First ever discus and lots of questions. Please help.

[Kashif]

New to discus. Bought a pair. I have few very important questions:

1) Are they red melons? There colors look not as red as I seen. Told me they are red melons by the store and there colors were like this since the store have them from there supplier.







2) I don't have garlic guard or something similar here to induce there appetite so what shall I do to make them interested in food. I have JBL discus floating bits.

3) Food is floating but it quickly comes to bottom so i want to know that do discus pick food from bottom too or only once its in the middle of tank? Rams do pick from bottom but i don't know about discus. So please help

4) This is the question which stresses me a lot. For how many days i can see if they don't eat? Like how many days are normal for discus to not eat in new environment? I can't offer them live food or bloodworms as i have allergy to bloodworms and was even hospitalized because of asthma. I get very worried when a fish doesn't eat so please let me know please. They aren't stressed and roaming around in tank. They are not hiding as i was expecting. They do seem little shy when i go near tank and hides but usually they are swimming in tank.

5) I have 9 harlequin rasboras and 1 siamese algae eater. Are they too skittish for them? If yes then i can switch them to my other tank or if they are good and will act as a dither fish to make them eat so please confirm?

6) how many times i need to change water and how much? They are like sub adults and also how many times to feed during a day?

7) I am keeping them on 82f (28c) as otherwise my hc cuba carpet plant will fry. This temperature is ok?

8) Are they fine with pressurized co2? I have like 3 bubbles per second and not too much

So many questions but please reply as I am very new to this world's delicate freshwater fish and frankly made an impulse decison as couldn't hold myself from buying them so please help. Thanks.

[brewmaster15]

Hello and welcome to SimplyDiscus!

Your fish may be red mellons. Some lines have white faces and yours may be these. At their age and size not being fully colored.is normal .As they grow they will probably color up more.
How long have you had these fish? Do they eat at all?
Discus can take days to weeks to settle in and eat regularly .. your other fish may be a bit too active though for these discus if they are timid.

Al

[Adam S]

Do they react when you turn the lights on in the morning? Some new fish don't like the brights until they get settled.

[Swedgin]

Hi Kashif, welcome to the forum.

I will try and answer some of your questions, but I strongly suggest you head over to the beginners sub forum and have a look at the stickies, the info to most of what you are asking is there in a much more detailed way than I can answer these for you.

1) Every breeder/exporter/importer tends to make up their own strain names. These could be red melons, white face mega red super flies, red dragon ninjas or whatever. The fact that they don’t look like red melons you can find online in reference pictures is owed to the fact that your fish seem quite young and need some time to color up as well as that they are stressed from the move etc.

2/3/4) Garlic guard is literally just garlic smelling liquid. You can make your own with some water and garlic powder.
Discus by nature forage for food, mostly on the ground, but can also take food from the surface. They prefer sinking foods though.
The longest it took me a discus to eat was about a month, and it hardly lost any condition and was healthy etc. so no need to worry, it may take some time for them to start eating. It’s always a good idea when purchasing these fish to check with the seller which foods they are accustomed to. You can speed the process along by upping your temperature for a few days to 32-33 C to get their metabolism going. There are also foods like freeze dried black worms and live foods that encourage new fish to eat a bit quicker. Doesn’t have to be bloodworms if you’re allergic. Pellets are usually not their first choice.

5) I’d keep the dithers for now, they tend to give discus, especially in small numbers, a bit more security and encourage them to move around a bit more

6) that depends greatly on you water parameters, tank size, bio load and filtration. The bare minimum in my opinion would be 50% once a week, preferably more. Some may get away with less, but most do daily or every 2-3 days. Keep an eye on you water values and adjust as needed.

7) 28 C is the lowest temperature I would go for domestic strains, ideally you want to go up to 29 or even a bit higher. That will depend on how the fish act at each given temp and you have to find the sweet spot where they’re most comfortable. I appreciate your concern for your carpet plant, however you are keeping live animals and the environment should be adapted to their needs, not the other way round.

8) no clue, check out the planted tank sub forum for info on that

Like I said, the stickies are there to help people who are starting out and contain an incredible amount of information. May take a while to get through everything, but it will be time well spent and your fish will thank you in the long run

[snxtif]

1) red dragon ninjas or whatever.

Darn... Now it officially became my goal to find Red dragon ninjas strain and add a couple of them to my collection!!!