New to discus and had a few questions

[evenstarms]

Hi,

I have finally decided to dive into discus. I have had aquariums for about 20 years now and had almost every fish imaginable except for discus. I just placed an order with Hans and will be getting them next week. I have a 55 gallon tank that is ready for them I think. I have it as a bare bottom right now with one amazon sword in a pot. I have two sponge filters, one on each side. The temperature is at 84 degrees at the moment. I am getting five 4 inch discus from Hans; two brilliant turquoise, two blue diamonds and one silver pigeon blood. I was wondering since they are 4 inches if it would be okay to just add a half inch or so of pool filter sand or should I wait a bit? Also, how often should they be fed at this size? I am very excited and will definitely post pics when I get the discus settled in next week. Thanks for any advice in advance.

[Discus PB]

I feed mine 3 or 4 times a day. I give them something different every time. Not sure if that's to much or to little but it seems to work.

[Wes]

Hi,

I have finally decided to dive into discus. I have had aquariums for about 20 years now and had almost every fish imaginable except for discus. I just placed an order with Hans and will be getting them next week. I have a 55 gallon tank that is ready for them I think. I have it as a bare bottom right now with one amazon sword in a pot. I have two sponge filters, one on each side. The temperature is at 84 degrees at the moment. I am getting five 4 inch discus from Hans; two brilliant turquoise, two blue diamonds and one silver pigeon blood. I was wondering since they are 4 inches if it would be okay to just add a half inch or so of pool filter sand or should I wait a bit? Also, how often should they be fed at this size? I am very excited and will definitely post pics when I get the discus settled in next week. Thanks for any advice in advance.4 to 5 times at 4 inch worked for me. Prime reef 1st thing then O.N. veg flake after work. Beef heart a couple hours later and black worms before bed. A good thing about starting bare bottom, you will see the left over food on the bottom if you are over feeding. You can siphon out and adjust the amount you feed them next time.

[fishcrazed]

keep it in a qt tank for 4-6 weeks

during the qt you can keep an eye on it and see if and how much they eat. also it gives them a chance to get use to you. after the qt you can put them in a show tank if you wish or keep them in bare bottom.

[discuspaul]

You have the experience of 20 years of fish-keeping so for sure you know something about tank maintenance & cleansing routines.
So sure, go ahead and add a light layer of PFS if you wish. You can feed 4" fish several times a day if the time available permits you, but you should be able to readily get by with twice a day feedings if that's best for your daily timetable.
Best of luck to you.

[evenstarms]

Thanks for all the advice. I decided to go ahead and put a half inch layer of PFS in the tank as it just looks so much better to me. I work at home so I will be around to feed them, probably three or four times a day. How often should I do water changes at this size? I was thinking that every other day I could do a 50% water change. I would probably vacuum out any leftover food every day though. My tank is all ready and waiting for the discus Thursday morning!! I am so excited. I will post pics after I get them settled. I ended up adding a Fire Red to my order as well so I will have 2 blue diamond, 2 brilliant turquoise, 1 silver pigeon and 1 fire red.

[LizStreithorst]

I believe that 3 daily feedings are fine. Remember, the more you feed the more you need to worry about water qulaity. If you want the best from the fish I would suggest a 30% WC daily over a 50% change every other day.