Discus Beginner! Various questions that I'm curious about.

[bnguyen]

Hi there! I've been wanting to raise discus for a long time now. I've had discus in the past but I was ignorant on how to care for them, I only had two in a 55 gallon tank with angelfish and tetras. That failed horribly and I'm wanting to get it right this time around. It's been years since then and I've learned a lot more about taking care of fish. I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask, and I've already tried to do research on these but I received some conflicting information so I thought I'd make a post about it.

The tank that they will be raised in is a 55 gallon with sand.

So my questions are:
1) How often and how much water do I change for about 2-3 inch discus?
2) I've heard that some people use 100% RO water, some use 70/30 RO to tap, and some use 100% tap. What is optimal? My water is apparently very hard where I live. I have an RO system already and I will be creating an automatic water change system.
3) How many discus can I safely keep?
4) Do I have to age my water? My water is treated with chloramine.
5) Are there any other specific tips that you have to give?

Also, I have three tanks at the moment. I have a 15 gallon with neon tetras and cory catfish, a 10 gallon with dwarf gourami and cory cats, a 55 gallon with red parrots and clown loaches, and another 55 gallon with angelfish and clown loaches. How much more difficult would taking care of discus really be?

[warblad79]

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/showth...ed-with-Discus

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

[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/showth...ed-with-Discus

After this if you have questions feel free to post them and I sure someone will help you out.
^^^^ + 1 most of your questions will answered when you are done with the above
Now Your tanks 10 and 15 gallons are small but can used as Quarantine tanks.The 55 gallon is workable with some limitations,general as rule 10 gallons per Discus(sub adults to adults) Red parrot and Discus do not do well and loaches are fine.The depending upon size may not work out with Discus either. As to raising of the fish from juvenile to adults you do need reverse osmosis water. Hope this helps

[chuckiesmalls]

I strongly recommend you do frequent large water changes. A lot of people I noticed will do daily but VERY small water changes and IMO-that should be avoided. If I were you I would do a 50% water change using your preferred method every other day. After doing that a while, if you miss a day--AND just catch it the very next, you should be good.

Nothing helps discus more than frequent, good-sized (30% min. IMO) water changes. I know it seems a lot bc I used to keep other tropical fish,but trust if you do not have the motivation to keep up at least 3 weekly WCs of at least 30-40% I'd say...hmmmm..Angels? LOL

Good luck. A water pump will be very very useful for you in this hobby too!

[Akili]

^^^^ + 1 most of your questions will answered when you are done with the above
Now Your tanks 10 and 15 gallons are small but can used as Quarantine tanks.The 55 gallon is workable with some limitations,general as rule 10 gallons per Discus(sub adults to adults) Red parrot and Discus do not do well and loaches are fine.The depending upon size may not work out with Discus either. As to raising of the fish from juvenile to adults you do need reverse osmosis water. Hope this helpsIn the above answer it should been ""As to raising of the fish from juvenile to adults you do not need reverse osmosis water. Hope this helps""

[bnguyen]

Hi I'm back! I think my post may have been a little misunderstood. I will not be keeping the discus with any other fish, the tanks I listed pertain to a different question. I was wondering how large the gap is between taking care of the tanks I already have compared to raising discus. So I've watched the video and read over a couple of more threads about discus and I think I have a better understanding now. However I still have a couple of more questions. I have access to a 150 gallon tank now.
1) Would raising the discus in the 55 gallon or the 150 gallon be more beneficial?
I've heard that raising discus in a smaller tank allows them to grow more uniformly and faster. Do you believe this to be true?

2) I'm planning to raise 6 discus if I use the 55 gallon. If I choose to use the 150 gallon, would it be okay to still raise 6 or would a larger number be more beneficial to reduce pecking order?

[Filip]

1, I would go with 55 g . with 6 discus , and changing daily 50+ % water. Because Its 3 times easier to change 30 gallons than 90 gallons of water every day.
More crowded in numbers discus are the more verocious and greedy they will eat thus more uniform growth . But i dont think there is any diference about 6 discus eating in 55 or 150 gallons . Theyll eat the same anyways.

2.Large numbers are allways better option to keep discus because they are schooling fish . They feel more secure and relaxed in large numbers and they tend to eat more .

[MendoMan]

Go with the bigger tank. Why limit yourself to such a small number of fish? If you don't i'm sure you'll regret it and end up getting a larger one soon. As far as it being more work I really don't see that. The work is setting up the drain and pump and it may take a bit more time I don't see where it's more work. I have a 150 and I siphon out to the garden and fill by pumping from my aging barrels in the garage.

[bnguyen]

If I had 6 discus the 150g, should I change the water daily 30-50% still, or just enough to just keep it down to >5ppm nitrates? Would there be a noticeable difference in the quality of the discus?

[Akili]

If I had 6 discus the 150g, should I change the water daily 30-50% still, or just enough to just keep it down to >5ppm nitrates? Would there be a noticeable difference in the quality of the discus?Change water daily if they are not adults, if you just keep nitrates 5ppm you may end up with average looking and perhaps some even stunted.