pushed into the hobby

[Mr.Meadows]

Let me start off by saying I have been keeping tropical fish for the last 30+ years. currently I have a 29 gallon planted tank. never thought I would keep Discus because you really need to know what your doing.
Here's how I got pushed into having Discus.
I came home one day and said to my son hey boy what's up, he said your girlfriend stopped by an brought you a fish. I looked at my tank no new fish ? I don't see any. my son said he's hiding in the back. "its a discus".
oh no now what do I do, this little guy wont survive in this tank. I ran down to Petco and got a 40 gallon breeder, 150 watt heater and fluval 206.
filled the tank with RO Di water, set the heater to 84 and took some of the biomax from the planted tank filter.
Ph is 7.4, kh is 4, gh is 9. I'm doing water changes every 2 days ( 10 gallons )
this may be wrong but seeing this little guy stressed, I decided to get a another one in hopes that will ease the stress. there both doing well and eating. I don't know what type are but there color is starting to come back.
if I'm doing any wrong please let me know.
Sorry for such a bad photo

114916

[pastry]

Get 3 or 4 more. Then put them in a bigger tank after a month or two. :p. Don't be afraid! Just start reading as many threads on here as you can. It's all here. You just have to go through them. If you start asking basic questions off the get-go then you may or may not getting any replies. I think you will be just fine though since you've been keeping fish for a long time. You are doing the right thing with water changes. Just remember that discus like to be in groups.

[Mr.Meadows]

Thanks for the input, already started looking at bigger tanks. but i need to do more research.

[Willie]

You don't need a larger tank. You'll need to take the gravel up and dramatically increase your water changes. Small discus need a barebottom tank and large, frequent water changes to become large discus.

Willie

[LizStreithorst]

I should have said that when I first saw this thread . The poor guy was given an expensive gift by his girl friend who didn't have a clue about fish. He wants the best for the fish. He came here for advice and he got it from the from a master.

Mr.Meadows, please keep on with your research and do what Willie says. You are very lucky to have Willie advising you. He never mentions it but he is an international Discus judge. He is a kind guy. He even tries to help everyone. The people who follow his advice do well. The others don't last long.

[Mr.Meadows]

Ok Thanks, Will remove gravel and increase water changes to 50% every 2 days.