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SpeedDiscus
10-09-2020, 01:45 PM
Hello everyone,

I thought it would be smart for me to introduce myself to you fine people. I have been keeping fish, mainly African cichlids and offballs for 15+ years. I have always loved animals and growing up I practically had a zoo in my parents house. In high school I used to breed gerbils and cockatiels and sell them to local pet stores for profit. Currently I have six tanks setup ranging from 2.5 gallons to 125 gallons.

I have always wanted to keep discus but I was concerned with their requirements and if I would be able to care for them properly. This year during quarantine/lock down I figured I would never have more free time to care for these awesome fish. In Canada discus can get very expensive, so I wasn't keen on spending big bucks on large fish because I was going to be learning from this first experience, so I went on the hunt for some juveniles to raise. I found a fantastic local breed with Stendker and Piwowarski breeding stock and after two visits to see his setup and marvel at his stunning fish I picked out eight little guys to bring home with me.

When I picked these guys up on July 10th when their were about 1.5" total length, now they are approx 3.5-4". I don't know what strain they are but the parents were both Piwowarski stock. Please forgive the dirtiness of the tank, it was late in the day during their last feeding on my homemade beef heart recipe.

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Right now they are in a 30 gallon BB corner tank with sponge filtration (which I got for free with the stand from an online ad) but will live in a 75 gallon cube with full sump filtration I am setting up now.

I have some corydora and pleco friends for them waiting in quarantine. They will meet when the discus are transferred to the 75 gallon.

Let me know what you guys think!

Jason
Willie
10-09-2020, 02:14 PM
These fish look very healthy and happy. For small discus, I'd recommend you wipe the bottom and sides of the tank every so often to reduce the slime buildup. You'll need to keep up the big water changes for these fish to round up, and they will if they're raised in clean water. You'll need to keep that up until they get to ~5" at least, so even after they go into a 75 gal tank.

Good luck, Willie
SpeedDiscus
10-09-2020, 02:36 PM
Hey Willie

Thank you! I appreciate the kind words.

Right now I am doing 50% water changes every night with 50% RO/50% tap. I wipe down the tank (sides and bottom) once every two weeks. I didn't know that slime buildup would be so quick, never experienced that with my other fish. Right now I have the temp at 29 degrees.

two or three are rounding out nicely, I hope the others round out as nicely.
two utes
10-09-2020, 03:31 PM
Welcome to Simply Discus Jason. It looks like you are off on a good start with your discus journey. That's a fine looking group you have there. With the right amount of water changes and lots of good food, i can see these guys turning out beautifully.

Good luck with it all.
danotaylor
10-09-2020, 08:32 PM
Welcome Jason. Looks like 6 turquoise and 2 snake skin juvies you have there. The SS have the finer scribble pattern on their face and fins. You're off to a good start mate. Welcome to the SD posse!
coralbandit
10-09-2020, 10:40 PM
Welcome Jason .
You are living many peoples dreams !
Piwowarski discus are top notch stuff !
I hope you enjoy and learn well with them .
SpeedDiscus
10-10-2020, 07:45 AM
Thank you for the kind words and warm welcome coralbandit, danotaylor and two utes! I am really enjoying this journey with them so far. Just reading this forum has given me a lot of useful information and confidence to move forward with my first discus.

Thank you for the strain breakdown danotaylor, I was wondering what they looked like to people with a trained eye.

I am already considering some cobalts from the same breeder since my wife loves them (and I am quite keen on them, too) but I will give my current juvies time to grow out first.
Iminit
10-10-2020, 09:49 AM
Good looking group of discus!! Did you see the parents? Keep up the water changes and you should do fine! What else are you feeding them?
SpeedDiscus
10-10-2020, 11:19 AM
thank you, Iminit! I did get to see the parents, they were stunning; perfectly round, intense colour and fat. The parents recently had another spawn that was absolutely MASSIVE. I will get some pictures and post them.

In addition to my beefheart mix I feed them tetra tropical tetracolour flakes, frozen bloodworms and fluval bug bites.

question: what multi vitamin does everyone put in their beefheart mix? I don't want to buy one that isn't suitable for the discus.
Iminit
10-10-2020, 01:49 PM
I think a lot use vitachem. Me I don’t use any. I don’t feed much beef heart it’s just to messy. I feed the freeze dried blackworms mostly. Some flake food and some pellets. What your feeding is good.
rickztahone
10-21-2020, 09:36 PM
thank you, Iminit! I did get to see the parents, they were stunning; perfectly round, intense colour and fat. The parents recently had another spawn that was absolutely MASSIVE. I will get some pictures and post them.

In addition to my beefheart mix I feed them tetra tropical tetracolour flakes, frozen bloodworms and fluval bug bites.

question: what multi vitamin does everyone put in their beefheart mix? I don't want to buy one that isn't suitable for the discus.

I used to grind up some women's multivitamin in to my BH lol. I don't remember who told me to do that initially but I did and I ran with it. Never had a problem and I'd like to say my discus were robust.

Great start to your discus journey btw. Most first time discus owners do not like the idea of frequent WC's. I had some Piwow's and they were some of my favorites. Alex certainly knows what he is doing. Drool worthy for sure.