New to Discus. Advice?

[wtwwg]

Hello,

I just got my first discus a few days ago, and realized I don't know enough about him/her as I do my other fish!

I have a relatively new planted 75 gal. Other occupants are 12 rummy nose tetras, some shrimp, and a pair of pearl gourami. My ammonia, nitrite are 0, and nitrate at 5. I think pH is a bit high, now in the upper 7 to 8 range (should I bring it down?).

The discus I bought is around 3.5 inches, blue turquoise. I read that babies shouldn't be kept in planted tanks, but thought that this guy wasn't a baby? Is this correct?

I am planning on getting one or two more discus, as prefer a community aquarium type set up, but am afraid this might be too few for their comfort. How many discus is the minimum for health? In addition, how soon should I get the others? My tank is cycled, but I do not wish to add so many large fish so quickly.

For food, are flakes with occasional frozen bloodworm an okay diet? What else should be added?

Any advice for me? I am reading all your posts as fast as possible...

This little guy is really growing on me, so I want to do a good job :o

Thank you!

[zchauvin]

Welcome. Everything depends on what you want to achieve. Typically 5-6 discus minimum for a tank. They prefer to be together, with fish that small it is not a baby but not grown out either. To get the most potential out of your discus you normally want to keep them in a barebottom tank and feed multiple times per day. One of the main foods is beef heart and can fowl your water quickly this the reason a planted tank is a bad idea to grow out fish. PH is fine unless it is a wild fish which I am sure it is not.

[warblad79]

Hello,

I just got my first discus a few days ago, and realized I don't know enough about him/her as I do my other fish!

I have a relatively new planted 75 gal. Other occupants are 12 rummy nose tetras, some shrimp, and a pair of pearl gourami. My ammonia, nitrite are 0, and nitrate at 5. I think pH is a bit high, now in the upper 7 to 8 range (should I bring it down?).

The discus I bought is around 3.5 inches, blue turquoise. I read that babies shouldn't be kept in planted tanks, but thought that this guy wasn't a baby? Is this correct?

I am planning on getting one or two more discus, as prefer a community aquarium type set up, but am afraid this might be too few for their comfort. How many discus is the minimum for health? In addition, how soon should I get the others? My tank is cycled, but I do not wish to add so many large fish so quickly.

For food, are flakes with occasional frozen bloodworm an okay diet? What else should be added?

Any advice for me? I am reading all your posts as fast as possible...

This little guy is really growing on me, so I want to do a good job :o

Thank you!

My advice for you, do a lot of water changes at least 50% per day.

[Akili]

Welcome to SimplyDiscus, To all newcomers to this site and this hobby, I recommend to go through the stickies in the Beginners Section and watch this video
https://youtu.be/VXe3VKh7qF8 It is just over an hour long but worth hours of information

P.S. A must read thread form the beginner section http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?86009-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Getting-Started-with-Discus

After this if you have questions feel free to post them and I sure someone will help you out.

[LizStreithorst]

Your Discus may survive but will not grow to it's potential. At 3'' your fish is a baby as far as Discus go. I imagine that your tank has substrate and is planted. I suggest that you stick with the one Discus for now and if you get the bug do it right from the get-go. Sorry.