Cold Hard Facts for the Hobbyist...

[Fishwhispererpam]

My sump system pump quit working and we lost 25 gallons on the livingroom floor...and basement. The house smelled like mildew for two weeks because of the carpet! We decided that sump systems are not for us!

I love my sump! It's my easiest tank to keep clean. And yep.... Fill it with pump off.

[Tazalanche]

Excellent thread!

One from a noob (namely me):

You will never again walk by an empty tank without wondering how many discus it will hold comfortably, and whether or not you have room for it...

So true.

[chemjab]

16) You will learn to quarantine - one way or another...

I am finally doing this for the first time. I am also going through all the beginner articles, that I should have read years ago.

James

[Scales]

This is by far the most useful forum I've registered with. Thanx for making my fish keeping so much easier and enjoyable.

[PAR23]

I like many others, enjoy coming back to this thread for a good laugh.

Just when you think you got everything under control, the fish throws a curve ball at you. So back to SD search tab looking for answers.....Never a dull moment

[redlionvjx]

Great thread to start off with to being the hobby

[sunshine]

Oh my what have my husband and I gotten into.... LOL...... we just wanted to see pretty fish in our tank.... Now I am seeing these darn cute fish are a lot of work and so very sensitive.... I am hoping we can balance having a life with keeping the few Discus we have. I dont know if we want to become full on hobbiests.... but we do want to give our babies the best care we can.... is there one certain place on this forum that shows all the sponors in one location so I can go look at what they offer etc, learn how to buy Discus etc... thanks everyone....

[Shanaka]

Its amazing how you write it.. its almost the same thing that I am doing and how I feel... Thanks for sharing this.

[Ramble]

i am already obsessed and i have just begun! only have my first 9 and already a building a fish room for more!!

[ocean1]

thanks for the info

[OldJoan]

Hi, I have been lurking these threads for a while now.... We are 15 months into having an aquarium and 7 weeks into being discus owners. We have seven 2.5-4" discus from LFS and last week got 5 babies (bout half dollar size) from a local breeder. Three of them are up and about and begging with the rest, one is hiding but does eat if we can land food down by it, and the 5th one hides all the time, is very dark and does not appear to eat. I do not know if it poops or not because he hides under a plant. Is there anything that can be done for the one that doesn't seem to want to join the party? Or is it a case of it is what it is and wait til it dies? We feed twice a day - start with some tetra flakes for the tetras, then some Hikari discus pellets. For dinner they get flakes, pellets, and each night a different frozen cube of blood worms, cube for discus, beef heart, cyclops, or brine shrimp. We do a weekly 40% water change of the 75 gal tank. We have 3 corys, 6 otocinclus, and about 12 tetras. Water parameters test out good.

[Bilbo]

Good thread.

[Tazalanche]

Hi, I have been lurking these threads for a while now.... We are 15 months into having an aquarium and 7 weeks into being discus owners. We have seven 2.5-4" discus from LFS and last week got 5 babies (bout half dollar size) from a local breeder. Three of them are up and about and begging with the rest, one is hiding but does eat if we can land food down by it, and the 5th one hides all the time, is very dark and does not appear to eat. I do not know if it poops or not because he hides under a plant. Is there anything that can be done for the one that doesn't seem to want to join the party? Or is it a case of it is what it is and wait til it dies? We feed twice a day - start with some tetra flakes for the tetras, then some Hikari discus pellets. For dinner they get flakes, pellets, and each night a different frozen cube of blood worms, cube for discus, beef heart, cyclops, or brine shrimp. We do a weekly 40% water change of the 75 gal tank. We have 3 corys, 6 otocinclus, and about 12 tetras. Water parameters test out good.

First off, welcome to Simply!

To ensure you get the best help possible, you should start a new thread in the Disease/Sickness and Medication subforum & fill out the questionnaire mentioned at the top there.

There are quite a few issues with your current setup & routine, so I'd also HIGHLY recommend reading the stickies in the Discus Basics for Beginners subforum.

Good luck Joan!

[alexsano]

7) You will learn about WATER...save yourself the hassels and learn as soon as you can.

currently on this one...

i am so blessed i registered this forum! For 1 week now i kept telling myself that i spent a lot of time and money in a wrong way but good thing i saw this forum.

[aquadon2222]

16.) You will get carried away looking at different discus on the internet and will convince yourself that you "have" to have them, and will buy more fish than you need.