Decided to go Discus

[Gregkarr09]

Hey Everyone, So glad for this forum! Just full of great information on everything you need to know and more! I recently made a trip to Uncle Sam's discus in Los Angeles (where I live). Solid group of guy's over there, I walked in and was greeted by Darwin one of the owners of the company. He walked around with me and gave me solid tips and tricks on how to keep things simple and clean with Discus. At the time I was in the middle of converting my 55 gallon into a Discus tank. Currently I had two pairs of Angels that I breed. I have been keeping Angelfish community tanks for over 10 years along with other cichlid tanks. Any how I was at Uncle Sam's ready to buy Discus. I told Darwin about my set up and how it was a rocky substrate but I assured it was low on nitrates due to my every other day W/C schedule. He promptly told me if I wanted to assure the health of these fish to go bare bottom. He said you just can't beat the cleanliness. His advice to me was to remove the substrate do a good water change age the tank for 5 days then go for it. So i followed his advice and am now a fellow Discus owner! I left my driftwood and an artificial plant and cave for the cory's and golden rams. Here are the pics of the day I put them in the tank. They seem to love the tank and swim all throughout the driftwood. Sorry for the cell phone pics I'll update with some better photo's soon. The Angel's are out of the tank now and I plan to get 2 or 3 more discus on the next batch from Uncle Sam's. Please let me know what you guys think. I decided to go big because I wanted to assure they are past that critical growth state where they are more sensitive to disease and water parameters. I feel like eventually I'll do a thin layer or white sand that I can keep clean. Especially that they are large I think they will handle it just fine with regular water changes and syphon cleanings.
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[Paul Sabucchi]

Congratulations, sounds like you got good fish and even better advice. When you get the rest of the discus you may want to ensure they came from the same origin as this first lot to avoid bacterial crosses. Ciao

[Willie]

Great choice on going with adults. Most newbies start with young fish, which is the most difficult way to do it. Just make sure you have a quarantine tank ready the next time you introduce discus.

Good luck, Willie

[Gregkarr09]

Thanks! yea I have a 55 gallon QT ready for new Discus.

[Gregkarr09]

Thanks Willie! Yeah I have a 55 Gallon set up for QT I'll make sure to see whats what for at least 6 weeks before they get introduced. You think the three I have now will do fine for another 2 months? I'm a little nervous as I know Discus should be kept in groups of 6 or more. So far so great! they get along beautifully.

[Willie]

No problem with keeping three discus together. If one is a bully, aggression is spread between two fish. Also, there's plenty of space for them to hide.

Good luck, Willie

[Gregkarr09]

Thanks again!

[Filip]

Great looking discus Greg .
I think that you can easily get away with a thin layer of sand in future , as long as you siphon it regularly and keep it clean .
It includes more work and longer siphoning than BB tank but I guess the looks of it is worth a little extra effort .

[Gregkarr09]

Great looking discus Greg .
I think that you can easily get away with a thin layer of sand in future , as long as you siphon it regularly and keep it clean .
It includes more work and longer siphoning than BB tank but I guess the looks of it is worth a little extra effort .

Roger that! Yea thats what I figured....I'll post an update in the coming months when I find the right white sand.

[Bizarro252]

Nice mix! I have an angel pair that I love and have been temped to add (after a hero discus check...) but they are MEAN when they lay, dont think I want to risk them beating on my discus :P

Also, just a suggestion, look into pre-filters, it really helps keep the big chunks out of your filter and much easier to clean that often

[Ryan925]

Roger that! Yea thats what I figured....I'll post an update in the coming months when I find the right white sand.

I originally used pfs from ace hardware that was more white than the standard pfs. I just replaced it recently with aqua quartz and the aqua quartz is much nicer.

[Gregkarr09]

Nice mix! I have an angel pair that I love and have been temped to add (after a hero discus check...) but they are MEAN when they lay, dont think I want to risk them beating on my discus :P

Also, just a suggestion, look into pre-filters, it really helps keep the big chunks out of your filter and much easier to clean that often

Sweet Thanks, Yea I added two pre filter sponges to the intakes, I clean them out daily. Thanks for the advice. Good luck with the Angels, I know how aggressive they can get first hand. These darn discus are pretty relentless too though. My snakeskin if being super mean to the pigeon blood.

[Gregkarr09]

I originally used pfs from ace hardware that was more white than the standard pfs. I just replaced it recently with aqua quartz and the aqua quartz is much nicer.

Sweet! I just found it online. Can you syphon it with out sucking it up? How thick did you lay down in your tank? I'm thinking no more than half an inch.

[Ryan925]

Sweet! I just found it online. Can you syphon it with out sucking it up? How thick did you lay down in your tank? I'm thinking no more than half an inch.

You do have to be careful not to suck it out. I do use a pump with my python rather than just gravity. As long as you hover above the sand you are good. Inevitably you will suck some out over time. You will find a good method. I actually suck the sand up into my python then tilt the python at an angle and the sand slides back out will sucking out the unwanted debris

1/2" is plenty. One bag was more than enough for my 75.

I'll have to find the link where I ordered. I found it about half the price of everywhere else

[Gregkarr09]

You do have to be careful not to suck it out. I do use a pump with my python rather than just gravity. As long as you hover above the sand you are good. Inevitably you will suck some out over time. You will find a good method. I actually suck the sand up into my python then tilt the python at an angle and the sand slides back out will sucking out the unwanted debris

1/2" is plenty. One bag was more than enough for my 75.

I'll have to find the link where I ordered. I found it about half the price of everywhere else

Awesome! Thanks for the advice.