Hello!

[WaterJunkie11]

I decided it was time to stop lurking and start participating on this forum. Looking forward to learning and bouncing ideas off with people that are passionate about this hobby.
A little background I started out with a simple 10 gallon betta tank in college and took the plunge out of college 2008 straight to the salt water life up until 2016 when my 120 reef had a catastrophic crash while I was out of town. After I saw all that time and money go down the drain felt a little defeated I broke down my tank and took a break for two years. I set up my 120 in 2018 and dove back into the hobby but switched over to fresh life and discus (wife thought it would be cheaper 😁) currently have 8 discus made the mistake of buying 2.5 inch little guys and realized I was in for a real battle to get them bigger haha, infinite water changes later they are sitting around 4.5 inches to 5 inches. Running two 704b canister filters and a tidal 110 for surface skim. Looking forward to hearing from people here and learning as much as I can.

[danotaylor]

G'day mate, welcome to SD! Post up a vid or pics of your fish. What strain/s do you have and where did you buy them? When in 2018 so we can gauge how big they should be by now? What are you feeding and how often? What is your wc schedule and do you age your water?
Looking forward to tracking with you!
Cheers,
Danny

[jeep]

Welcome to the forum!!! Like Danny says, show us what you got!!!

[pastry]

Just by you acknowledging infinite water changes that makes me curious where you got your eight discus if they only reached 4.5-5". I wonder if they spent time before you got them where the previous person wasn't doing enough water changes which might have set their growth back a little bit (assuming you got them in 2018... if you got them within the last 6-8 months then they should have more growing to do). Saying that because it sounds like you have the right idea going into discus keeping. Definitely post pics! Show us the goods!:antlers:

[WaterJunkie11]

Correct on the stock selection not being prime I took them off a buddy that kept them in only a 65 with little water changes and only two feedings a day. I was aware something was off when two started going football shape. But I have tried to bring them back the best I can. Water changes now I have two 30 gallon white brute cans that I run a Ro system through and let sit for two days before a water changes before I was changing 60 gallons every other day. Now I do fifty percent Three times a week. Feed is a mix of Hakari discus pellets, bug bites, brine shrimp, freeze dried black worms ( off Amazon), and a flake beef heart. I’m in Chicago so knowing what I know now probably will go through Chicago discus in the future. I can get more pics later just had this one on the phone. ATTACH]126645[/ATTACH]

[pastry]

Well then I'd say make lemonade out of lemons which looks to be exactly what you're doing. Since they're at the front of the glass, not hiding, and it is a well-lit aquarium, they look happy!

Hey, when you get a chance, could you take more phone pics of those 2 smaller reddish ones on the right? They look like brown-based reds and that's my favorite flavor of discus. I just can't tell 100% from that photo and they look really cool. Plus eye-to-body ratio on those look normal (meaning not far off growth rate... not stunted). Did your buddy get those later than the rest of the group?

[WaterJunkie11]

126646126647
I do believe they were a addition to the group later on just by going off the size. I am unsure exactly what these guys are called though, also I have been wondering if the black bars are stress or is that normal since they have always had them but been one of my more active fish in the tank. Sorry for the low quality pics not the greatest photographer

[pastry]

Now I see them. They're actually a type of pigeon blood. As they grow you'll see some awesome color transformation with them. Try to take pics of them once every 2-3 weeks... you'll be amazed... I promise.

[peewee1]

Fresh water and high protein food. Freeze dried black worms, shrimp. TetraColor, and maybe try Al's Bio black worms for the reds. They look like nice fish to me.

[WaterJunkie11]

I’ll look into that food thank you for that should help for coloring up. I have my eyes on two more 4 inch discus one red melon and one red panda but unsure if I should add to the group. I have a 30 qt tank but with the 120 only being a 4 ft by 2ft don’t want to over crowd. Any insight would be appreciated.