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Thread: New to forum....w/my discus story

  1. #1
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    Aug 2008
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    Default New to forum....w/my discus story

    Hello,

    I have been in the hobby for 30+ years now and have never tried discus till now. I have a lfs that gave me a fair amount of credit for some cichlids that I gave them and I saw the most beautiful blue discus with nice bars on it that I had to get it. I put some money down and said I would be back in a couple of days after I removed the remaining cichlids. That was last Thursday. I spent the next couple of days doing some research and found 2 local breeders that also had some discus for sale. So I bought 4 small (size of a 1/4) blue/pigeon discus from 1 guy and 2 larger ones from another guy. So in the space of a couple of days I went from a tank loaded with cichlids to a tank with 7 discus of varying size. I also have 2 large silver dollars, a suncat and rainbow fish. (i'll post some pic's later).

    They are all housed in a 150g acryllic -bowfront- tank that is built into the wall of my family room, so it is predominately a display tank. I have 2 mangum 220 cannisters & 2 emp 400's providing the filtration. I did a 50% water change before I added them and made sure the water was around
    82*, which is the temp they all came from. So far so good, the blue started eating right away and the others have just started to eat today. I have been feeding them flakes w/48% protien, tubifex worms and black worms. Very beautiful & graceful fish. The silver dollars are being quite social with them so far.

    Pictures will come later so someone came help me correctly identify the breeds and I will be able to show the complete set up.

    I need suggestions on landscaping and live plants, I currently only have fake plants on 1 side of the tank they like to congregate by.

    Also, any suggestions for water changes, feeding, filtration, additional tankmates I can add and plants to add is appreciated.

    Thanks for any help,

    Dan

  2. #2
    Registered Member alan j t's Avatar
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    Dec 2007
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    reno nv
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    Default Re: New to forum....w/my discus story

    hi dan,welcome to SD
    if you could set up a 55gl bare bottom tank for your new discus that would be great to power feed them and lots of water changes.

    vary thier diet with different kinds of foods like frozen foods or you could make your own,its cheaper in the long run.

    i dont know what kind of light and substrate you have so
    at the same time you could invest time and money to set up 150 into a planted tank ,like substrate light and plants.
    stick with low light plants if this is your first time.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: New to forum....w/my discus story

    Thanks Alan,

    Could you be more specific on the types of food your talking about. Also, I have light colored rocks, some fake plants and a large piece of drift wood.

  4. #4

    Default Re: New to forum....w/my discus story

    Hi Dan,

    Welcome to simply I'm also new to discus and I received so much help here its amazing. You should be feeding about 5-8 times a day with things like bloodworms, beefheart, brine shrimp, flakes and pellets to make sure they get all the nutrients they need to grow
    nicole

  5. #5
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    Default Re: New to forum....w/my discus story

    5-8 times a day??? Now that's a tuffy, since I work 8-10 hours a day. Do I need to get an auto feeder??? Is beef heart found at lfs's??

  6. #6

    Default Re: New to forum....w/my discus story

    The beefheart isn't really that important and its kind of a touchy subject some people think it bring all the hormones to the fish and some think they grow faster with it and wouldn't use anything else. Once I get my autofeeder up and running I plan on feeding-
    at
    1.7 am Frozen Bloodworms
    2.11 am Pellets/flakes.....timer
    3 2 pm Pellets/flakes.....timer
    4. 4 pm beefheart
    5. 8pm Frozen Bloodworms
    6. 11pm Brine Shrimps flakes....timer
    thats the schedule thats works for me and you can make your own based on your schedule in the day
    And i do a 55% waterchange everyday to keep the water prestine

    P.s. You can buy beefheart at places like safeway and I think I saw it at walmart and if you search beefheart recipes you cna find some great ideas for recipes
    Last edited by *Polka dots roc*; 08-27-2008 at 04:18 PM.
    nicole

  7. #7
    Registered Member happygirl65's Avatar
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    Jan 2008
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    Flagstaff, AZ
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    337

    Default Re: New to forum....w/my discus story

    What type of plants your tank can handle is really dependent on your light for the most part. You could start with low light and see how it goes.
    Crypts are really nice low light plants as well as java ferns, and anubias.

    How many watts of ligt do you have over this thank and are they regular normal output flourescent bulbs or something else?
    As bright as the sun and twice as proud...I refuse to hang out under a cloud!

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