New to discus

[tonytheboss1]

Welcome & Happy New Year!! Right out the gate I can tell you there will be varying opinions as to the viability of heavily planted tanks & juvies. (Your tank is awesome btw.) Personally, I was unsuccessful & finally gave in after suffering multiple loses. The pristine environment required for juvies to THRIVE is extremely difficult to maintain in a heavily planted tank. Adults are far better suited for the show tank you presently have. That said, all is not lost. First, slightly raising the temp. will benefit the discus greatly. My happy medium between plants & discus was 85/86 degrees. Second, your feeding regimen will be a challenge. Much food will be scattered amongst the plants, substrate & ornaments instead of their little bellies. Third, (& probably most important) multiple daily WC's!!! It's a necessity for the water to be changed & the gunk to be removed multiple times if you want large healthy adults from these juvies. I'm not one of those predicters of doom but I do like to present some of the facts as I see them. Best of luck to you & keep asking questions. We're all here for ya. "T"

[Pices]

Mikecup,
What a beautiful tank. I would sure love knowing more about those containers suction cupped to the glass. I’d like to try it. I’ve had no luck with planted discus tanks. As someone who started out the same way, (bad stock, planted tank, little discus) I fear you may eventually have to decide between substrate and baby discus. It’s hard for seasoned discus keepers who start with hardy stock and from the sound of it, your source, well let’s just say I doubt he gets many repeat customers. Please keep us posted with your progress. If you could overcome these problems, you’d have a big fan base here!
Patty

[Mikecup]

Well I wasn’t originally going to have a heavily planted tank, my tank took 3 months to finally cycle, fishless cycle. I just wanted something in there to look at besides the rocks. So I bought many plants, the suction planters I bought on amazon.
I have a lot of filtration on this tank, a fluval fx6, sun sun hw3000, both canister filters are loaded with bio home ultimate and 2 hob filters a seachem tidal 110 and a just added penguin 350. Im also using seachem discus trace elements.
A newbie question for everyone, if I have 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates, ph at 7.4, fish all eating and look happy, why do a water change?

[Altum Nut]

Same newbie question asked over and over....Yes your plants will assist with water quality but the answer is simply your Discus health and growth that will suffer. Next will be a new thread in the Disease/Sickness and Medication sticky. Many Discus diseases are associated with poor water quality.
There may be a further scientific analyses some on board may chime in with but if you browse that sticky the answer is most commonly caused by lack of water-changes.

...Ralph

[Mikecup]

Thanks Ralph, I guess I’m just trying to figure out why change the water if all the perimeters are excellent. Yes I’m new at the discus and community fish but from what I have read, the main reason to do a water change is to lower nitrates, if my nitrates are 0 or very close, what benefit would changing the water do for my tank? I would think my water quality is already excellent. Maybe I’m missing something.

[14Discus]

Mike up,

Not to horn in on your discussion with Altum Nut, but WCs are necessary....maybe not daily, but replacing old good water with fresh good water is indeed crucial.
I can see why you think as you do, but there is more to “good” water than the Nitrogen Cycle. Your TDS levels, KH, GH, Potassium, and more also factor into healthy fish as well. For example.....if you add water to your good water that evaporated, you will likely have changes in mineral levels as well as TDS levels. Such changes are surely going to be detrimental to the fish in the long run. In addition to my Discus tank, I even do WCs with my community tank of Gouramis, Tetras, Platies, and Angel in which no Discus are in. Water changes are considered to be required for virtually all fishkeeping these days. I have done fish for decades and remember the old school ways of not advocating WCs... Lastly......if you do no WCs, your NO3 levels will rise down the road.....guaranteed. WCs are the ticket to a good foundation of fish husbandry. If you wait to do WCs until you have ultra high TDS levels or Nitrate, it will be harder to get the water to desired parameters, whereas if you routinely do WCs, such drastic conditions are much less likely to occur and your fish will have the greatest living environment.....that of stability/consistency. Remember.....that what water is good today with life in it will surely degrade or become worse if not replaced.

It’s like this...sort of......
Take a shower today and you’ll feel great. Tomorrow w no shower, you’ll feel good. Day after tomorrow w no shower, you’ll maybe feel ok. What will you feel like after two weeks wo a shower? Fish are similar in that water that’s fine today will be much less so in a two weeks or a month wo a change of some of their water. Sorry for this goofy analogy, but when you said “Maybe I’m missing something”, I felt compelled to state my thinking in two different ways.

I hope I did offend anyone or improperly state reasons for WCs, but sharing like this is what Forums are for as I’ve learned much from them and will continue to do so. Btw.....HNY to all.

[Mikecup]

Mike up,

Not to horn in on your discussion with Altum Nut, but WCs are necessary....maybe not daily, but replacing old good water with fresh good water is indeed crucial.
I can see why you think as you do, but there is more to “good” water than the Nitrogen Cycle. Your TDS levels, KH, GH, Potassium, and more also factor into healthy fish as well. For example.....if you add water to your good water that evaporated, you will likely have changes in mineral levels as well as TDS levels. Such changes are surely going to be detrimental to the fish in the long run. In addition to my Discus tank, I even do WCs with my community tank of Gouramis, Tetras, Platies, and Angel in which no Discus are in. Water changes are considered to be required for virtually all fishkeeping these days. I have done fish for decades and remember the old school ways of not advocating WCs... Lastly......if you do no WCs, your NO3 levels will rise down the road.....guaranteed. WCs are the ticket to a good foundation of fish husbandry. If you wait to do WCs until you have ultra high TDS levels or Nitrate, it will be harder to get the water to desired parameters, whereas if you routinely do WCs, such drastic conditions are much less likely to occur and your fish will have the greatest living environment.....that of stability/consistency. Remember.....that what water is good today with life in it will surely degrade or become worse if not replaced.

It’s like this...sort of......
Take a shower today and you’ll feel great. Tomorrow w no shower, you’ll feel good. Day after tomorrow w no shower, you’ll maybe feel ok. What will you feel like after two weeks wo a shower? Fish are similar in that water that’s fine today will be much less so in a two weeks or a month wo a change of some of their water. Sorry for this goofy analogy, but when you said “Maybe I’m missing something”, I felt compelled to state my thinking in two different ways.

I hope I did offend anyone or improperly state reasons for WCs, but sharing like this is what Forums are for as I’ve learned much from them and will continue to do so. Btw.....HNY to all.

Thank you for the information, I will always do water changes, and I agree fresh water is always good.

[Mando]

Hey, Mike. Welcome to the forum! Ideally, you would want to grow out your discus in a smaller tank and BB. However, since your feet are wet already, you can only move forward with what you have unless you go out and buy a smaller 30g.

That being said, you can still grow out a nice group of discus given your circumstances, however, make it easier on your self and remove any other fish in the tank. These 2-3 inch discus can stress beyond belief with other tank mates. Trust me, my first batch was my learning experience and I would hate for you to go through what I went. I lost 8 Marlboros and 3 other mixed discus.

One thing that helps me is that I always feed from the same spot. It helped condition the fish to always meet me in that corner and it helps to maintain the tank a bit cleaner. I have sinking pellets, flakes, and I also feed Al's black worms which stick to the glass; I do not have a mess around the tank. You'll want these discus to eat at least 3 times a day and this will compromise your water quality; Hence the daily water changes. I am currently doing 2x85% water changes a day for my discus. In less than 2 1/2 months my fry are just above the 3.5 inch mark.

oddly enough, I love your suction plant pots. I might get a few now to add some plants to my BB. Hope you enjoy your grow out; you have a stunning tank. I'm with you on this journey so don't hesitate to ask questions; we are a friendly bunch.

[Mikecup]

Hey, Mike. Welcome to the forum! Ideally, you would want to grow out your discus in a smaller tank and BB. However, since your feet are wet already, you can only move forward with what you have unless you go out and buy a smaller 30g.

That being said, you can still grow out a nice group of discus given your circumstances, however, make it easier on your self and remove any other fish in the tank. These 2-3 inch discus can stress beyond belief with other tank mates. Trust me, my first batch was my learning experience and I would hate for you to go through what I went. I lost 8 Marlboros and 3 other mixed discus.

One thing that helps me is that I always feed from the same spot. It helped condition the fish to always meet me in that corner and it helps to maintain the tank a bit cleaner. I have sinking pellets, flakes, and I also feed Al's black worms which stick to the glass; I do not have a mess around the tank. You'll want these discus to eat at least 3 times a day and this will compromise your water quality; Hence the daily water changes. I am currently doing 2x85% water changes a day for my discus. In less than 2 1/2 months my fry are just above the 3.5 inch mark.

oddly enough, I love your suction plant pots. I might get a few now to add some plants to my BB. Hope you enjoy your grow out; you have a stunning tank. I'm with you on this journey so don't hesitate to ask questions; we are a friendly bunch.

Thank I appreciate it. Wow that’s a lot of water changes, I take it your using tap water that you treat with declorinator, yes my feet are wet for sure. The fish I have in there seem peaceful to the discus, I actually have a discus that’s chasing the other discus around, hopefully that will stop.

[Mando]

Thank I appreciate it. Wow that’s a lot of water changes, I take it your using tap water that you treat with declorinator, yes my feet are wet for sure. The fish I have in there seem peaceful to the discus, I actually have a discus that’s chasing the other discus around, hopefully that will stop.

I age my tap water in a 55g drum for 24 hours, but I still dechlorinate. I'm doing the daily 2x85% change on my 30g breeder grow out tank. Main tank sees about 2x50% changes a week sometimes just one 80% a week.

[Mikecup]

I age my tap water in a 55g drum for 24 hours, but I still dechlorinate. I'm doing the daily 2x85% change on my 30g breeder grow out tank. Main tank sees about 2x50% changes a week sometimes just one 80% a week.

I’m new to the discus fish, I’m just curious why you change the water so frequently, I would think the water you are removing is the same as the new water as far as perimeters go. I have had my fish for about 2 weeks now, and I have done one 30% water change, water perimeters are perfect. Fish look and act fine. I’m just asking

[Mando]

I’m new to the discus fish, I’m just curious why you change the water so frequently, I would think the water you are removing is the same as the new water as far as perimeters go. I have had my fish for about 2 weeks now, and I have done one 30% water change, water perimeters are perfect. Fish look and act fine. I’m just asking

Fresh water is always cleaner than your current water. See Bryan's thread from the growout challenge and you will see how important it is to offer the cleanest water possible.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...ge-Thread-2018

[Mikecup]

yes that’s an interesting thread. Sounds like a full time job though. I will continue to do 30% water changes weekly and see how it goes, I’m just keeping fish as a hobby and something nice to look at in the evening after work. I may start feeding them twice a day instead of once on day though. So far they are doing fine. Beautiful fish.

[Mando]

yes that’s an interesting thread. Sounds like a full time job though. I will continue to do 30% water changes weekly and see how it goes, I’m just keeping fish as a hobby and something nice to look at in the evening after work. I may start feeding them twice a day instead of once on day though. So far they are doing fine. Beautiful fish.

you will love them! I sure do. And, although it's a lot of water changes, I enjoy it and it's part of my routine. I simply drain the tank in the mornings as I get ready for work and then watch the news as it fills. Eventually, everything will be automated.

[Mikecup]

Yes I need to get a better routine for changing the water, I have the python setup but it doesn’t thread on to my delta faucet, I bought another faucet I just have to change it, will make the water changes a little less cumbersome.