especially since you have quite a few fish in there already. I wouldn't recommend any fish that are the same size as discus that require shoaling mates for that size tank. You could probably get away with it with the right filtration and WC schedule but... even assuming you go with the "rule" of one inch per gallon, a 40G for 6 Discus is really pushing it.

Here's my experience:

I've been keeping discus for almost 5 months now (aquariums for much longer... over 25 years with a break while I was traveling a lot for work) and they do seem to require a lot more attention as juveniles versus most other fish. The hard part of buying adult discus is the upfront costs ... so you have the decision of 1) buying young, saving money, but putting forth the initial effort or 2) buy as adults and risk accidentally killing your expensive fish. Six adult discus are not cheap but six (I would recommend at least 10 just in case) juveniles is not easy. I went with buying juveniles and putting forth the work.

I also ended up buying a third aquarium just to raise them out. I tried raising 6 in a planted community aquarium and that was disastrous.

[moik]

I am starting to question the discus hobby myself..I have been at it for 9 plus years and can reflect back through the years and of recently I am questioning alot of things..purchase exspenses for discus ,equipment ,utility bills ,etc. and alot of effort overall...Where am now,,good question...I am reflecting on what accomplishments with my discus and all the ups/downs over the years..Gets to be a little mind draining of ALL the time spent over all the years..One number that I would not actually like to know..Maybe as of now I let my hobby get out of control to the point of feeling like it is a job anymore..No matter what happened in my personal life at any given time,the discus got put first before myself...Luckily my spouse has been very accomidating through everything,plus she likes discus too..The people I met and talked to have been the very high points of the hobby..Pretty much as of lately I question the future of me being involved in discus..I am in a real mental cross roads with just questions of now and for the future..I am not writing this to deter you ,but please do your homework and be aware of what is required to keep discus healthy and strong first.

[Jaws]

Do yourself a favor and get a gold fish instead! You will thank me later.

[Eddie]

A lot depends on your goals. A 40 is too small for a group of discus IMO. There is a lot of basic information on keeping discus. My suggestion is to read as much as you can. Check out the sticky's in each section. Plus, I recommend picking up some good books. You'll find out all the requirements needed and why.

Eddie

[mathao]

in my opinion goldfish are as hard as discus, i have two goldfish that ran me a couple of hundred dollars and i take care of them as much as my discus. if i were you i would try angels first, they are almost like discus put cheaper, once you can keep them alive for a few months then you can try discus, thats how i started on this expensive hobby of mine.

[mmorris]

We have an excellent beginner's guide, thanks to Paul V., that may answer a lot of your questions. http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?86009-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Getting-Started-with-Discus

[alron2]

I am currently out of the discus keeping but for me the hobby had the highest highs and the lowest lows of anything I have done. Maybe second only to dating as a teenager 45 years ago.

Even knowing this I am currentl toying with the idea of returning to the hobby.

Ron

[strawberryblonde]

I am new to tropical fish (starting from last Christmas).
40 g tank; 4 dwarf gourami + 8 other small fish, 12 plants... So far, so good.
Water parameters: NH3/NH4+ 0; Nitrite 0; Nitrate less than 10 ppm; pH 7.0; Temp 78F; GH 150 ppm; KH 40 ppm.
WC: 5 g weekly; adding prime to warm tap water (hand-feel the same temp as the tank water); pump circulation/aeration for 20 min; then pumped into fish tank.

I love discus and plan to have some soon. However, after reading this forum about WC, I feel a little nervous. Any comment on these questions is much appreciated.

1. Will pH7.0 and GH 150 ppm be OK for discus?
2. I can take care of the water temperature part. But Will 15% weekly water change be OK. To my understanding, WC is to make sure you remove the fish waste which would be harmful to fish. If that’s the case, will it be OK as long as you can keep the NH3/Nitrite read at 0, regardless of WC frequency? Why a lot of people do WC daily or even twice daily? Is that required or just habit?
3. Many people use aged water. Will prime + tap water be just OK? Anybody has experience?
Thanks in advance.

1. Yep, your water will be fine for discus

2. It's ok to keep discus at 82 degrees, so as long as your other fish have no problems it'll work. Otherwise just give away any that are struggling with the warmer temps. I have Platy's living at 82 and the darned things are still breeding on me.
As far as the water changes go, if it was me I'd up the change to 25% weekly. That's only 10 gallons so it's quick and easy.

The main reason for huge and/or daily WC with Discus is either because they are juvies and are being grown out, which requires all that fresh water, or because you have a large group of adults who are leaving a ton of food on the bottom of the tank. Discus do need good quality water!

You have an advantage in the water department in that you are doing a planted tank. The plants are part of the eco system and will use the broken down old food for their nutritional needs. So long as you don't have a half inch of uneaten food and fish poop (mulm is the fancy word for it) on the bottom of the tank you should be fine. You might even want to add more plants as you go along in order to process more waste.

3. I haven't found any real need to age my water. So long as your water doesn't experience huge pH shifts at the 24 hour and 48 hour mark, don't sweat it. Prime and tap water will be fine.

Ok, so back to the main question of whether or not to add discus to your 40g tank. You can't keep a group of them in a tank of that size, but there is no reason why you couldn't try just one discus for now. Choose the strain you love most and fork over the bucks for an adult. Anything around 4" or larger is fine. You may have to do some tweaking of the tank as far as feedings, WC, etc in order to get the right balance in the tank, but you'll figure it out as you go, and these awesome people on the forums will help if you run into a big problem.

SB

[htlv22003@yahoo.com]

WOW, thank you all for the advice and warning. I actually have done a lot of reading on discus. More details of my tank.
40 g tank with HOB Aqueron filtration. 4 dwarf gourami + 2 platy +2 guppy + 2 cherry barb + 2 zebra dino + 1 oto catfish. All of them will be no larger than 2 " in the future.
Planted tank, 2-3" deep Gravel. 2X 32w 6500K CF light bulbs. No CO2. Fertilize Potassium/iron weekly. 12 plant (3 Hygrophila +6 Amazon swords + 1 water onion + 1 Aubias + 1 unknown).

"Tanks is too small". I agree. But I remember that someone showed a picture with 3 discus in 10g (or 20g?) tank. So maybe I can get away with it? I plan to start with 3 2-3" discus. Definitely no bigger than that (money is the problem).

” I tried raising 6 in a planted community aquarium and that was disastrous ”. Why? a lot of people recommend to use bare-bottom tank for discus. The main reason is for cleaning. I plan to feed discus with commercial discus bites and freeze/dry blood worm as treats, will that help in a planted tank. Don't think will try home-made discus food.

"You raise it to at least 84 degrees and it will make life hard on your existing fish." I plan to raise it to 80 to make everyone happy (including plants). Is that possible?

[htlv22003@yahoo.com]

Sorry. I posted my last one before reading SB' comments. Thanks, that is encouraging.

[strawberryblonde]

I think we posted at the same time. =)

I wouldn't recommend trying 3 small discus in your tank, simply because it's SO much harder to get them to grow out. Juvies really do need a lot more water changes. They create a hormone that is released into the water through their slime coat that will inhibit growth. You'd end up with stunted discus with big eyes unless you did the constant water changes. They also are huge piggies and require a LOT of feedings in order to fill them up, which creates a big mess in the tank.

It might be better to spend your money on one larger discus, and to see if you actually enjoy him in your tank. If you do, then upgrading to a larger tank or adding a sump could be your plan for the future so that you can add more discus.

The only fish you might have a problem with are the guppy's and the gourami. The guppy's can get picked on at higher temps just simply because they have those oh so attractive tails and the gourami's can get pretty aggressive sometimes.

SB

[NODAK1979]

WOW, thank you all for the advice and warning. I actually have done a lot of reading on discus. More details of my tank.
40 g tank with HOB Aqueron filtration. 4 dwarf gourami + 2 platy +2 guppy + 2 cherry barb + 2 zebra dino + 1 oto catfish. All of them will be no larger than 2 " in the future.
Planted tank, 2-3" deep Gravel. 2X 32w 6500K CF light bulbs. No CO2. Fertilize Potassium/iron weekly. 12 plant (3 Hygrophila +6 Amazon swords + 1 water onion + 1 Aubias + 1 unknown).

"Tanks is too small". I agree. But I remember that someone showed a picture with 3 discus in 10g (or 20g?) tank. So maybe I can get away with it? I plan to start with 3 2-3" discus. Definitely no bigger than that (money is the problem).

” I tried raising 6 in a planted community aquarium and that was disastrous ”. Why? a lot of people recommend to use bare-bottom tank for discus. The main reason is for cleaning. I plan to feed discus with commercial discus bites and freeze/dry blood worm as treats, will that help in a planted tank. Don't think will try home-made discus food.

"You raise it to at least 84 degrees and it will make life hard on your existing fish." I plan to raise it to 80 to make everyone happy (including plants). Is that possible?

80 degrees from what I understand is bare minimum. Like you, I want to make all fish happy...and while low 80s is on the lower end for discus, it's on the higher end for many others. THat's why I do 82. A lot of people have discus at 82 degrees...but it's not so warm as to exclude most fish.

[NODAK1979]

I think we posted at the same time. =)

I wouldn't recommend trying 3 small discus in your tank, simply because it's SO much harder to get them to grow out. Juvies really do need a lot more water changes. They create a hormone that is released into the water through their slime coat that will inhibit growth. You'd end up with stunted discus with big eyes unless you did the constant water changes. They also are huge piggies and require a LOT of feedings in order to fill them up, which creates a big mess in the tank.

It might be better to spend your money on one larger discus, and to see if you actually enjoy him in your tank. If you do, then upgrading to a larger tank or adding a sump could be your plan for the future so that you can add more discus.

The only fish you might have a problem with are the guppy's and the gourami. The guppy's can get picked on at higher temps just simply because they have those oh so attractive tails and the gourami's can get pretty aggressive sometimes.

SB

I've always read that a singular discus is not a good idea, though. Can it be done happily for a certain amount of time?

[strawberryblonde]

My first discus lived happily in a community tank for 6 years without any other discus friends. I then sold him to my LFS owner who put him into his community tank. I never saw any signs that he (the fish, not the LFS guy) was stressed or had a problem being the only king in the tank.

[LizStreithorst]

Sorry, I don't believe that Disus are right for you. Every time your topic came to the topic came to the top and I read "Is Discus Right for Me" I thought that if a person doesn't know singualar from plural that Discus are not right for him. Suit yourelf. The worst that can happen is that you'll loose a bunch of expensive fish. The best that can happen is that you will becoe a true Disus keeper.

Only one way to find out....

[RudeDogg1]

And 82 is fine loads of use keep them at that temp me included

[moon_knight1971]

Take all the advice you're given here and learn from it. Whatever you do, if you buy 3 small ones or 1 big one, do invest in a sponge filer and an air pump. It's about $20 for the 2 and it will help give you fish more oxygen as well as benefical bacteria to back up your HOB.

[Foxfire]

You are overlooking a critical issue - discus need very high temp and salt when ill so you will need a second tank (with filter and heater and air pump) as an isolation tank and general treatment tank (can be a 10/20 gal) since there is no way you can do that in your commuity tank. 40 gal is rather small for three discus to grow out but if you accept that, yes, that meets the 10 gal rule, so if you do go for it, you will need 50% - 80% WC every day, and then I'd think they'd do well and get close to full size. Once full size, you can cut back to two large WC a week (ie over 50% - anything under is worthless.)

[Larry Bugg]

IMO you are asking for problems. You are trying to stretch everything to a minimum accepted level............number of discus, water temp, W/C ect. Discus are a social fish. Does this mean that one cannot live out its life alone, no but I could also if forced to but I wouldn't be happy. They live in nature in groups, it is the way it was intended. IMO, one adult or 3 juvies is scraficing the discus for your pleasure. Wait till you can afford a bigger tank and the purchase of 5 or 6. Can a discus survive at 80 degrees, yes but is it optimum, no. 82 is considered the minimum and that is not optimal for your other fish and plants. Why try to push the limits on both groups of fish? Wait till you have the funds for a separate tank for the discus. You will be increasing the bio load of your tank. While a 5% weekly w/c may work just fine now it will not with the addition of discus and as they grow they will significantly change the bio load of the tank. Again you will be pushing the acceptable limits and you fish will suffer for it. Again, wait till you can afford to get another tank for the discus.

I don't want to sound harsh but don't let the appeal of discuss and your desire to keep them force you to push the limits of what will be acceptable to them and the other fish in the tank. Do it right when you are able.