iCarp
12-29-2012, 10:53 PM
I got eight discus Christmas morning. Of course, they are elegant and beautiful fish- especially when they aren't pecking at each other. Getting them to settle in has been a learning experience, but they seem to be getting used to their new home- two have paired off today and laid eggs on one of the heaters:
http://carpfishingcanada.com/images/discus/d1.jpeg
Naturally, there's a bit more to the story…
I bought a 90 gallon tank in November with the intention of setting up a planted community tank. I filled it, set up a canister filter, and bought an LED light set. I also saw some discus photos and decided that I would stock it with discus instead of doing a community tank.
Timing is everything in life. I already had a filled and cycling tank, the powerful filter, and the bright lights. That's when I learned that discus are not big fans of strong currents and bright lights. I bought some wisteria to float on top to filter the light a bit and popped in a couple of pieces of driftwood. Fortunately, I hadn't bought substrate yet since I was soon to learn that a bare bottom is best.
It was also very fortunate that I found this site. I spent several days here lurking about and reading lots. I got the point- water quality is paramount so go bare, change the water often, don't overstock, change the water, and don't forget those water changes. I also learned that discus can be tolerant of current and light. That was reassuring. It almost made up for the great news that I should be painting the bottom and back of my tank- the filled and cycling one as you will remember.
Painting a tank in situ- placed as close to the wall as I could get it before filling it- was interesting and I hardly got any paint on me or the walls or the tank stand much at all, ish… Let's speak of happier things.
http://carpfishingcanada.com/images/discus/d6.jpeg
I am the sort who enjoys learning and loves getting caught up in the details. It looked like discus and I would be a great match. I was learning lots, thanks to this site and others, and doing my best to work with what I had already started in order to create a discus friendly tank. Two heaters were installed to get the temp steady at 84 on the Fahrenheit scale. (Possibly interesting aside: As a Canadian aquarist I get to enjoy juggling Imperial, metric, and U.S. measurements- lots of laughs.)
http://carpfishingcanada.com/images/discus/d3.jpeg
As my tank cycled, I passed the time by visiting the sites of SD sponsors and others. I studied strains and learned about feeding and foods. I read up on the history of discus and their natural habitat, and discovered that adult discus do not necessarily require the same regimen of massive and frequent water changes as juvies do. Oh joyous day and happy news! I decided I would stock adults, 7 ideally given the size of my tank, all from one source to reduce bickering and the possibility of disease.
Now that was a bugger indeed. Where to get the fish? Buying seven juvies would have been a doddle, a piece o' cake, infinitely easier than a water change. But seven adults? Selection was limited, prices were, er, impressive, and shipping was not possible until after the hols. I resigned myself to waiting until early January and settled back to watch my empty tank for a few weeks.
http://carpfishingcanada.com/images/discus/d4.jpeg
Hung changed all of that. He is a local discus fancier I found quite by chance. I saw photos of his fish and some youtube vids on Christmas Eve. Thanks to what I had learned here on the forum I could tell that these were healthy, well shaped, adult discus. I dropped him a line electronically and we arranged to meet early the next morning- what turned out to be a very Happy Christmas indeed! Eight fish came home with me that morning and I have spent the days since then fine tuning my system of discus care and watching my new beauties.
My sincere thanks to the SD forum members who have shared so much knowledge and experience through their posts.
Stephen
http://carpfishingcanada.com/images/discus/d5.jpeg
http://carpfishingcanada.com/images/discus/d1.jpeg
Naturally, there's a bit more to the story…
I bought a 90 gallon tank in November with the intention of setting up a planted community tank. I filled it, set up a canister filter, and bought an LED light set. I also saw some discus photos and decided that I would stock it with discus instead of doing a community tank.
Timing is everything in life. I already had a filled and cycling tank, the powerful filter, and the bright lights. That's when I learned that discus are not big fans of strong currents and bright lights. I bought some wisteria to float on top to filter the light a bit and popped in a couple of pieces of driftwood. Fortunately, I hadn't bought substrate yet since I was soon to learn that a bare bottom is best.
It was also very fortunate that I found this site. I spent several days here lurking about and reading lots. I got the point- water quality is paramount so go bare, change the water often, don't overstock, change the water, and don't forget those water changes. I also learned that discus can be tolerant of current and light. That was reassuring. It almost made up for the great news that I should be painting the bottom and back of my tank- the filled and cycling one as you will remember.
Painting a tank in situ- placed as close to the wall as I could get it before filling it- was interesting and I hardly got any paint on me or the walls or the tank stand much at all, ish… Let's speak of happier things.
http://carpfishingcanada.com/images/discus/d6.jpeg
I am the sort who enjoys learning and loves getting caught up in the details. It looked like discus and I would be a great match. I was learning lots, thanks to this site and others, and doing my best to work with what I had already started in order to create a discus friendly tank. Two heaters were installed to get the temp steady at 84 on the Fahrenheit scale. (Possibly interesting aside: As a Canadian aquarist I get to enjoy juggling Imperial, metric, and U.S. measurements- lots of laughs.)
http://carpfishingcanada.com/images/discus/d3.jpeg
As my tank cycled, I passed the time by visiting the sites of SD sponsors and others. I studied strains and learned about feeding and foods. I read up on the history of discus and their natural habitat, and discovered that adult discus do not necessarily require the same regimen of massive and frequent water changes as juvies do. Oh joyous day and happy news! I decided I would stock adults, 7 ideally given the size of my tank, all from one source to reduce bickering and the possibility of disease.
Now that was a bugger indeed. Where to get the fish? Buying seven juvies would have been a doddle, a piece o' cake, infinitely easier than a water change. But seven adults? Selection was limited, prices were, er, impressive, and shipping was not possible until after the hols. I resigned myself to waiting until early January and settled back to watch my empty tank for a few weeks.
http://carpfishingcanada.com/images/discus/d4.jpeg
Hung changed all of that. He is a local discus fancier I found quite by chance. I saw photos of his fish and some youtube vids on Christmas Eve. Thanks to what I had learned here on the forum I could tell that these were healthy, well shaped, adult discus. I dropped him a line electronically and we arranged to meet early the next morning- what turned out to be a very Happy Christmas indeed! Eight fish came home with me that morning and I have spent the days since then fine tuning my system of discus care and watching my new beauties.
My sincere thanks to the SD forum members who have shared so much knowledge and experience through their posts.
Stephen
http://carpfishingcanada.com/images/discus/d5.jpeg