Correctly identifying discus

[Griggsy]

Hello there. My name is Amanda. I have had aquarium(s) for 15 years now ranging from freshwater with molly's to a 300gal aggressive saltwater tank. My husband and I have decided in January that we wanted to make our 60gal tank into a discus tank. We have spent many months now getting prepared and ready to house the discus. I mean from February till now. Last Wednesday we picked up our 4 discus' fish that we had waiting for us at our lfs. They are doing great! Colors look amazing, they are friendly, they eat really well. They get along fantastically! The issue us that we have no idea what "type" of discus we actually have. Every site we go to has a different name for the same fish!

Marlboro Red vs Sunshine vs Melon Red cs who the heck really knows! Does everyone run into this issue? We are trying to ID what 4 discus we actually have! Any suggestions?

[joeymac]

I suggest posting some pics. Although depending how old they are it may still be too hard to tell as many strains don't develop there coloration untill later in life.

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[cjr8420]

its called the name game and its big with discus.from the names u list they are all pigeon blood discus so u can say u have PB discus and leave it at that or go crazy and call them super marlboro red melon sunshine discus lol it dont really matter in the beginners section there a strain list with pics might help ya out but you will see the same there with the names on some

[Altum Nut]

Welcome to Simply Discus Amanda and Happy Mothers day if you and hubby have produced fry of your own.
You appear to not be a stranger with aquariums. The answer to you question will involve photos but I suspect you have Red Melons. You will need 10+ posts before you can post pics so tell us more on how you set-up your tank, water parimeter and foods your feeding.
Enjoy the experience and were here to help when in need.

...Ralph

[Griggsy]

We have extremely hard water here and getting PH out of the high range was a challenge, but we got it to 7.0 and have managed to maintain the PH for a month now with now fluctuations. The tank they came from held a 7.0PH and we wanted to match that. We are still debating if we want to drop it to 6.8 or not. We have floating hearts to help regulate the PH, and a personalized mixture of Peat Moss, and Carbon in the filters to help with it as well. The temperature is sitting at 82.

[Griggsy]

We have a distiller that we use for our own personal use, which produces water at PH6.0. After MANY MANY long hours of research and debate on whether or not to use the our still water we decided to do it since it is stored exposed to air. We use a mixture of tap and distilled water until the ph is where we want it. One of the main reasons why we choose to go with the still water is because many reputable places talked that the discus fish don't adsorb many minerals through their scales like other fish and instead they get those key minerals from the food they eat. We feed them fresh blood worms, frozen beef heart, blood worms, brine shrimp, a veggie mix. We will also get some ghost shrimp to throw in there.

[Griggsy]

Their tank mates are (1) Dwarf Gourami, (1) Bushy nose pleco, and (1) Peacock Eel. We have been watching the Eel very closely and he has shown no signs of aggression towards them. He tends to hide in substrate until night time rolls around then he is all over the place. He is such a shy eel! Though he loves to make friends with the fish, he is just afraid of the kids always looking though the glass.

[Griggsy]

We are debating about ditching the carbon in the filters all together.

[Altum Nut]

I would not woory to much about high ph. It will do wonders for growing out young Discus. The key is to keep it stable.
If your going with wilds...then a lower TDS is recommended...however even wilds will adjust to tap over time.
I would consider only feeding blood worms occasionally and not as the main staple food, reason is they tend to not accept other foods. A variety is best for there over-all heath.

...Ralph

[Griggsy]

Pics of the new fish. Every site have different names for each fish.

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