I fell down the rabbit hole...

[klannin]

Soo...

Was gifted a 150g tank with sw setup by my husband...built up a nice little Amazon ecosystem, except for the Anubias (best plant ever). Saw a little shoal of discus for sale at petCo of all places. Of course felt sorry for them and bought them... got out of discus a decade ago, what did I do???

[ericNH]

i can hear that train coming down the track...lol

[Keith Perkins]

Welcome back to the world of WCs...do plenty. Post pictures after 11 posts. What are they, size?

[ericNH]

i hope my post didnt come across the wrong way. what i mean is that once the discus train starts, it gathers momentum, and mine is just picking up speed...

50% wc's daily
homemade beefheart food
qt tanks
......

good luck and enjoy the ride!

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Kelly and welcome to Simply and yes, do large daily WCs on these guys and watch for a mini-cycle. After you have been around this place for a bit you will find we generally discourage buying discus from your LFS (but some folks get lucky) but since you have them lets do the best we can with them. :)
Pat

[klannin]

i hope my post didnt come across the wrong way. what i mean is that once the discus train starts, it gathers momentum, and mine is just picking up speed....

Not at all. The poor guys are about 4 inches long and stunted. Pretty colors except one is a bit dark, and still shows bars whenever I or another fish get close. But in the last few weeks all are eating well (gained a lot of thickness) and have actually grown a little. I have two babies and a litter of puppies so I really can't dedicate the time to attempting to grow them out more or counteract the stunting unfortunately. They are being fed well, yet conservatively to avoid polluting the tank.

But hey what's done is done, they are doing great. On the positive side I didn't stunt them they came that way, and those three little piggies will have 150 gallons all to themselves. Another positive is maintaining a discus display even on the low end has my LFS angelfish almost grown out!

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Welcome to SD Kelly.

I would keep away from purchasing fish from a LFS as you already know most don't sell clean, quality discus. If you decide to purchase more, maybe someone here on the forum breeds discus in your area. We also have many sponsors here who sell quality discus and ship anywhere in the US and some ship International as well.

Good luck!

[klannin]

Welcome to SD Kelly.

I would keep away from purchasing fish from a LFS as you already know most don't sell clean, quality discus. If you decide to purchase more, maybe someone here on the forum breeds discus in your area. We also have many sponsors here who sell quality discus and ship anywhere in the US and some ship International as well.

Good luck!

Thanks Jeff, these little guys are probably it, had I planned on discus I would have set up the tank differently and chosen different tank mates. There are some red and blue tetra that are a little fast for a tank with discus, imo. But I tried catching them and would have to tear the tank apart. Not worth stressing out the discus, they've been through enough recently.

I'll take advice to heart. I am starting to see that hearing about people buying stunted discus from a LFS is as frustrating for you, as it is for me hearing about people buying dogs from a pet store. I breed champion and titled dogs, and understand that 'rescuing' by buying just puts money in a bad machine.

[ericNH]

klannin i started out the same way, lfs discus, just a couple juvies to finish off my community, lower feeding to keep the water cleaner.

But now these discus have taken over. I now have 7. After some helpful advice here my tank is in the midst of a rennaissance - my discus are much happier, healthier, and have grown more in the last 3 weeks than they have since I started. All fish other than discus are out, other than the cleanup crew, and I've even gotten in touch with Discus Hans about purchasing a real, true, quality specimen (placing the order in one week!).

I am obsessed. It may happen to you too! And I hope it does. It's a rewarding hobby. :)

[DISCUS STU]

Hope it works out. I started with one Brown Discus from a lfs back in the late 80's and the question/statement, "I'd like to keep Discus but I understand they don't eat flake food, do they?" I've been hooked ever since and still learn alot about these incredible fish all the time. This forum is also a great place for information.

[OC Discus]

Stu, are you with the Army at Ft. Lee? I did AIT at Ft. Lee in 1985.

[klannin]

So now i have to get a few more, they are doing great but one is super aggressive :/ Might just go back to the LFS and see if they have more, since they are on my well water and exposed to the same disease already... but dang you guys have some beautiful fish...

Kelly

[ericNH]

So now i have to get a few more

and so it begins...

[klannin]

I got three more today haha.

[DISCUS STU]

There's a 12 Step Group for Obsessive Compulsive Discus Disorder (OCDD), of which I am member; called Discus Anonymous (DA). :)

[klannin]

Here are some photos now that I have permissions. This is the petCo pigeon blood. We are calling her freckles. She's gotten much more round and her head looks much smaller compared to her body than when I got her.

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[klannin]

Here is another one, that i got last week from a LFS to disperse aggression. You can really see the difference in the body shape and head. I would like him to have better conditioning, he just now started to become a good eater.
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