Im new to discus and loving them

[Quintin]

I have 2 80mm red turq discus in a 2 foot planted tank.they were very shy in the begining but have warmed up to me in the last week.they used to investigate me at feeding time but kept their distance.then while feeding them blood worms this morning the one started nibling the food out my hand and eventually grabbed the whole block and ran off with it.they also follow me up and down the glass when im walking past.Discus really are the best fish ever

How do you tell which discus are juviniles and which are grownups.I was told they are adults at around 150mm.Is this true?

[camuth8]

Are you planning on getting more discus? 2 discus in one tank won't work out very well with the pecking order. It'll only chase around that fish and it would get really stressed out. Discus are considered adults around 127mm. It should be pretty easy to tell when they're that big unless they're stunted. How many water changes are you doing? What is your feeding schedule?

[strawberryblonde]

Actually, 150mm is closer to the correct size for an adult discus, though many will grow even larger than that if they are given a proper environment and a good feeding schedule. Discus can grow for a full 2 years.

Since you only have 2 of them, they are fine in the 20 gallon tank for now. If you decide to add more, and they will do better with 5-6 of them in a group, then you will need a larger tank. You could put them into a 50g (about 180 litres) tank to grow them out if there are 5-6 of them. 200 litres would be even better since they'd be able to stay in that tank even as adults.

For the best growth and health of your new discus you'll want to do the following:

1) Remove the gravel and plants - I know it's looks pretty with plants in there, but your discus are still babies and need very VERY clean water in order to stay healthy and grow.

2) Paint the bottom of the tank with white paint after you remove the gravel so that they can't see their reflections.

3) Change 50% of the water every day.

4) Feed them 4-6 times per day. Be sure to feed a good variety of high protein foods and include some discus flakes that are full of vitamins and minerals.

When they are 130mm - 150mm in size you can add back the substrate and plants and reduce the water changes to every other day. Sand is a much better substrate for discus since the food and poop stays on top of it and is easier to see and remove.

[Quintin]

My wife started a small aquarium fish shop recently and she got two red turq discus which i fell in love with so i took them from her.i have only had them for amonth and as you probably know people dont take care when dealing with fish so they were obviously stressed when we got them.they are 80mm in size.i have white gravel with neon coloured pebles mixed.2 foot tank at 80 degrees fh.green vines in front of tank live plant and rock formation with same pattern as them.i feed them 3 to 4 times a day just enough for them to finnish in 2min time.i feed them frozen blood worms which they started eating out my fingers today and also discus coulor enhancing sinking pelets.i do 50 percent water changes every second day and wash gravel and filter (powerhead) once a week.treat water with anti chlor only.thinking of looking for

[Quintin]

Thanks for the info.I know its better not to have the gravel but i feel its cruel to fish to put them in a bare tank.i do 50 % water changes every day and feed them 3 times a day enough to finnish in 2min.i give them blood worms and discus sinking pelets.i want to get a 4 foot tank and 2x blue and 2x green turqs to Acompany my babies.how do you tell the differance between turqs and pigeon bloods cause i have people telling me they are the one or the other.i was told turqs have verticle paterns while pigeons have horizontal patterns.i dnt know how old my discus are but they 80mm in size.

[dagray]

Quintin,
if you insist on gravel (I also use substrate) then put some bottom feeders (cory cats as an example) in to scavenge any uneaten food (and there will be some) also inexpensive snails like Malaysian trumpet snails don't add to the bioload on your tank and will help eat anything that gets trapped in the substrate.

Dave

[strawberryblonde]

I know that a lot of people think that it's horrible to raise discus in a bare bottomed tank, but it's actually better for them. They are VERY sensitive to nitrates and dissolved organic compounds (DOC's) in the water when they are young! By having gravel and plants, you're allowing the nitrates and DOC's to build up in the tank all week long. Over the course of a few months of that, your discus babies will probably get sick...most do.

The tank doesn't have to look bare though! You can paint the bottom white, then add a small piece of driftwood and 2 or 3 small potted plants. Doing it that way means that it's easy to move them around while you are vacuuming the bottom. It's also easy to lift them out so that you can clean the driftwood once a week and so that you can do super water changes every few days. When I say super water changes I mean that on those days you would remove the pots and driftwood, then wipe down the sides and bottom of the tank (I use a soft scrubbie sponge on a long handle, but you can use paper towels or just a standard sponge if that's easier). Once the tank has been wiped, wipe off the heater and any air stone tubing. Then you rinse out the filter media in used tank water. I just fill a small bucket with tank water as I'm draining the tank and then rinse the media in the bucket.

Once the driftwood is scrubbed clean and rinsed well and the tank has drained down to about 3", put the driftwood and plants back in, then refill the tank.

Pigeon blood discus have had the dark bars bred out of them...that's the only way to tell the difference between the two types of domestic discus. =)

[Quintin]

Ok,i think ive messed up a bit,look i dnt have a complicated tank rite now 1xlucious row of vines front of tank.1xrock formation.once a week i take the discuss out and wash tank thouroughly and 50% water changes every day.planning to get drift wood for 4 foot tank and java moss on a rock living plant.i heard corries might out compete for food and that having tank mates when starting like cardinals,neons not good idea.my discus have pigeon blood pattern with black pattern over eyes both sides the other not as destinctive (verticle).will post pics when get permission

[Quintin]

i heard i could not put snails in discus tank at all.we dnt really have relible sourses all the time.wont corrys be to dilly for discus?

[dagray]

I have cories in a tank with discus... just have to watch the type of cory so you know it can handle the temperatures discus like.

[Quintin]

im trying to load a pic of my discusdiscuss.jpg

[Quintin]

ill post some new pics of my 2 discus and their tank later today.feel free to comment.i enjoy constructive critissm
thank for all the info and i have read the begginer forum

[blueluv]

im trying to load a pic of my discusdiscuss.jpg

Is that zebra stone in your tank, in the background?

[lipadj46]

I would get a bigger tank, get rid of the "natural" clown puke gravel and get 3 more fish. Your tank is not suited for 2 discus. The only way it would be OK for 2 discus is if it were bare bottom with no other fish, you were doing daily complete water changes and they were a mated pair. Believe me I am not trying to br cruel, I believe how you are housing your fish in far from ideal and they will end up sick.

sent from an undisclosed location using morse code

[strawberryblonde]

Ok,i think ive messed up a bit,look i dnt have a complicated tank rite now 1xlucious row of vines front of tank.1xrock formation.once a week i take the discuss out and wash tank thouroughly and 50% water changes every day.planning to get drift wood for 4 foot tank and java moss on a rock living plant.i heard corries might out compete for food and that having tank mates when starting like cardinals,neons not good idea.my discus have pigeon blood pattern with black pattern over eyes both sides the other not as destinctive (verticle).will post pics when get permission

Quintin,

I'm not sure what's going on here, but it's like you're not hearing us. First up, it's much better to put ALL of your questions into this thread instead of posting them one at a time all over the forum.

1) No, do not put a male betta into that tank with your discus.

2) No, do not put your lobster into the discus tank.

3) No, Bristlenose Catfish don't add toxic chemicals to a discus tank. They DO poop a lot, which means that you'd need to do more water changes if you had a normal sized tank. You don't have a properly sized tank for your discus, so don't add Bristlenose or any other fish to the tank.

4) You don't need snails in your discus tank.

5) Until your tank is large enough and you've learned how to properly care for juvenile discus do NOT add cories to the tank.

6) There is no need to remove the discus from your tank once a week in order to clean the tank. Just remove the plants and gravel, paint the bottom of it white, do a daily water change and rinse out your filter media in used tank water (in a bucket) every few days. That's ALL you need to do!

7) The discus in your picture is not a pigeon blood. I explained in another reply that pigeon bloods have had the black bars bred out of them. You can't tell if it's a pigeon blood by looking at whether the patterns on the body are vertical or horizontal. The only way to tell is to look for black bars. Your discus has a black bar, therefore it is not a pigeon blood.
It looks like a Red Turquoise discus to me.