Tell us about yourselves....Please

[brewmaster15]

Thanks for the welcome Liz and Greg. I ordered all of the fish in the 3.5-4.5” range but the one fish was only available in 3”. That one is actually growing quite rapidly and 10 days later is also thriving. Actually all of them are growing really well.

I’m not sure what the parasite is. The cardinals had ich within a few days but that was resolved by raising the temp and adding salt. About 5 days later I noticed some white fuzz on the blue fish. Attachment 134980

I’m currently treating with Paraguard.

I’m terms of flow I have two canister filters, one on either end. I also have a wave maker that blows occasionally to make sure there aren’t dead spots. They seem to be good with the amount of flow. Is that unusual? I wanted to have plenty of filtration.

Greg,
Sorry to hear the issues here.. Is that fish alone or in with other Discus/Fish? I would say protozoan is very likely/// I would guess that you have oodinium but Costia is also possible. Maybe we should get you over to the Disease Board for a thread? We may be able to help better. Theres a questionaire there to fill out and post a bunch of pics.
thanks,
al

[wsantia1]

Hello everyone. I am reintroducing myself to the forum. My name is Willie and I joined the forum in 2013 in anticipation of getting some Discus. Unfortunately I went in another direction (Angelfish) and it wasn't until recently that I felt comfortable with the idea of giving Discus a real shot in my fishroom. I credit the renewed interest to my friends Liz Streithorst and Barb Odgers who finally convinced me to take the plunge.

I started keeping fresh water fish when I was 9 years old and except for when I was in the military I have always had fish tanks. When I retired in 2009 I started breeding Angelfish and for a good while I was running over 50 tanks. I have since downsized to around 20 tanks and I no longer intentionally breed fish but I raise any fry that are born in my tanks.

About a month ago I visited Discus Hans and got a nice tour of his operation and picked up seven 3 inch juveniles along with some much appreciated advice. Those fish are currently in a 55 gallon tank but I will move them into a larger tank as they grow. For now I am focusing on feeding them good food and keeping their water clean by giving the daily water changes of 50% or more.

I am a lousy picture taker but as soon as I get some decent pics I will definitely post them so I can get some feed back. For the time being I've been spending a lot of time reading as much of the great material on this site as I try to avoid the pitfalls that comes with raising this beautiful fish.

[LizStreithorst]

Hi Willie! Welcome to the forum. I'm happy to see that you've finally joined us. I know from what you have told us over at Mugwumps place that you are doing a great job with them. I sure would like to see some pics. I know that the rest of us are looking forward to seeing your new Hans fish as well.

[AquaticNerd]

Welcome to the board Willie! Looking forward to see your progress and pictures.

[brewmaster15]

Willie, Good to see you here!

Al

[MichiganDiscusEnthusiast]

My name is Kyle and I was born and raised here in Michigan.

I never really got into fish as a kid or was ever really around fish growing up. All of that changed about a year ago.

My step-daughter practically begged my wife and I for a fish tank. After some consideration we agreed and set her up a 40 gallon tank with guppies and the like.

After a month of catching ourselves going into our daughters room to stare at the tank we decided that enough was enough: We are getting a tank.

We got ourselves a nice 55 gallon tank and started cycling it, not really knowing which way we were going to go. We ended up putting some glow fish in there but thought “wow that’s rather… lackluster.”

Then I hit the internet and the first thing you see when you google “beautiful freshwater aquarium fish “ is discus. I saw the colors and through videos was able to catch the personality of these amazing creatures.

The rest is history.

I ended up with 6 beautifully assorted colors of discus.

As of two months ago 2 of these beautiful specimens decided to lay a clutch of eggs on the back wall of my community tank.

After further research I immediately set forth to see if I could perhaps facilitate the miracle of life through my own means.

I got a 40 gallon tank, cycled it heavily with media from my community tank and dropped all parameters to what I believe to be the “ideal parameters” for breeding my pair.

After many attempts on their end and finally figuring out the water we just got our first clutch tonight that were laid within the parameters.

I am doing all of this research online and came across your forum and let me say how helpful it’s been in the little time that I’ve been aware of its existence. It is in part to this website that I’ve gotten as far as I have with my tanks now. You guys and Mr. Gabe over at Jack wattley discus through his insightful videos on YouTube.

Through trial and error and with the help of this site added to my repertoire I hope to one day be so successful at this that I can fulfill my newly found dream of opening up a discus store here in Michigan.

Thanks again for the opportunity to be able to reach out to such a niche community and I hope to be talking with you soon!

[brewmaster15]

Hi Kyle!
Welcome to SimplyDiscus! Glad you found us and are using the site. Look forward to reading more from you on your journey. We have quite a few people here that can help you along the way. I would suggest definitely reading though the beginners forum and all the sticky posts.. we tag and pin good info there at the top. Ask lots of questions. Don't be surprised if you get different advice though.. theres often several ways to do a thing and people need to settle on what works best for them whether its in husbandry, breeding etc.

The basics are the same. Discus thrive in clean water, appropriate temps of 82-86F, need to be fed quality food and should be housed in tanks that minimize stress to them. Over medicating is bad, over crowding is bad. Start with good healthy stock, quarantine, quarantine, quarantine new fish of any species .That about sums it up.

Welcome aboard!
Al

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Kyle and welcome to the forum. I love it when folks are blown away by their discus and sounds like you dived right in. I see you mention Gabe with Wattley discus. Please note that some if his videos are based on his experience as an importer and are not always best practice for the hobbyist.

A great video which really covers the basics is Al's video which I posted below....



Pat

[Sabrina]

Thanks for bumping this thread up Kyle, loved reading your aspirations of owning a discus store!

My name is Sabrina, I'm from Australia & I have recently returned to fish keeping under a month ago. This would be my fourth attempt at keeping discus fish over the last 8 years I think. And I have wasted no time, got 5 little pet store cuties in
my QT tank, and they are getting more cheeky by the day. I have missed this hobby dearly & I am actually enjoying re learning things & also having some experience behind me. I look forward to the future

[Greg-Florida]

Welcome Kyle!
I'm newer here as well and have found an awesome group of supporting people with a ton of experience to share.
Best of luck!
Greg

[Moniliform]

Hi All,
my husband and I bought tropical fish last year when our children went off to university. We both had fish when we were teenagers so it was nice to rekindle individual hobbies into a hobby we share together. We brought 5 fish and within a month had four tanks set up and more fish.

I have primarily joined this site as we have accidently become discus breeders after two discus paired up and started laying and fertilising. After many, many lays we suddenly have 50 fry who have lasted more than two weeks and we need much more expert information to support them to the next level!

I work full time managing a disability service in Colac, Victoria, Australia. I also make glass beads through a process called lampworking and jewellery.

Thank you for the opportunity to learn and keep our discus as safe and healthy as possible!

[Sabrina]

Hi Greg, Monica

Welcome to you both!

Looking forward to seeing you on the forums. I am from Victoria Castlemaine Australia, Monica

Cheers

[AquaticNerd]

Welcome to all the new members, and welcome back to all the returning ones. We're so glad to have you join and engaged with our community!

[steve b]

Hi All, Steve here, thought I would come back after years away.... (BIDKA) nice to see Liz still around a name from the past. Started up my fish room again and spending money on filters ro resins etc. Got 5 x 30 gal Tanks 3 x 60 gal Tanks 3 x 90 gal Tanks 2 x 20 gal Tanks. Most empty at the moment but have a lot of Jewels growing out to pass on to the LFS for a credit note for fish in the future. I live in London England, very hard water so got to use RO/Resin. Been on so many fish forums but very slow and not a lot of interaction so back to the best.

[Sabrina]

Hi Steve,

Welcome back! That's a lot of tanks, sounds like a big fish room
See you around the forums!
Sabrina