Just a little bit of advice please :).

[NickehStickeh]

Hi,
My name is Nic and I'm very new to SD.
I've read quite a few threads on SD and other Discus forums but I feel I just need a little bit of guidance.

I've been keeping fish for the last year at work but more intensely the last 6 months (I'm now the sole manager of the fish department (no official title or pay rise though :p)). I felt I learnt too quickly about the fish at work and needed more of a challenge. I steered away from your general Cichlid community tank e.g. Lake Malawi's etc. as a lot of people were saying they're very easy and to be honest, I ended up with discus because I needed somewhat of a challenge if I wanted to boost my knowledge in fish to the next level.

Unfortunately I rushed into it and lost a couple of Cardinals in the process of the 2nd wave of cycling (goldfish being the first but I should of let them cycle a lot more than I did)

I then waited some time before adding the discus, I believe 2-3 weeks later (once again wish I waited that bit longer). Even though I had done a mass amount of learning and researching I still missed some very vital steps to setting up my tank.

I currently have 3 5cm (2 1/2") discus and 1 slightly bigger 6-6.5cm (2 3/4") discus, 12 cardinal tetras, a small variety of corys and 4 bristle nose.

It's a gravel substrate with around 8-10 plants ranging from anubius, javas and amazon swords. I've tried keeping them alive with appropriate lighting, liquid fertilizer (seachem's flourish) but I'm currently slowly losing them as they're going brown on the ends and not really thriving. I'm in the midst of trying to upgrade my tank (which I'll leave bare bottom) to a 6 footer so I can get a couple more 5 or 7cms and watch and (hopefully) keep them until they're fully grown.

I'm running a fluval 305 which seems to be doing a good job for the filter but some people here are quite sceptical on the canisters and talk quite favourably of other means of filtration.

I'm also in the midst of setting up a better water change system with some big drums of water and a power head to pump that water directly into the tank. I'm also going to run an air pump to agitate the water in the drums.

I've now read higher ph's are fine for discus so now I'm not constantly worrying about my tank sitting at 7.0-7.2 and they don't really mind slightly outside of 6.5-7 and that the 6.5-7 is more for your adult breeding pairs, correct?

I also had my gh at 40 or so but have let it slowly rise back up with my tap water as it does sit around about 150.

I've currently got a system going of every 2 days I do a water change or if I can't do it on the day I'm meant to, do it 2 days in a row to make sure I don't leave it too long.

Does anyone have any advice or if I'm doing anything wrong/not favourably for the discus. Any help would be much appreciated and hopefully I'm doing the best I can for my discus.

[Second Hand Pat]

Nic, first welcome to discus and this forum. You are on the right track but you need to decide whether the plants or the discus are your priority. It is a rough road raising baby discus in a tank with gravel and plants. To raise baby discus out best a bare bottom tank with large daily water changes (90%) and many feedings a day are recommended. I suggest you read the stickies here in the beginners section and other sections of the forum.

You will also find that groups of six or more are recommended for both juvies or adults unless you have a pair. We also stress proper quarantine before adding fish together. I mentioned that as your current group consists of only four discus. Here are is links to consider reading

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?86009-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Getting-Started-with-Discus

Information index
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?27180-Beginners-Information-Index

Please do some reading and decide if you should make some changes. Came back with questions, we are here to help.
Pat

[NickehStickeh]

I should of added, I do plan on adding 2-4 more when I get the 6 foot.
I am going on holidays (very unfortunate timing) in a months time so I'm going to add the extra discus when I come back just to make sure everything is good as I don't want to leave the burden on my parents if for whatever reason the new discus have problems like my first ones had (eating problems etc etc)
With my bare bottom can I still keep my corys/bristles and cardinals?

[NickehStickeh]

I also do want the discus to be my priority.
I have had one particular person help me set up my tank. I should of looked into the set up a lot more than I did. I'll leave the plants in their for the moment until I come back from my holidays just so they help keep the bad stuff away a bit better but when I get back I'll be going bare bottom and over the next week I'll be looking more into powerhead to pump water into the tank and keeping large amounts of water.

How do you go about doing your 90%?
Three 50%'s?
Will it be okay to turn off my filter for say 10 minutes whilst doing those water changes?

[Eddie]

How do you go about doing your 90%? Just drain the water down til the fish are on their sides.
Three 50%'s? Better to do one large change.
Will it be okay to turn off my filter for say 10 minutes whilst doing those water changes? Yes, thats fine.

[Second Hand Pat]

Nic, most folks here maintain only the baby discus in their growout tanks as the additional fish add to the bio load and reduce water quality. I think you will find it easier to feed and maintain the discus separately and once they are about four/five inches then add the community fish.

[NickehStickeh]

Ahhk, atm I like the cardinals because when I feed they sit lower in the tank and pick up any excess which drops. I think I'll leave the community fish in the tank I've currently got, get my 6 foot and then start working on growing them nice and big. How quickly do they go from 2 to around 4-5 inches?

How often should I be feeding high protein feeds like beef heart and krill? I've been only feeding once/twice a week on the beef heart and krill.

[NickehStickeh]

"How do you go about doing your 90%? Just drain the water down til the fish are on their sides."
My assumption would be that this would stress the discus out, they're very interesting fish. Still learning a lot about them.

[Eddie]

"How do you go about doing your 90%? Just drain the water down til the fish are on their sides."
My assumption would be that this would stress the discus out, they're very interesting fish. Still learning a lot about them.

Not at all, I do it every day. Have been for a decade at least. Using aged water is the trick.

[NickehStickeh]

Ageing your water naturally, I've been told so many different things. If I use dechlorinater and an air pump to agitate my water how long should it take to "age" my water. I read through the beginners guide there and i believe it said 12 hours if the ph hasn't changed you're all good to go but if it changes a bit wait 24 hours?
I'll have a re-read but yeah.

[Eddie]

Ageing your water naturally, I've been told so many different things. If I use dechlorinater and an air pump to agitate my water how long should it take to "age" my water. I read through the beginners guide there and i believe it said 12 hours if the ph hasn't changed you're all good to go but if it changes a bit wait 24 hours?
I'll have a re-read but yeah.

12-24 hours. I have always aged for 24 hours. Age your water by aerating it and heating it to match the tank. You only need to add the dechlor to the tank just prior to filling, not to the aging container.

[NickehStickeh]

Oh you add it to the tank? How come you do this and not to the ageing container? I'd be under the assumption you want 0 chlorine when it goes in? When you mean prior to filling do you mean add it to the water your about to siphon out? Sorry just a little confused D:

[Eddie]

Oh you add it to the tank? How come you do this and not to the ageing container? I'd be under the assumption you want 0 chlorine when it goes in? When you mean prior to filling do you mean add it to the water your about to siphon out? Sorry just a little confused D:

Yes, drain the tank, add safe or prime to the fish tank and then fill it. It does not affect the fish at all. If you add the dechlor to the aging container, it will build up bacteria/slime and when you fill, you will start to get pieces of slime flowing into the tank.

[NickehStickeh]

Oh, I see what you mean, say I'm about to put 200 litres to the tank. Do the dosage for 200 litres in the 10% of water left in the tank?

[Chicago Discus]

How do you go about doing your 90%? Just drain the water down til the fish are on their sides.
Three 50%'s? Better to do one large change.
Will it be okay to turn off my filter for say 10 minutes whilst doing those water changes? Yes, thats fine.

+1 +1

[Eddie]

Oh, I see what you mean, say I'm about to put 200 litres to the tank. Do the dosage for 200 litres in the 10% of water left in the tank?

I generally do put the amount of the whole tank, regardless if 10% is left.

[NickehStickeh]

Sorry yes I understand now. I may set up the BB 6 foot tank before I go on holidays then and get a routine going. It's not going to be detrimental to the fish if for 10 days the water changes are brought back a little bit? I don't want to put a big amount of pressure onto my parents while I'm away. I know we're talking ideal WC's but what can I get them to do which will make sure that the discus remain healthy and happy. Obviously you want to vacc the gunk off the bottom every day but apart from that, would it remain okay if they vaccd every day maybe minimise the feeding a bit so not so much waste is produced and maybe only move 40-50% of the tank instead of the ideal 80-90%?