Tell us about yourselves....Please

[RoadRider]

Hi!

My wife (Terry) and I live North of Sacramento, CA. No, I’m not a Russian Bot. Heck I don’t even like Russian dressing. LOL 😂 I’m first generation American Greek. Many decades ago, I was born and then raised in NYC. As a kid living in a two story house, I used to have a 20 gallon tank in my bedroom. My brother always found it funny when I drained the water outside my window and down the side of the house.

We recently did a new 75 gallon build specifically after visiting Golden State Discus. They are about 35 miles away from us. We figured that with our son being a special needs person, he would have fun looking at the bigger fish to grab his attention. So that is the short story.

[peewee1]

Even recently I had considered draining the tanks near the window using your same method. Youngsters seems to find fish fascinating. They can also stake an interest in the fish if you allow them to name them. I had an Indiana Tiger. One of the kids named it "Jones" or "Jonesy". I inquired why Jones? I got the standard exasperation in response. Later it came to me...Indiana Jones. But she staked a claim on that fish.

[antlerhunter]

New join today. I came across this forum "googling" Anoxic filtration. My mind was blown away seeing the beautiful set ups of the Discus tanks. I am going to spend the next couple of hours checking this site out. As for myself, I just got back into aquariums as my family gifted me a 46 gallon bow front 3 years ago for Fathers Day. I'm from Port Huron, Michigan, 60 miles north of Detroit and anxious for the Salmon & Steelhead to start running down the St. Clair River, another month and they will start showing up. So hello to everyone and hope to share and learn with all of you.

[famtsberg]

welcome to the neighborhood.

[kgoerg]

Hey Antlerhunter-
I'm from Rochester MI. I fish the Betsie and the Big 2 Hearted in the UP for steelies and salmon. We fish from float tubes. The kings are in the Betsie.
Welcome

[Danielzac86]

Hi new to the forum and discus. I've had aquariums now for about 3 years and just started keeping discus. I've had an issue tonight while cleaning one of my canister filters(eheim ecco pro 300) while removing the lid to clean it the canister cracked. I've also got another external filter in the aquarium it's a sun sun 302. My question is will my discus be ok till I get a replacement canister? I've taken the trays out and placed them in the tank till a new one arrives. I've currently got 6 new discus in the tank there about 3 months old will they be ok or is there something I should do till the new canister comes. Any help appreciated.

[captainandy]

Frequent water changes

[kimhigg]

Hi, I am new to the forum and am researching Discus as I set up a new tank. I have a new 130 gallon that I'm really excited about! I've kept all kinds of cichlids (and freshwater community tanks before that), so I feel like it's time to take the Discus plunge. I'm just gathering all my info and making sure I know what I'm doing before I spend the big bucks on livestock!
I'm in Texas, I'm a wife and mom of 3, and I also have a poodle and two cats. I'm also interested in gardening and pollinators, especially Monarch butterfly habitat conservation.

[kgoerg]

Hi Kimhigg-
You will get great and unbiased info from folks here. When your tank is all cycled and you're ready for fish check out the recommendations for Discus sources. I have used Kenny's Discus, and, althoug I recommend his stock and himpersonally, there are many good suppliers. Just get the equipment that helps and eases lots of water changes.
Enjoy

[Mitchdiscus]

Hi there,

my name is Mitch from Dublin, Ireland. I have been keeping discus for a while, not much success though. So I am here looking for advice and more information about successfully keeping discus..lol. Recently I met a discus breeder in Dublin, who frequently advice me on various topic, which is helpful. I have 2 tanks. the main one is planted, size about 190 ml. I have one adult discus with 9 small one measuring 4 cm. I also has small 50 ml QT. at the moment I have 3 small discus in it. The reason for isolation because they are new and one of them still not eating after 3 weeks. PH is 6.5 with TDS of 100. I found info here is very helpful! Thank you

[isontenney]

Hi guys and gals.

My name is Ison, I'm a former Air Force medic turned registered nurse at a VA hospital. I am located in Spokane Washington.

I'm not a very experienced discus keeper but I've decided to give it a whirl again.

My first discus keeping experience was while I was stationed in Japan with the Air Force. All of my buddies would go out and get drunk, knock up Japanese girls and wind up married. I got into aquariums. I figured it was safer, although possibly not cheaper. At any rate I wound up with a 55gallon discus tank, a 40gallon angelfish tank, and a 10gallon salt water tank all in my little military dorm room (nicest room the USAF ever gave me actually). In Japan, there is a store called Homac and it is a bit like a Walmart and Home depot and a Petco all collided into one store. Yes, I could buy plywood, furnishings, and discus from the same store. So I did.

Of course I didn't know jack crap about discus at that point, but I managed to keep them alive for several months until I had a heater malfunction and I came home from work and found all of my fish cooked, in the 55gallon discus tank at least. The gold nugget pleco survived that though. Tough bugger.

At any rate that was about 12 years ago. I've wanted to start another discus tank ever since then, but life just never accommodated that goal. I've had tanks off and on, but never stocked with discus. Mainly because I wanted to do it right. So I've been reading up on keeping them throughout the years, and I recently bought my first house and I figured now is the time. I found a 120 gallon tank on FB marketplace and the journey began. Right now I am cycling the tank with some tetras and cucumber scraps, and perusing discus breeders websites drooling at overly expensive varieties of discus.

Spokane isn't a very big place, but there are 2 stores in town that sell discus. Haven't had a chance to visit them yet, actually planning on doing that tomorrow, but I hope their stock looks good.

A little about my setup, a 60inch 120gallon tank. I worked hard to find one of those used, I don't really like the 72in models even though they are much easier to find. I drilled the tank for a Marine Depot Elite overflow which I set up with a bean animal style drain setup. I've got the sump set up with a section of knock off K1, a refugium section, vertical filter floss (aquarium coop on youtube did a build using this and I liked it) and a 1350 gph adjustable rate pump. I've got sand in the bottom of the tank (I know there are many bare bottom tank advocates on this site). I plan on lightly planting the display tank and stocking with 10 discus as well as some community compatible friends.

I'm working on getting an RO system set up with a 200 gallon storage tank. This is dual purpose as water storage for human consumption (RO water supposedly has a 2 year shelf life is stored properly), and for water changes on the discus tank. I know RO water isn't really necessary, my tap water PH is about 7.8, but I also have a water softener using salt (mixed information available online if salt softened water is safe for aquarium use) and I figured I'd just go for the RO system to be safe.

So yeah, probably more than you wanted to know here. But I look forward to getting it completely finished and stocked.

[kgoerg]

Hi Ison -
Thanks for your service - I'm a Vietnam vet and appreciate you.
Sounds like you have all the right stuff to get going. As far as the fish themselves, I would check out the suppliers recommended by people on this forum. You will pay probably 2 to 3 times the price for a discus at a LFS than what a good supplier would charge for equal or better quality and health. I am not trying to bad-mouth any LFS - I have one near me that I trust. But, if you think about the difference in price as being what you pay for shipping, you'll still probably get off better with a supplier and having the discus shipped. I have used Kenny's Discus (https://kennysdiscus.net/) and Watley's Discus (https://wattleydiscus.com/) and I recommend either. I'm sure there are others, but speaking from experience only. Two words "water changes."

[isontenney]

Ken, thank you for your service as well.

And you were right about the LFS. They had about 10 discus, and they were charging $60 for a 2" and $100 for 3-4". They looked healthy enough, but they were just some regular pigeon blood and turquoise, a couple of snow whites. I just couldn't swallow that price. So yeah, an online order is probably in my future.

[kgoerg]

I've had discussions with folks on this forum and others about white discus, really the albino more than just white variety. It seems there has been many folks that have had whites and found them prone to not being "efficient" eaters. It's like their aim is off and in a competitive tank environment may suffer from malnutrition. I had a beautiful 4" albino turq that lasted only a few months and it was pitiful watching her/him try to grab food. It was like she/he had faulty depth perception! Wasted away. Same exact issue with a snowflake discus that I had this year. I noticed her missing try after try at bloodworms and brine shrimp. Lost her last month. I'm steering clear of any whites from now on.
You can do some planting and still have a BB tank. Here's what I did in a couple of my tanks. I got some cholla wood (which my plecos love, too).Cholla Wood Plants (1)S.jpg Push the roots into the holes of the wood. Here's what it looks like with swords and java ferns.

[MeganJK]

Hello all!
I've been a lurker of Simply Discus for some time and felt it was due time I join in the chats and make myself known.
From what I've seen, I am very fond of this site, the community and forums. I am genuinely excited to share in it.
I keep and have kept many types of fish, but the soft water, low pH types such as South American Cichlids are my favorite.
It took me many years before I felt ready to bring home Discus, and it quickly became a wonderful new obsession. There's always something new to learn, and what fascinating, beautiful fish!
I currently have 5 tanks, but only my two largest have Discus. I keep heavily planted tanks, despite the tempting call of the easier BB tank method. I simply can't resist the look of my fish swimming through beautiful plants. And as many of you know there are many pros and cons to any of these methods. My feelings on it are this, if your fish are healthy and you like it, then it's the right setup.
Looking forward to chatting with y'all!