Hello from Bmore

[Leaalicia]

Hey guys,

Been lurking here for a while figure it's time about time to say hello. I am a PA that lives here in the Baltimore area with my fiance, my eccentric boxer Jackson and our bull-in-a-china-shop monster white lab Sherman (along with our now ever expanding crew of aquatic friends). My parents always had various fish tanks growing up, but I never had much to do with them, So other than the bio classes I took quite a few years ago this is all new to me.

My foray into discus began with getting sick of the horrible weather last winter and being crazy bored. So I decided to breed guppies. Easy enough you say, I started with a little trio in a 3.5 gallon . . . but, now here's the BUT . . . The fiance got super pumped about my new found acceptance of fish tanks ;:D and about 2 weeks later we had a 90 gallon tank cycling, lol. Shortly after got some horrid LFS discus on a whim. Not a month or two later do I find Simply and not only realize that I have done everything wrong but also realize that Hans is right around the corner! Still kicking myself for that!

Really probably waited to post here cause I honestly thought all the discus were going to die once I started reading up here on Simply. LOL. I guess we all start somewhere huh? :p Well the originals + Hans' Stendker additions are all still alive and growing several months later . . . knocking on several pieces of driftwood currently ;). . . plan on posting all of my updates in the homesteader section soon, so you can see all of the gory details of a newbie trying a planted, substrated, decorated discus tank - and why - just so you know - that is a horrible idea for the um-teenth time.

Happy water-changing,
Lea

[rickztahone]

Hey guys,

Been lurking here for a while figure it's time about time to say hello. I am a PA that lives here in the Baltimore area with my fiance, my eccentric boxer Jackson and our bull-in-a-china-shop monster white lab Sherman (along with our now ever expanding crew of aquatic friends). My parents always had various fish tanks growing up, but I never had much to do with them, So other than the bio classes I took quite a few years ago this is all new to me.

My foray into discus began with getting sick of the horrible weather last winter and being crazy bored. So I decided to breed guppies. Easy enough you say, I started with a little trio in a 3.5 gallon . . . but, now here's the BUT . . . The fiance got super pumped about my new found acceptance of fish tanks ;:D and about 2 weeks later we had a 90 gallon tank cycling, lol. Shortly after got some horrid LFS discus on a whim. Not a month or two later do I find Simply and not only realize that I have done everything wrong but also realize that Hans is right around the corner! Still kicking myself for that!

Really probably waited to post here cause I honestly thought all the discus were going to die once I started reading up here on Simply. LOL. I guess we all start somewhere huh? :p Well the originals + Hans' Stendker additions are all still alive and growing several months later . . . knocking on several pieces of driftwood currently ;). . . plan on posting all of my updates in the homesteader section soon, so you can see all of the gory details of a newbie trying a planted, substrated, decorated discus tank - and why - just so you know - that is a horrible idea for the um-teenth time.

Happy water-changing,
Lea

Welcome Lea. Do not feel bad, a few of us starting in your shoes. Actually, I will amend that and say that most of us started the same way you have. The key here is to learn from your mistakes and evolve within the hobby. That is why this forum is here. You are very lucky to have someone like Hans so close, so take advantage of it and do it right when you can ;)

[MadMatt]

Hi Lea!
Happy SD and welcome to the worlds most rewarding and challenging hobby, Keeping and breeding Discus.
You need to know anything we are all here to help like so many has helped me in the past.
Best thing to do is start a thread and tell everything your doing, a lot of experienced people will chime in and say what you could improve and what they do.
First word of advise:
1.Do not use any ph up or down and or buffers (if you already do then we can sort that out on another thread..lol)
2.Also if any of your discus get sick do NOTHING till you post in the emergency room thread and let experienced discus keeps that are qualified help you your first few times around, most meds actually will kill your discus if they don't need it or many other things can happen, like burning gills, making them sterile, toxify the fish and much more.
Anyways we are here to help.

Best of luck and welcome,
:)

Ps: the water keeps the discus, we keep the water... Healthy discus keepers, keep ultra ultra pure clean water. We are the best water keepers in the aquarium hobby.

~MadMatt

[rickztahone]

Hi Lea!
Happy SD and welcome to the worlds most rewarding and challenging hobby, Keeping and breeding Discus.
You need to know anything we are all here to help like so many has helped me in the past.
Best thing to do is start a thread and tell everything your doing, a lot of experienced people will chime in and say what you could improve and what they do.
First word of advise:
1.Do not use any ph up or down and or buffers (if you already do then we can sort that out on another thread..lol)
2.Also if any of your discus get sick do NOTHING till you post in the emergency room thread and let experienced discus keeps that are qualified help you your first few times around, most meds actually will kill your discus if they don't need it or many other things can happen, like burning gills, making them sterile, toxify the fish and much more.
Anyways we are here to help.

Best of luck and welcome,
:)

Ps: the water keeps the discus, we keep the water... Healthy discus keepers, keep ultra ultra pure clean water. We are the best water keepers in the aquarium hobby.

~MadMatt

Sound advice.

[SMB2]

Living in Balt. you have one huge advantage. You are minutes from Hans, some of the best Discus around. Don't even think about a LFS again, go right to the source.

Welcome.

[Leaalicia]

Thanks to all for the warm welcome and good advice!

Lea