My story

[AngryDiscus]

Hi,

I am Ashok from suburbs of Detroit, MI. Last week I started my official Discus Tank. I bought ten small fries from Al. Last week all of them were hiding behind the filter. However, ever since I install new lights, they started to venture out more. Today couple of them even come so close to my hand while I was feeding them. Two of them are brown with Turquois color on the fins and forehead. the rest are plain ivory color. I have no idea what they will look like in couple months. Most fish almost 60 percent bigger than what I originally had. Two are still smaller than the rest. They usually chase the big ones. One of them remind me of Tommy DeVito from Good Fellas. My goal is to keep them as long as I can. I started with a 35 gallon tank. I chose small fries because I wanted to learn from my mistakes and keep it in an affordable manner. I will be moving them to a 120 Gallon after they reach at least 3". So far so good...… Wish me luck

[LizStreithorst]

You're off to a good start, with some exceptionally good fish, Ashok. I wish you the greatest of luck with them.

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Ashok and best of luck with your little guys from Al. :D I moved your thread to the beginner section of the forum!
Pat

[AngryDiscus]

Thank you Pat. I didn't know how to start a thread! I really appreciate your help!

[AngryDiscus]

123986123987

Here is the fish

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Ashok, you could not have picked a better source for your young fish. Guessing these are the Al's SS/Turk juvies? Checkout the growout contest threads to see how these guys will look in a couple months.
Pat

[AngryDiscus]

124033124034

week 2 doubled in size!!

[brewmaster15]

Doing very well Ashok! Be sure to wipe down the tank when doing your water changes.. Keep up the great work!
al

[AngryDiscus]

Did I overfeed my discus? I put 1/2 a piece of the FDBW that I had from Al on the tank. I have 10 discus the size of a quarter (excluding fin). is that too much? please help

[Second Hand Pat]

Maybe! You are feeding food which is freeze dried and when it hits the water it will adsorb water. You actually do not want it to adsorb moisture in the bellies of the fry. I think that could hurt or kill them. I would suggest using a coffee grinder to break the cubes into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces. Place a small amount in a small cup with warm water and suck the pieces which collect on the bottom with a syringe (no needle) and squint it into the tank. The fish will go crazy for it.

You can also cut a cube into four piece and press it against the glass and push all the air out of it.
Pat

[AngryDiscus]

thank you pat. I have one more question. FDBW is ok as regular food?

[Sturiosoma]

thank you pat. I have one more question. FDBW is ok as regular food?

Discus cannot live on blackworm alone variety is key of meat and vegetables you may want to try nls flakes, northfin bug bites, and omega one kelp pellets which will provide there veggie requirements

[Second Hand Pat]

thank you pat. I have one more question. FDBW is ok as regular food?

Yes Astok, but fry need a varied diet. I am raising a group of fry from a wild discus pair and I was giving them lots of FDBWs with a bit of flake. After I have them about three weeks they started to develop parrot faces (forehead out growing the chin area). I consulted with Al (who is raising fry from the same spawn) and he suggested adding a change in diet...basely adding in foods with a lower protein content ie veggie flake. So I returned the fry to live BBS and added the veggie flake. I also added an extra water change (two per day) and the fish have mostly returned to normal. Here's the thread in case you are interested. http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?135002-Al-s-Wild-F1-Growouts,

So definitely mix in some other foods.
Pat

[AngryDiscus]

124349

I am trying to get all the fish. This is a trial. @ months old and more than doubled in size!

[AngryDiscus]

124350124351124352124350124352

[AngryDiscus]

Please let me know if my fish looks healthy or I royally messed up:(

[discuspaul]

Your fish look just fine, Ashok - don't be concerned.

[LizStreithorst]

I love that Blue Snake Skin that looks like a Blue Diamond until you look at it hard. I wish one of mine from Al was that type. You are doing well.

[AngryDiscus]

Now my next question: I have two fish that only half the size of the rest. They are very active and attack the food! I haven't seen any other fish messing (bullying) them. Since this is my first group of discus, I don't want to get rid of them. Is there are any downside of keeping them other than eating the food and taking up space? Whenever I approach the tank, they always come and greet me. Please advice

[LizStreithorst]

If they were mine, and they were not getting skinny I would keep them as hero fish. If you can post pics of them head on and from the sics I'd be able to advise you better

[peewee1]

I was going to post something similar until I read this first. Buying from a forum sponsor is the first good step in raising quality discus. Some will be smaller than others. As it is with all things in life. I had read that the wild strains tend to grow slower than the others. I have one wild cross that was larger in October than his tank mates. Now is he is the little guy. Yet he is still a brilliant colored and healthy fish.

[AngryDiscus]

Thank you Liz and Peewee! I am glad that it is OK to keep them. They are very friendly. They will even let me touch them. I started giving them some home made beef heart food. I learned quiet a bit about Beef heart anatomy and made some mistakes that I will explain later. They love it though.

[jeep]

These are your first discus? You are doing a very good job at raising them. Your research is paying off!!

As for the smaller ones, don't be too concerned. I had a few that are smaller, and one much smaller and it now appears to be catching up!!

[jeep]

As for the one that looks like a BD, this is what you can expect as it grows and develops its color.

124355

[AngryDiscus]

Brian, How old is this fish? It looks beautiful

[jeep]

I got it I think last September as a very small fry, so maybe 8 months? It still has a lot of coloring up to do...

[AngryDiscus]

Wow! is the only word to explain. I met Cary Strong and saw adult Discus for the first time. I am so impressed! I learn so much from him also. Wow!

[LizStreithorst]

Cary has always loved to share his knowledge.

[jeep]

He probably doesn't remember me because it was so long ago, but Liz is right. Just like Al, a 5 minute conversation with Cary can easily turn into an hour, lol... I've learned so much from both of them!

[AngryDiscus]

Please advice!

Today I noticed my few small fish look darker than normal. I check my water and everything was fine. I even took some to LFS. I change 70% water daily. So I did a 99.5% water change -My fish were laying flat on the bottom of the tank- and one of the medium size one got in to the python tube! Now he is acting up! I noticed a small scar on the side of the body and he turn dark! He is all spooked and hiding behind the filter. When I turn the light on to see the damage, He is running around the tank to escape from this cruel human! Help me with both issues please

[jeep]

I've had this happen before and it rebounded just fine. You may keep the lights off for a bit, or keep an ambient light on before you turn the tank light on. Just keep up with the 50%+ water changes. You can add some salt to help them relax if you want, maybe 3 TBS per 10g. If you think it's a bad wound, please give us a photo.

Brian

[AngryDiscus]

124422

Here is the picture. It looks like someone nibbled on the fins

[AngryDiscus]

He is still hiding behind. Only venture out to eat

[LizStreithorst]

This doesn't look like damage from flopping on the bottom. It looks more serious. I think it's time for Furan II Do you have a QT tank?

[AngryDiscus]

I don't have it, but I will get one:sorry:

[LizStreithorst]

Don't be sorry. This stuff happens. The important thing is to figure out why and learn from it. I don't remember if you said that you age your water. At rate don't do anything you hear Brian gives his opinion. He's more conservative when it comes to treatment than I am

[AngryDiscus]

Thank you Liz, I will be getting sea salt and Furan II. My other fish doesn't have the fin damage, however few of them are darker. I am in a panic mode

[danotaylor]

Buy a 40# bag of Morton's pure salt from HD for $8. Does the same thing and is a heck of a lot cheaper. Will last you years to come...

[LizStreithorst]

Or if you can't do that at least buy normal table salt. Salt is salt. Them calling it Aquarium Salt is just so they have the can take your money for the same thing that is as cheap as dirt.

[AngryDiscus]

I thought get the un iodized salt?

[LizStreithorst]

It's cheaper so why not?

[AngryDiscus]

Isnt iodine bad for fish? I was going to get Mortons or Kroger brand un iodized salt

[danotaylor]

If you can get the Morton's get it. It's called Morton's pure and natural. It is 99.8% pure sodium chloride

[jeep]

How are they doing Ashok?

[peewee1]

I have been using sea salt from Kroger. I had success with a Blue Scorpion that had both sides with what I assumed to be full body fungus obtained when she lost her slime coat. In less than a week she was back to normal. Although, what was once a powder blue fish is now a purplish blue fish. May yet get back to her light blue coloring. Sea salt is what I have been using for salt treatments.

[bluelagoon]

Isnt iodine bad for fish? I was going to get Mortons or Kroger brand un iodized salt

I always thought that about iodine and table salt too. I only ever used salt a few time during my 45 years keeping South American species, but it was table salt. It now seems it's been added to certain water conditioners, look here.https://www.sera.de/us/service/info/aquatan-now-with-a-new-composition-without-colorants-with-mineral-substances/

[AngryDiscus]

How are they doing Ashok?
I put the salt and the other fish is doing ok. This guy still hiding from me behind the filter. come out and eat when I feed them though!

[AngryDiscus]

Disaster in Detroit :cry:

My three fish died. two small ones and the one with the fin rot. I am treating the rest of them with FURAN-2 from API. I am changing 50 percent water daily. I will be moving them to a larger tank a week or so after the treatment.

[AngryDiscus]

On the positive note;

I found a 90 gallon aquarium from Craigslist. I filled it and pour a gallon of bleach in it to kill the algae and germs. I left it running for a week now. (I got some Hydrogen peroxide to neutralize blech before I dump the water in my backyard!) I will reseal it to make sure no leaks before I take them inside. I also drill three holes to run plumbing. I will be using a 35 gallon sump.

I visited Cary Strong (Great Lakes Discus)! Wealth of knowledge! He is kind enough to give me dozen wild discus (They are almost 3"). They are in my 35 Gallon QT tank now. They eat anything including my finger! I want all of you to know how grateful I am for all of you for your kind words and advises.

Thank you

[jeep]

I'm sorry to hear the bad news. I thought things were looking up... Congrats on the new ones from Cary!!

[LizStreithorst]

Cary knows quality Discus. Best of luck with the new tank and the new fishies.

[snxtif]

Hi Ashok,

In the end, could you pin point the cause of deaths of last batch?

Sometime when you raise from young, I understand that freak accident happens
and one might die without us knowing the real cause.
But if 3 in the batch die, in order not to repeat the mistake,
I hope you figure it out what went wrong first before you try the new batch.

(water? infection? <-from? etc.)