Starting a Discus 3 foot tank

[Mikemeets]

I got a big pond aswell for 2years with millions of livebearers (swords, mollies platties guppies) in with blackwiddow tetras in thats how goed our water is, had 5 tanks at a time with lots of diff fish in, broke down most my tanks now i only have the pond and 2tanks cos i would not have the money lying around to look after so many tanks haha my angels at work are a very beautiful bunch so if it doesnt work out with the discus ill move over maybe to angel fish instead and add them to the whole mix... i dont understand how a fish for sale to the public can be so hard to keep, should be taken off the lfs list world wide and only be sold thru breeder farms to other pro preeders instead of a pet if u ask me... there is nothing simple about simply discus lol but let me give them a bash and c what happens.

[Mikemeets]

Ohk so if i do daily water changes of 50% wich i can do easy ill be on the right track? Cos 50% a day is easy but i dont wanna do 100% cos its like setting up a 3foot tank everyday which is crazy in my opinion and nothing to enjoy cos u working like a slave, im happy with doing 50% a day and lets c how they turn out and no cross contamenation took place just moved the discus from small tank to new tank and moved pump and gravel over from the old discus tank? Like i said i got nitrites down to 0 so lets check, this is the 1 0 1 of keeping discus fish in the blind with no water test kits ens ens ens like in the stone ages haha f@ck i hate countries that dont have everything fish need cos of price involved of the import stuff... ill just fly over to the states and marry a american girl and problem solved haha sorry not many would like my british sence of humour haha very dry and poor taste ;D

[Mikemeets]

Ps why does my discus poop float??? Doesnt it settle on ur substrate?

[Larry Bugg]

One of the things that really get people stirred up here is when someone comes on asking for help and at the same time states that there are restrictions placed on what the op is willing to do. This is the way this thread started out. Giving limits to remedies and saying I only want an easy way out is very much like saying I don't really want your help and I don't want what is best for my discus. This really puts people off.

ll just fly over to the states and marry a american girl and problem solved haha sorry not many would like my british sence of humour haha very dry and poor taste ;D

If you know your sense of humor is in poor taste then why go there. If you really want help this is not the way to go about getting it!!

Ps why does my discus poop float??? Doesnt it settle on ur substrate?

Discus poop does sink.

Discus really aren't that difficult a fish to keep It only appears to be that way because people tend to not follow some basic steps and the discus get sick. Once sick it is not so easy anymore. All discus really require is good clean water and good quality food. Maintain both of these and you have 90% of discus keeping licked. People tend to get blown out of shape about the 100% water changes but they don't usually realize that we give a definite distinction between juvies and adults and what their water change needs are. With juvies most of us do recommend 100% water changes daily. It just boils down to the fact that in our experiences we have found this necessary in order to grow discus out to their full potential. For most of us our experience has been that not following this results in discus that are stunted in growth which can lead to additional problems. We take a different stance when it comes to adults. They still need plenty of clean water but because they are no longer growing rapidly the need is reduced. With adults some do a 20% to 30% daily and others do a 50% to 75% every 5 to 7 days. I think both methods can work. With my large tanks (125 gallons to 220 gallons) I do about 40% every 3 days.

You don't have to have fancy test kits and shouldn't have to have loads of medication to be able to keep discus. I haven't tested my water in several years. Continue to do the daily water changes and hopefully you will see your discus pull through this. If it was me I would also pull the substrate from the tank because it tends to collect some really nasty stuff in it and really hampers with the ability to grow out discus. I don't usually put any substrate in with discus until they are at least young adults.

[Mikemeets]

Ahhh u c i like Larry already haha he gave me a great awnser and straight to the point, ohk thanx ill do what u state but ill only be doin 50% changes per day for a while till they nice and big but 50% is best i can do for now, ill keep u guys up to date with the fish as i go along per month

[Quintin]

Hi mike.Im also From south africa and what you say about unavailabilty of products is untrue as most pet shops carry them and some also have seachem products.Which part of sa are you from?

As for your problem you have uneavenly matched discus sizes.And its not very easy groing juvies in gravel tanks.Remove all other fish from tank and remove all substrate.Do at least 80% water change daily to remove said ammonia,nitrites and nitrates.if the smaller ones dnt get to eat you could put them in a seprate tank for a while.A 3 foot nt so bad , you could do 50% water in the morning and 50% at nite.You also need to feed them 5-6 times a day.Healthy food.

good luck and hope you take the advice,i also have some stunted fish and am also still learning,but by following some basics learned here it has become eisier to keep good large healthy discus.Read the stickies in the bigginers section and you could find so good advice.Oh yes and the 3 foot will eventualy also be too small as you would want at least 6 discus, and basic rule is 10 gallons per discus

[Mikemeets]

Hey Quin lol yup im from Scottburgh on the south coast, my petshop has diddly squat in it and they very small aswell so yeah i was lucky to get my tetra nitrite test kit for 140 bucks!!!! Crazy price but hey if i didnt have it im sure all my fish would be dead with a nitrite reading of 0.8mg/l but got it down to 0 now, i got sand in my tank cos its a planted tank so no luck of taking out the sand, ill just have to explain to the lady that the fish need clean water and do big *** waterchanges per day, i told her the other day when she got grumpy about all the water the whole time that the poor fish cant look after themselves so its my job to make sure they get fresh water haha it worked lol i must move back to pretoria cos there was a huge lfs in attebury value mart that had everything. Ill keep an eye on these buggers lol my 3 big ones are about 8cm long with the 2 small ones at 6cm. The 2small ones i can always move back to their 2 foot tank at work where they were in just till they catch bit of size from eatting again and re add them after a month... ill figure this out how im goin to deal with these nice fish

[Mikemeets]

But good advice so far but ill keep u guys up to date.

[Quintin]

Im from Durban.You should save up some cash and come at least to toti they have good petshop there and you can get what you need.Dnt worry about meds too much as large water changes usualy do the trick.some times the meds even kill the fish.cant you bring the 2 foot from work and save the fish the trip.Discus dont like travveling up and down.If you really gonna keep it planted daily water change will be neccesity.All my tanks are BB as its just way easier to clean.You can keep them in planted tank when they adult 12-15cm.And you will be fine.the problem with juvies being the nt hardy.May i ask where you got ur discus from as healthy fish also better buy.when you get fish that small that are sick they dnt do well to recover easily.

[nc0gnet0]

What's the big deal about a 3 foot tank anyways? heck, most 55's are 4 foot?

[Madaboutdiscus]

Best bet is to completely remove everything from the tank except discus. No substrate no plants no other fish. Just the discus, heater, and filter. Turn your temp back down to 28 but do it slowly. Do daily at least 50% water changes. If you can do bigger that's great if not at least 50. Start there and I'd say your fish will improve. You have some tiny discus and they need good quality care until they're bigger.

~Victoria

[OC Discus]

I would temporarily put them in a holding tank while removing the substrate so they are not exposed to the toxic stuff coming out.


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[Madaboutdiscus]

I would temporarily put them in a holding tank while removing the substrate so they are not exposed to the toxic stuff coming out.


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+1

~Victoria

[Mikemeets]

Ahh ohk sounds like a plan... i could turn the 2 foot tank into a holding tank BB and move it home, grow them out bit then re intraduce them to the bigger tank in a couple months... or ill c about removing the sand in the big tank and keep the 2foot for a hospital tank BB... i get my Discus from a supplier by the name of guy up in durban that supply the petshops, he imports them and ive heard totti got a couple decent petshops around but distance bit hectic but i do go up to totti once a month for my girlfriend to go to kingsway hospital for checkups so let me know where in totti and i could swing by one of them next timee thanx so far for the advice.

[Mikemeets]

BBM me if u guys want pics of them... still dont know how to upload pics on this site haha... 7c503e7d... but think im going to move the 2 foot home and make it a BB qt tank or hospital tank cos always good to have a tank on hand for when things dont go right.