Raising juvies in planted tank

[mmdiscus1]

Hi all,

I have 100 gallon planted tank, ive set up about four month ago, was saving it for adult discus. Have 3 corys sterbai and 8 cherry barbs.

For various reasons i am unable to get adult discus in my country, we dont have breeders here. I have ordered six 5-6 centimeters(2.3 inch) discus from a breeder in Istanbul, Turkey. My friend is hopefully bringing them to me sometime next week.

I talked with the breeder about water params, quality of fish, food, etc.. Seems ok, he uses tap water, params are similar to my location.

I was going to order biger fish from him, but he talked me in trying smaller fish and raise it on my own,since ididnt want to spend much money on adult fish, i am new to discus btw.. He said that since i am experienced in hobby with other fish, raising juvies discus wouldnt be a problem.. I told him all i have available nowis my 100 gallon planted tank, he said it wouldnt be a problem as long as i changed water regularly and fed them properly..

What do you say? Although that particular breeder told me i would be fine, i am scared since i read too many horrible things on this forum regarding no-nos for a planted tank.

Should iimmediately buy and setup another bare bottom tank just for juvies, or should i carry on with my planted tank?

For those interested thisis his website : discus.gen.tr. maybe you could look at his breeded fish there and tell me if they look ok.

If you suggest i must go with a new bb tank, what size should i get to grow out 6 juvies, and what be my routine there?

Thanks, appreciate your help.

[Discusdude7]

Much easier to go Bare bottom IMO.
Learned it the hard way. . .
Go with something 55-75 gallons. Since they will be moved to a 100 gallon planted tank later on I would do the 55.
Feed them 5-6 times a day with good quality foods such as freeze dried blackworms, beefheart, and pick a good flake food. Daily water changes, 50%+ try to do 75%. Wipe down sides of glass every other day.

If you are dead set on the planted tank idea then read up:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumd...ics30-(chad-h)
Learn his setup.
Good luck.

[Ryan]

It's not impossible but it will be quite a bit more work. Small discus are so much easier to raise in a bare bottom tank.

You will still need to keep up with frequent water changes in the planted tank, and also ensure that you're removing all uneaten food and waste. This is usually the tricky part in a planted setup.

[mmdiscus1]

Thanks, i will go with bare bottom then..
What would be the smallest OK size tank to raise them? 55-75 galon seems big for me, would want somethink smaller. And hw to setup bb for grow outs? Can u point me to a specific thread on this forum, where i could read it.. Should bb bottom be black or can i just put it on a stand as is?

[mmdiscus1]

Latest update - i just spoke with my guy, i am buying ten 7-8 cm fish.. 2.75 - 3.15 inch..
Breeder tells me i can put then in my main tank no problem.. He says since they are a little grown ups, i dont need to be picky with them as with 5-6 cm fish,,,

What dou say?

[mmdiscus1]

Thanks for the link, i am reading it al there. Really nice stuff.

Much easier to go Bare bottom IMO.
Learned it the hard way. . .
Go with something 55-75 gallons. Since they will be moved to a 100 gallon planted tank later on I would do the 55.
Feed them 5-6 times a day with good quality foods such as freeze dried blackworms, beefheart, and pick a good flake food. Daily water changes, 50%+ try to do 75%. Wipe down sides of glass every other day.

If you are dead set on the planted tank idea then read up:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumd...ics30-(chad-h)
Learn his setup.
Good luck.

[John_Nicholson]

I say your breeder is wrong. Make your life easy. Go bare bottom. Get at leaat 6 fish. Get at least a 75 gallon tank. Change lots of water and grow out fish that you can be proud of.

-john

[tonytheboss1]

i just spoke with my guy, i am buying ten 7-8 cm fish.. 2.75 - 3.15 inch..
Breeder tells me i can put then in my main tank no problem.. He says since they are a little grown ups, i dont need to be picky with them as with 5-6 cm fish,,,

What dou say?

Pump your brakes friend. I tried to start out planted (against some super advice). Mine were actually a bit larger juvies. The multiple feedings of various kinds of foods proved to be a maintenance nightmare!! I soon pulled and gave away all the plants, removed the river gravel over eco-complete substrate. It took about six days total 1/3 at a time with all inhabitants in place. Literally W/C after W/C after W/C after W/C!! I went bare for a few months or so then plf sand. Save yourself my aggravation. Your 'guy' (no disrespect), is giving you the "sales marketing 101" answer. Yours are even smaller than mine were to start & that was extremely difficult to maintain properly. If I had it to do over (& one day I will) I would maintain my planted tank & raise the Discus in a bare 75g till adult before transfer to the main. "T"

[mmdiscus1]

Hmm.. I do agree that barebottom would be much better, no arguing there.

My problem is i dont want to buy another tank at this moment. Seeing how well others grow out discus even in planted tanks make me think why not, looks atthis wonderfull grow out project by Chad, in a planted tank. http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumd...ics30-(chad-h)

I am confused.. won't it work in planted tank at all?

[strawberryblonde]

It "can" work, though there's a larger margin for error and you may well end up with stunted or sick discus if you aren't cleaning the tank well enough and getting all the rotting food out of the bases of the plants. Juvenile discus can't handle bad water quality.

I went with a lightly planted tank for my first batch of 4" grow outs. That lasted about a month. The plants got pretty well beaten up so that at the end of the month all I had left were 2 sad looking anubias, a ruby sword, a regular sword and some dwarf chain swords. And the water changes were a pain the patoot!

Don't buy a second tank if you don't want to. Instead, move the substrate and plants to a large tub. Add a bit of heat to the tub and some fresh water once a week. Fertilize after the water change. They will keep quite well in a tub...mine were in my spare bathtub in bucket for 2 months with NO extra heat in the water and all did just fine. =)

Once your discus reach 5" (takes about 2-3 months if they start out at 3" and you care for them properly), add a layer of sand and plop them plants back in...voila...a planted tank where you can continue to grow the discus to 6+".

Chad is an exception to the general rule that it's better to raise discus in a BB tank. If you carefully read all of his threads you'll find one that talks about how he keeps his water quality so good in that tank. It means investing in a lot of equipment. Also, Chad has years of experience with raising discus...he's not a beginner.

[pastry]

I don't want to lead you in the wrong direction but if you do a planted tank then lower your expectations on growth & keep your population low if just beginning with discus. Chad's a pretty smart dude and had the experience to do a damn good job. Meanwhile, others on here have done it too and have grown large discus in planted. It IS possible but there's an art to it. I've been growing mine in a planted BUT mine are not large and that's fine with me since I set the bar low and still working on getting them a little bigger while still young.

I almost responded earlier but tried to avoid it due to this usually turning into a HIGHLY debatable topic. I haven't experienced any nightmare myself but I keep my expectations low so that's apples to oranges if compared to others on here.

In the end: I AGREE with them that the better route would be to grow them out first in a bare bottom... try it for 4-6 months... THEN put those discus in your show tank. There are a good number of people here on SD that have been successful without pulling out their hair but they won't post often on SD because it usually causes tempers to flair... but again, those people had experience. The safe route for the first go-around is bare bottom to grow & then big tank...

[pastry]

Damn, Toni... you beat me! Also, they can use the big tank but not necessarily fill it up but half way (or less) to keep WC's smaller

[strawberryblonde]

Damn, Toni... you beat me! Also, they can use the big tank but not necessarily fill it up but half way (or less) to keep WC's smaller

And you have no excuse this time Elliot since you're home today! Oh wait, I bet the new sump is keeping you too busy to spend time browsing threads on here, right? <insert me patting myself on the back for giving you a good excuse>

mmdiscus: Pastry is a great resource for how to grow out discus in a planted tank. He has a thread in the Planted section of the forum so you can read all about how he does it, and I'd bet that he'll even answer questions if you have them. Just be prepared, he's one of the most honest guys when it comes to telling you where he failed and what to expect. =)

[discus6628]

I did raise my frys from quarter size to 5-6" in 100 gallons and still growthing. I have similar situation like you. I do have 30 gallons but the 100g was all setup with plumbing so water change is much easier. To eliminate carry budget everyday i decided to raise them in 100g. It was not easy. I tried to use divider but did not work well. I started with 8 discus and they may have hard time find food. Then two die. I decided add more so I got 12 more. Did notice the different with large group. Feeding them is much easier as one find food all of them come to it at same time. Feeding beefheart made different compare to dry food. My first batch of 6 has about two big one and the four are stunt (may due to feed them dry food first then convert to beefheart). My second batch, they start with beefheart and they all grow big. So my lesson, grow them in 100g is ok as long you get at least 10 in 100g with bb and a lot water change. I use to WC daily about 70g (see to overkill and waist water) and now I am down to every other day. Make sure WC-WC and feed them like crazy.

[mmdiscus1]

Bad news guys
MY friend bought discus from the breeder, but they didnt let discus through airport.. He had to take them back
Turns out you cant get live animals/fish from Turkey , sucks((

Anyone willing to ship to me , to Turkmenistan, Ashgabat?