Ps I really liked this video, it's fairly long but I watched it during a wc and learned a ton, worth the watch for sure:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...TCH-THIS-VIDEO!
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Ps I really liked this video, it's fairly long but I watched it during a wc and learned a ton, worth the watch for sure:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...TCH-THIS-VIDEO!
All true words Kyla, and the experience is similar to many here, myself included. I too kept many different types of other aquarium fish since my early teens and this made it hard for me to accept Discus' needs. I'm thinking I would have been more successful initially without all my previous experience.
I too, like Kyla, started off with my fish in a planted tank. After I saw less than acceptable results in growth and appearance I made the difficult changes.
For instance I have a cobalt as well. Mine showed that very dark blue color. After making the changes his blue is a beautiful vibrant color. Same with turk. Bars completely went away and colors more vibrant.
If you have a few moments you can take a look at my tank journal and the difference is night and day.
Discus in planted can be done but it is much more difficult.
Amy, I know not a small task but ditch the gravel and switch to sand if you want to keep substrate. Everyone on here so far from what I have seen has given you great advice. I am a member who goes against the grain and constantly learn the hard way. Check out some of my older post. Bare bottom with a lot of dedicated gallons of freshwater per day per fish of course is the best case scenario but I like having a show tank and I can't always afford to adults although yours look to be adults yet not small but not big. Hell I have a few in my tank right now that I got when they were only one inch. They may never make it to be 7 in or bigger butt I like keeping track of them and posting on here for folks to learn. I do want to get them to at least 6 in. We shall see. In the end though get rid of the gravel. Too much crap falls on the Cracks with gravel. I live by the beach so I might have taken a little bit of sand from the beach :antlers:
I have tried the 20% daily wc and 50-75% weekly. My tank is approx 200gallon built-in, lightly planted with gravel substrate. I use the vacuum to change the water. My discus get extremely stressed out. I am down to one Pigeon Blood Discus. I have been doing this for 7 years now.
How are you folks changing the water without stressing your discus and how often do you vacuum your tanks ?
I have a water aging barrel where I aerate and heat between 120-150 gals of water for 24hrs before I use it to do a wc on my 180gal. The discus love wc, swim happily in the current and bite at my hands looking for food. They still don't like when I bang around and make a lot of noise vacuuming but as soon as I quiet down they are content again. When I used to do wc straight from the tap the microbubbles would irritate them and they would shed excess slime and flick their fins and rub their sides on decor. I filled a large tube with foam and attached it to the wc hose output to strip most of the bubbles from the water as it entered the tank and that led to a noticeable improvement. But there was still a bit of a ph swing from straight tap wc, and using an aging barrel has really been the best method so far. I use powdered Safe during wc as well.
How long have you had your fish? They may just be adjusting to having your hands in the tank more frequently, if they are fairly new.
I had two fish when I bought the house. The previous owners were only changing the water every month. I started changing the water every week when we bought the house in 2010. Eventually, the two discus died. I purchased 4 more discus and they lived for about a year and a half. Two years ago, I purchased 10 discus( all babies) and only have one left. I have two 45 gallon cans that I age and warm the water. They freaked out once I started cleaning the tank. They would hide under the log and turn sideways and start changing color. Within the last month, I removed a 5 gallon bucket of the gravel. I am planning on removing all the gravel and replacing with sand. Doing a bare bottom tank is not an option as the tank is a built-in and is a focal point on one of the walls. I use RO water for my wc. I am wondering if Discus are not for us and the built-in tank, I have read that they do not like sudden movement and this would be a problem with the built-in tank as there is privacy for them, both side are open to separate rooms and the living room there is always movement.
I would recommend to put all that info into a dedicated post to get some tips from others. My discus were very scared at first but now if I even peek just my head around the wall at them they rush towards the front of the tank lol, so there could def be other issues than just movement in front of the tank
+1
Start your own thread so you will go more attention and can have all of your own questions answered.
Discus can be skittish at first but over time should be accustomed to movement as Kyla said. My tank is in a very high traffic area. They a bit skittish at first but after some time my son can be running passed the tank and no issue. Also as Kyla says they should recognize you and come to you so you potentially could have other problems.