Newbie to Now - Lessons Learned

[Second Hand Pat]

Hey guys, we have all walked this journey and most of us still are. Please share what you have learned; both success and failures. If you walked a slightly different path share that to. Personally I have walked a slightly different path and have had varying levels of success and I am still learning, experimenting, refining...basically learning what works for me.

[troysdiiscus]

ah now we are talking, thanks Pat.
Ok I have been keeping fish since I was 18, mostly SA cichlids and still have some now. I started looking at Discus about a year ago and started to read bits and pieces of info. Well of coarse I said I can do this. So bought some from a lfs and thought they were beautiful. Not knowing that they were, poorly kept and stunted. Paid alot for these and stuck them in my planted tank,no QT just flopped them in there. Then wondered why they were not doing well. Did WC about 20% once a week and added all kinds of buffers, trace element etc. Needless to say I lost those fish in a week or so. I decided to Join this forum and do more detailed research and asked alot of questions. The advise I got was priceless. Me thinking I knew it all lost alot of inferior fish and gained a wealth of knowledge of what to buy and how to care of them the right way. So for those who think they know it all, like me, guess again. I am now raising fry though it was along road to succuss but with the people of this form, it was easier.
So a word to the wise of all newbie's and I am still one, if you think you know it all and dont want to listen to experienced people on here then you too can add your horry stories to this thread in the future because you will have some to tell. Let me save you alot of headache and money by telling you to pull down your ego and internet knowledge and LISTEN to those who can help.

[William Palumbo]

Getting my Discus in the early 80"s, there was not much accurate info on them. Mostly just what was wrote in the TFH "picture" books about Discus. Info was not readily exchanged back then between hobbyist. Local hobbyist were far and few in between...actual breeders even more so. and with no internet back then, most breeders/keepers kept their secrets to themselves, and what was shared was usually highly inaccurate. It's nice now, with the internet and a site like this. Makes keeping/breeding Discus ALMOST a no brainer...tho people still do like to over complicate things, and at times not take advice. I had to find out starting with Discus what worked and what didn't. I made a lot of "mistakes" early on, but was lucky I never failed despite my efforts. Discus are tough fish, believe it or not. To this day I still do some things against the grain, but only because it's what worked for me, and still does. You never stop learning, and I am always willing to be open to keep learning..Bill

[MKD]

When setting up discus fish tank, most of us already have decorations (sand, plants, driftwood...) in mind and so easy/fast freak out when we're saying bare bottom. It's hard to change something in your mind that you haven't done or able to picture it. Please just give it a try and sure you'll be used to it. Plus, try to set up/plan water change system that is fast and easy. This will help you for long run. Last, try to get healthy discus from our sponsors here, sure you'll see the huge different.

Hope this helps,

Tony

[Freaky.Fishie]

Being new to discus in particular I don't have much to say, but in regards to general aquaria, there are quite a few things that I have learned through my own ignorance and trial and error.

First off: a quarantine aquarium will save your fish. For too long I didn't have a quarantine tank and after losing full tanks to stupid parasites or sicknesses that could have EASILY been avoided with quarantine, I learned the hard way. Don't be me, quarantine. Every. Time.

Second: just because a fish will survive under less that ideal circumstances doesn't mean it is a happy, healthy fish.

Third: fresh/frozen food will ALWAYS make your fish grow faster and be a little more vibrant than if you feed them only flakes or other processed foods. An AMAZING food for discus are black worms, they're 60% protein and make your fish grow HUGE.




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[John_Nicholson]

I have a meeting to go to so I will keep this quick.....

Many, many years ago I decided to get some discus. I bought 3 from one source and 3 from another. They were roughly 2 inches. I out them in a 55 gallon tank with gravel and plants. I changes 10 gallons of water a day. Like most folks things went great for a couple of months and then the fish started having minor issues. I figured that it was water quality so I stepped up WC's to about 20 gallons a day. Still had off and on problems. In desperation I siphoned out about half the gravel. Fish got a little better, siphoned out the rest of the gravel and put a few plants in pots. Fish did a little better still. Got a bigger storage barrel and changed more water. Fish thrived. I got 2 breeding pairs. Got more tanks and started selling babies. Converted the garage over to a fish room. Sold 6000+ babies in one year. After a while I got busy. Shut down the fish room. Built a fish house and got going again. Had 12 breeding pairs, worse drought in Texas history, water restrictions shut down again. Got some rain, got started again. There is 20+ years of life boiled down to its base components.

All in all what does it mean....chances are regardless of where you are at I have already been there. I don't have all of the answers but I normally know a method or process that will work. Might not be the best option but it is an option that will get results.

-john

[dirtyplants]

I started keeping discus in the early eighties also. They were wild, and plagued with parasites. Getting the pH down and stable was an issue then. Pulling out the minerals in hard water was also an issue. I ended up getting the private number of Wattley, talk about asking dumb questions, well I never thought I would reach him so I was totally unprepared to ask any questions. My tank is always an experiment, I am always trying to ensure my tank can survive for a good period of time with out mechanical filtration. It is loaded with plants which has to be trimmed every other day and my nitrates are always low close to zero without the amount of water changes most people do. This is a mature tank and by mature I mean 20 to 25 years of trial and error. Putting a garden on the top of my tank is the strangest thing I have done and found that fruit bearing plants need far too much nutrients for the discus to be comfortable. I use a hydroponic system that I built on the top for filtration, but soon discovered that the flow has to be pushed a bit from time to time and a collection cup placed at the outlet to catch the sediment the roots captured around and within it's roots, then re-ajusted to the normal flow rate again. I soon had to settle for water loving plants on top instead of eatable greens, the lack of a high nutrients and not enough light left me with wimpy looking lettuce.
I learned to watch before making changes, this ensures I am aware of any signs of stress on the fish when any alteration of the eco system is attempted. My discus are big and any thing placed within the tank goes into spawning mode. I watch, read, ask questions again and again. There is always something to learn, from the experience of others. There are also always some sort of problems, cropping up, but the problems are merely stepping stones to accessing knowledge and learning/developing new skills.