discus novice hobbyist with some questions to solve

[danyeto]

hello, i have been in the discus hobby for almost 1 year now, i am pretty sattisfied with the progress i have made, but over this time i have crashed with a lot of common "myths" that may o may not be true. i come to you guys of simplydiscus to get the answers im looking for, since a lot of you people do know a lot about discus keeping. the major questions that i have about discus are their capability to coexist with plants, wich ones can i add to the aquarium that tolerate the high temps that discus need. i have been afraid to add plants to my tank because i have been told that discus growth is inhibitted by them, now, is this really true?, and if so, why does this happen.

Personally, i have Heard that plants secrete "hormones" or "chemicals" that make discus slow in growth, i have also Heard that they take too much oxygen during the nights, and last but not least, that people that own planted tanks make a bad job in mantaining their tanks free of decomposing materia (wich i actually think that makes a lot of sense since you dont see the waste), making the water parameters below optimal, but in this case i think water changes more frequently will make a solution for that.

Another question i have is about stunted discus. i have some of my discus to develop pretty big eyes, they are happy fish, vibrant in colors and always with their nose on the glass following me to see what i do, they eat a lot. i want to get the answers on why some of them are stunted, and if stunt brings any health problems to them. i also want to know if once a discus is stunted, is posible to make them grow again, maybe not to a giant size, but to a normal adult, if this is posible i want to know how.

thank you for your time and excuse me if i have a bad english, is not my first language and im still learning :p, please if you also posess any info about wich live food is the best for discus i would love to know, i am feeding them with peanut beetle larvae and brine shrimp, they seem to be loving them. I would also apreciate for the discus and planted tank lovers that managed to succesfully keep them together with rewarding results, some advice on how often they do water changes and how often do they syphon the bottom of the tank.


thank you all for your time Reading this post.

[William1]

There is a planted tank section with much discussion that maybe you should check out. I'm more than skeptical about the hormone theory. Your English is better than most Americans. If I was a teacher I would give you a solid B+ for spelling and punctuation. Except it's I, not i, and words at the beginning of a sentence should be capitalized. Sorry, crossword geek here. Cheers.

[warblad79]

Personally, i have Heard that plants secrete "hormones" or "chemicals" that make discus slow in growth, i have also Heard that they take too much oxygen during the nights, and last but not least, that people that own planted tanks make a bad job in mantaining their tanks free of decomposing materia (wich i actually think that makes a lot of sense since you dont see the waste), making the water parameters below optimal, but in this case i think water changes more frequently will make a solution for that

I never heard of plant secretion will alter discus growth. I think it's something to do with plants competing with discus as far as nutrients absorption.

[Filip]

hello, i have been in the discus hobby for almost 1 year now, i am pretty sattisfied with the progress i have made, but over this time i have crashed with a lot of common "myths" that may o may not be true. i come to you guys of simplydiscus to get the answers im looking for, since a lot of you people do know a lot about discus keeping. the major questions that i have about discus are their capability to coexist with plants, wich ones can i add to the aquarium that tolerate the high temps that discus need. i have been afraid to add plants to my tank because i have been told that discus growth is inhibitted by them, now, is this really true?, and if so, why does this happen.

Personally, i have Heard that plants secrete "hormones" or "chemicals" that make discus slow in growth, i have also Heard that they take too much oxygen during the nights, and last but not least, that people that own planted tanks make a bad job in mantaining their tanks free of decomposing materia (wich i actually think that makes a lot of sense since you dont see the waste), making the water parameters below optimal, but in this case i think water changes more frequently will make a solution for that.

Another question i have is about stunted discus. i have some of my discus to develop pretty big eyes, they are happy fish, vibrant in colors and always with their nose on the glass following me to see what i do, they eat a lot. i want to get the answers on why some of them are stunted, and if stunt brings any health problems to them. i also want to know if once a discus is stunted, is posible to make them grow again, maybe not to a giant size, but to a normal adult, if this is posible i want to know how.

thank you for your time and excuse me if i have a bad english, is not my first language and im still learning :p, please if you also posess any info about wich live food is the best for discus i would love to know, i am feeding them with peanut beetle larvae and brine shrimp, they seem to be loving them. I would also apreciate for the discus and planted tank lovers that managed to succesfully keep them together with rewarding results, some advice on how often they do water changes and how often do they syphon the bottom of the tank.


thank you all for your time Reading this post..


Welcome to the forum Danieto, and it would be great if you can start a new thread about your tank , with info. and pictures of discus and setup.

You asked almost 100 questions in your post so I'll start one by one :-)


1. Anubias , java ferns, Echinodorus -Amazon swords,Lotus, Valisneria, all hygrophillas , bacopas and many other plants can tolerate 28-29 degree 'C - the temp. For discus.

2.Discus growth is only indirectly inhibited by plants , because they got completely opposite needs from discus needs , and once you start to fulfill plant growth needs , you neglect discus growth needs , and vice versa.
By this I mean doing rich thick substrate, fertilization, Co2 and constant pH change , bright lights , strong current, not doing Water changes etc.etc.

3.
3.1 I think hormone theory is a false myth , and personaly I have never heard it before .

3.2 plants depleting oxigen by night is true , but it can easily be compensate with good surface movement and proper aerisation of the tank.

3.3 Planted tanks can never match the water quality that Bare tanks have no mater how diligently you try to clean the substrate and how much water you change there will still be detritus in the sand and plenty of surface area for bacteria to thrive .

4 Neglected discus care is what makes discus stunted / small and deformed, and yes stunting can lead to health issues on the long term in their life .
And once you miss the growth period and stunt the discus , you can not compensate that later in adulthood.
That period is approx. the first year of discus life-12 months.

5. Artemia , mysis , beef heart , salmon , shrimps .

6. Sand bottom , mostly potted plants , water change 3-4 times a week 70% , cleaning glass ,sand and prefilters 1-2 times aweek.
65 gallon with 7 discus + other fish .
Here is a link of my tank.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?121117-My-65-gallon-planted-discus-tank/page4

Hope that helps .

[danyeto]

thank you all for your help, ill start a planted tank for my discus, focusing on the necesities of the fish first of all, ill make a substrate bed for the plants and add co2 and some lighting that doesnt seem to affect the discus development. ill use plants that dont require that much care so they wont die and grow out of minimal mantainance.