Single Discus Advice

[Brutus]

Hello. This is my first post so please take it easy on me. I got my first two discus on Monday. I wanted three (yes, I know the worst amount and can someone please explain why 3 is worse than 2 when talking about juveniles (I could understand for breeders; I don't want to breed them)). They only had two kinds so I got two but the one had been bullied in the tank she was in. The girl told me a bunch of things that turned out to be lies. 1. The two discus would love each other. 2. One was a male, and the other was female. She could tell since she'd had discus for years with no problems at all. At 3" in size, I don't know how she knew! Why didn't I get more? I have to be frugal with my money, time, and space.

In short order, the discus who was used to being a victim was being mouth "kissed" by the other in quarantine. Brutus helped Angelica leave this world just four days after I got them. So, I only have Brutus. Now, I know what you're thinking:

1. "Boy, this girl (48 years old is still a girl?) is sure stupid! She should go get a degree!" Well, I got a Masters degree in analytical chemistry in 1996, and I test water and soil as my job. I've run my aquarium water on ion chromatographs, gas chromatographs, and discrete analyzers. Have you?

2. "I bet this idiot knows nothing about fish!" Perhaps. I've only had fish for about 38 years and been keeping multiple tanks for about 28 years. I've only been helping people with their animals, aquariums, and ponds for 24 years via a massive web site. So, I don't know that much. Like you, I've kept animals in captivity which is just wrong. I currently have a 20 gallon tank with a self-sustaining colony of panda cories, a 50 gallon tank with a self-sustaining colony of rosy barbs, the newly-redone 65 gallon tank mentioned below, two nano reefs, two turtle tanks, 5 ponds, and other non-aquatic animals. I only spend 35 hours a week on my animals so I'm super lazy.

3. "I can guarantee you this ding dong knows nothing about discus!" Well, I know some. I've been studying for a decade to eventually have them. I read an entire book. My 26-year-old pleco died last year ("geez, you sure can't keep your fish alive very long can you! And, what? Your koi is only 24 years old. Idiot!") so I disinfected my 65 gallon tank and prepped it specifically for discus.

4. "Now, I know this excuse for a human doesn't follow our rules which dictate you must have a bare, lifeless tank with just discus, feed them 5 times a day, and change half the water every day." That's right! The 65 gallon tank has gravel, driftwood, plants (mostly Amazon swords are doing the best), Emperor 400, aeration, and two heaters set to 82 degrees F. I had a UV sterilizer but water leaked in to it so I can't use it. This always happens but I never learn.

5. "I bet she's got other fish in there" Yep, I'm so stupid! I researched for years! I have 6 congo tetra boys ("why did you get just boys?" I didn't. I got 7 fish, and only 1 ended up female, and they took care of her with their "love" pretty fast), 7 cardinal tetras ("what, not more?" Yeah, the first batch of fish I got earlier this year brought in ick so that was hell for a few months but is now a distant memory), a pair of German rams, 2 Sterbae cories ("what? That's insane! They need friends." Yeah, said friends didn't do well in the tank for some reason while the other fish thrived after the ick was gone), and 2 clown plecos I almost never see.

6. "Now, I know she doesn't know diddly squat about water chemistry despite her so-called degrees! If she's got a degree in chemistry, then I'm an astronaut!" [That last sentence was something someone actually said to be on-line once so I knew an astronaut!] I put the biowheel material from a new Penguin filter in the main tank for a month to get some good bacteria and then used that in a 20 gallon quarantine for the two discus. Well, it didn't work. The ammonia kept going up, and I couldn't physically take bailing water from the basement every day. So, yesterday, I did the unthinkable. I had to weigh the pros and cons, and I moved a healthy looking and well-eating Brutus to the 65 gallon tank via drip acclimation after a 50% water change in the 65 gallon.

So, I have those fish in the tank now. Everyone is active, curious, and eating well. There is no ammonia, no nitrite, and a little nitrate. The pH is near neutral. I have super soft well water (comes out with compressed carbon dioxide which lowers the pH to 6.5 and can cause the bends if I change too much water at once) so I add a little aquarium salt along with Stress-Zyme, Stress-Coat, and BZT (mix of enzymes) with each water change and have good aeration.

7. "And yeah, you deserve to be punished and go to hell." I plan on it. I plan on it. I do eat some animals as food after all.

So, as you can see, I've already put your comments in for you to save you time! Aren't I nice! So, you will suggest the following which are not options.

1. "Return Brutus at once or find him a new home!" They won't take him, and I don't want to do that.
2. "Get a larger tank at once!" I can't afford the time, money, or space to do that at this time. I do have a 120 gallon tank but I have a turtle in there.
3. "Kill Brutus at once!" Eh tu Brutus? No way!

So, here are your options to help Brutus.

1. "I think you shouldn't do anything. Brutus will be fine alone but you might do x, y, and/or z to make him happier."

2. "Get x more discus after x amount of time, quarantine them, and then add them with Brutus."

3. "I just plain hate you! You think you're funny don't you! My head is going to explode!"

So, is it 1, 2, or 3?

So, while I've given thousands of tidbits of advice over the years, I don't think I've ever gotten ANY good advice in return when I've asked. So, I'll only ask once. Signed, Fishy (yeah, that's what my old boss called me so I think it might have something to do with fish?)

[Second Hand Pat]

I hope you will not be offended if I wasn't thinking any of that. We are not FB. My question for you is what do you want to do with Brutus? Some discus can live alone. But a more important question is what do you see in your discus future? They are super cool fish and have a lot to offer.
Pat

[Brutus]

I just wanted to have discus before I died because they're beautiful and the top level of freshwater fish keeping. I know, that makes me selfish. I have just the one. More would look nice (didn't you all want one of each kind when you started?) but I'd be OK with one if that's the better option for him. As with other animals that I've had, I've sometimes initially gotten them for their looks but it's their personalities that I end up loving or not. I'm thinking of my 10 chickens. The chicken society reminds me of the discus so far. They can be so sweet and nice but then turn on each other and tear each other up.

[Johnny95132]

To be honest, my first response to your inquiry was #3. My head was throbbing after I'd read your post thinking about so many variables in fishkeeping. But to really answer your question, I'd go along with #1: as long as Brutus receives the bare necessities to live as in ample water changes, food, and care, he's fine. I think just staying pat and keeping Brutus alone would actually be better since you'd wouldn't risk the chance of cross contamination with introducing more discus if you were to choose that route. Normally, discus keepers have multiple discus and can "sacrifice" one fish as the "hero fish" when they first add more fish to their collection.
Al Sabetta, one of the site founder's, explains the quarantine process: "At the end of six weeks I take a cull from my other tanks and add it to the quarantine tank. This tells me if the new fish are safe to mix with mine, and tells me if mine are safe to mix with them." Now with only one fish, you wouldn't be able to pursue this option. So it would be a huge risk introducing tank-mates to Brutus.

[Brutus]

That you Johnny. I'm going to presume the 66 people who viewed my post and didn't reply were also going for #3. It's OK. I have no human friends. Animals are my life. I think we all have one set of plans going in to something, and then our animals give us another path. For example, two years ago, I let my hen sit on some eggs imagining a future with a nice flock of hens. Today, I have 5 hens and 5 roosters in three pens. All the experts told me to get rid of the roosters, that the situation was impossible. But, guess what? The roosters are doing great, and I can pet three of them (the other two are attackers). The hens have no roosters with them but they tear at each other. Anyway, things didn't turn out as I wanted. The same with the discus. I imaged 3 or 4 harmonious discus with the other fish. Nothing I read told me how discus truly acted. It's not that they're timid because Brutus is not. I was surprised today to see that he feeds off of food on the floor which is great because the other fish rip the food from the water column so fast. I love the congo tetras but they are super fast!

Anyway, the point of my original post was that if I just posted what had happened with the discus, I would get a lot of responses about how I was uneducated, needed to learn about water chemistry, needed to read up on discus, etc., and that would make me feel like I'm a stupid loser (which I am). Of all my animal "projects," my own life was the biggest failure. I'm alone in a 19 room house on 5 acres with hundreds of animals in my care and just waiting to die. Yay! Off to do some chores on my last day off this spring!