New to Discus

[Alexxxsv]

Hello everyone I am out of Corona Ca
Been keeping fish all my life but I finally decided to try the discus approach. They are beautiful fish and love them so far. I’ve come to find out that they are delicate and I am not used to this. I am here to learn and give my fish a better living.
I have a 60 gallon cube with a sponge filter and 2 HOB
My water stays at 82-84 Fh
There is 7x 3” discus
2x 3” angels
Golden ram and snowball pleco

The fish eat vigorously but I don’t think they are too happy. Some guys stressed all the time and I see constant bullying.
I have come to the conclusion my tank is too small and under filtered. I am buying a 120gal and fx6 this month. It will be a tile bare bottom in order to help with my water quality. Anyways loving all the helpful posts on here.

I can share pictures but I’m not sure how to do so on here

[jwcarlson]

It's probably a bit cramped, but I know most people suggest you grow out in a pretty small tank. Though I am no expert there. As far as filtration, all I have in my 75 sponge filters and my fish are fine. Though I would say that it lacks in particulate filtration, but that's OK for what I'm doing.

I thought about doing a tile bottom, but came to the conclusion that it would be impossible to keep clean under the tiles. Something I am doubly sure of now closing in on 300 water changes for my grow-out.

[Alexxxsv]

My turquoise discus has his stripes visible at all times which I believe is due to stress. I’m hoping with a bigger tank there will be less bullying and of course more filtration to improve water conditions. Also some of the discus have like black dots on their fins or face do you know what that is ? Could it be my LED light? It’s an automated light I can control the spectrum but idk what the setting is for discus.

As far as tile bottom and debris underneath it I was thinking of a wave maker at the bottom to help bring up debris into filter intakes

Also since I have a good amount of fish how often should I be doing wc for these guys? I do 60-70% weekly right now

[jwcarlson]

If you're growing them out, probably daily changes. I do 90% every night and have been for nearly a year.

You might be correct with the stress bars, but it might not be bullying. The black dots sounds like peppering, which is typically because of how dark the bottom/back of the tank is. I had a black background and ended up changing it to a medium blue. I was skeptical, but it really makes the fish look better. All of my other community tanks have black backgrounds, but the discus really seemed to benefit from lighter colored back. And the bottom I painted (on the outside) with some textured spray paint a light sandy color. Bottom remains bare inside which makes keeping the tank clean a breeze.

I don't have any experience with discus and "powered" filtration, but all of that waste is going somewhere and needs to be removed. I'm not sure that sweeping it into a bucket is the right answer, personally.

How long have you had the discus? Can you post pictures?


You can kind of see some of the peppering on my fish in this picture. Especially the "dark angel" to the right.
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Here they are some time later and with a blue background.
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[Alexxxsv]

Oh man wc every day ? Wow okay I really need to step up my game lol I can’t say I’m going to do it everyday due to my work schedule but will definitely do multiple changes a week.

That does make a lot of sense, my substrate is black and I am sure that isn’t helping. When I transfer to new tank I will get rid of the plant soil. Although I do like your idea of planting your plants in those ceramic pots I might have to do the same since I like the look of plants.

I bought a group of 4 at 2” in September and lost 1
And then another group of 4 in late October.
I’d love to post pictures but I don’t see the option on here to do so.

I do believe I have
1 red turquoise
1 turquoise
1 red Pigeon
1 orange Marlboro
1 yellow
1 leopard
1 platinum Snow White

[Alexxxsv]

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[Alexxxsv]

Posting pictures from my phone is difficult on this sight lol not a big fan I think I will just take a video and upload it to YouTube and post here

[seanyuki]

Rotated

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[jwcarlson]

Oh man wc every day ? Wow okay I really need to step up my game lol I can’t say I’m going to do it everyday due to my work schedule but will definitely do multiple changes a week.

That does make a lot of sense, my substrate is black and I am sure that isn’t helping. When I transfer to new tank I will get rid of the plant soil. Although I do like your idea of planting your plants in those ceramic pots I might have to do the same since I like the look of plants.

I bought a group of 4 at 2” in September and lost 1
And then another group of 4 in late October.
I’d love to post pictures but I don’t see the option on here to do so.

I do believe I have
1 red turquoise
1 turquoise
1 red Pigeon
1 orange Marlboro
1 yellow
1 leopard
1 platinum Snow White

I don't know what everyone else on here does, but I do know that the best looking discus consistently seem to be posted by the people who keep their water changes huge and pound the fish with food. So that is what I did. I am pretty good at monkey see-monkey do. :)

The substrate people really needs to go for a good growout anyway. The amount of food and poop made by growing discus is pretty impressive. Now that mine are about 5-5.5" and eating a bit less and growing more slowly, they aren't making quite such a big mess. My tank is very plain and that plant got absolutely shredded by the fish after that picture. :D I have some driftwood I'm putting in probably this weekend and have some anubias to add to it to liven it up a bit. And then try the potted plants again.

Tom (iminit) on here has really nice planted tanks, everything potted.

[Alexxxsv]

Gotcha ! Well thanks for the feedback I most definitely will up my water changes. The only plant to be thriving is my Java fern lol the rest of them are barely making it by. It could have a lot to do with my lighting but for sure I do not see my fish messing with them. They just stick to bullying each other. The 2 biggest ones eat like pigs and always butt everyone away when feeding so the rest get less food unfortunately. I hope to get the new tank in the next weeks so I can give them more swimming space and have a bigger territory so they are not so mean. I’ll add more driftwood and plants to break boundaries

[Alexxxsv]

Thank you for doing this
How would I go about rotating them myself ?

[seanyuki]

How to Rotate a Picture on iPhone and iPad.

https://www.howtogeek.com/728502/how-to-rotate-a-picture-on-iphone-and-ipad/





Thank you for doing this
How would I go about rotating them myself ?

[jwcarlson]

The image posting is absolutely archaic, I am not 100% sure how to control the orientation, I send them from my phone to my email and then save them on my computer and the orientation seems to follow whatever I upload. People can turn their heads otherwise. :D Francis is pretty good about flipping them though!

It could be that some of the others are just feeling kind of crummy and so they're more likely to be bullyed. I've got one right now that had a pretty bad worm infestation for some time and while there was never any hard bullying going on, he certainly hasn't been eating for some time. It's kind of funny now he's feeling a little better and eating some stuff, he's started to stand up for himself and it's cracking me up. But mine have never been hard bully-ers. Not sure why, but about the worst I have witnessed to tail whapping each other and occasionally pushing on each others' sides. But never more than 15 seconds at a time and never really chasing off of food aggressively, though sometimes they will kind of defend the food. To get around that I just started feeding in more places. So two smaller beefheart pieces instead of one and put them on opposite sides of the tank. Or worm cubes split them into 2-3 pieces and let them float around or pressed to glass so that there are multiple options. Some fish (probably lower in the pecking order) eat more off the bottom/scraps. But I certainly feed enough that they're still well fed as long as they're eating.

I'm not sure that a bigger tank is going to automatically make things better, but I'm certainly no expert.
I do wish you luck! :) Your fish don't look like lost causes so I'm sure they'll turn it around!

[Alexxxsv]

Quick update for you guys !
120 gal running for 7 months now. 2x fx5 filters
7 Discus all about 3-4” range. I made the mistake of trying an arowana with them worked for a few months now he’s starting to stress them out. He will be rehomed asap. I would like to add a gold nugget pleco since I lost my old snowball.13609113609213609313609413609513609613609 7136098136099136100

[Alexxxsv]

80% wc twice a week. They eat frozen beef heart/ocean nutrition flakes/vibra bites/hikari discus pellets
I would like to add a few more to the group after I regime the arowana. Oh and the angelfish have been with them from the start (Bonnie&Clyde)

[brewmaster15]

Hi,
Tank looks pretty good as do most of your discus. I do think they will do much better once the arrowana is rehomed. Good call there. If you add more fish, please remember to be patient and quarantine the new ones.

One note I would like to make is to suggest that you should re-evaluate the amount of food and frequency of feeding. Though your discus have grown for you and appear healthy (aside from being stressed) They should be larger by now which could be from not enough food, wrong kinds of food, or it could also mean the fish were already older than you thought when you bought them...and stunted.

This happens alot. Its possible you can get more growth out of them if you feed more. Just be sure to monitor water quality if you do and up the wc frequency.

Thanks for the update here.

Al

[brewmaster15]

Oh and one other note.. please read this thread...

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?126112-Camera-Phone-Users-read-this

[Iminit]

Not sure why but some of your discus are in sad shape. In your first picture the pb in the center looked like a nice fish. But in picture 6 of your new pics it’s definitely stunted and its fins look like fin rot. But I don’t think that’s it I think it’s got worms and the worm are getting all the nutrients and it’s slowly dying. I’d remove it and try treating with prazi pro. I’m not sure how much the arrowanna is stressing them but I guaranteed the angels are! Those angels are running that tank. Id put them back in the 60!

[Alexxxsv]

Thanks for the advice!!! I’ll up my feedings and continue my water changes I do notice they are constantly hungry so I’ll be a better fish dad. Once I rehome the Arowana I’ll power feed and hopefully that does the trick. I think they are definitely stunted I’m sure the place I got them from wasn’t the ideal place. Spending more money for quality this time around. I’m a little bummed that they haven’t grown more but I figured it would be a learning experience I am happy that they are healthy though. It’s too bad some might not grow anymore. Any places in Southern California with good discus you might recommend ?

[Alexxxsv]

Yes that pigeon blood just took a turn for the worst! It still eats normally but I agree he doesn’t look great. That’s strange because I have not seen the angels ever mess with the discus. No chasing or aggression even when they try to spawn. What behavior should I check for on the angels to identify them stressing the discus ?

[brewmaster15]

Angels are pigs at eating.. I will bet anything they get the lion share of the food you put in the tank...followed by the arrowana..For discus to grow well they need lots of food and clean water. Once these are out of the tank you can hopefully get some additional growth on them. I do agree with Tom on the pb being in poor shape but I doubt at this point it can be turned around. It will likely be the runt in the tank. Its pretty common with groups of discus that the weakest will waste away.
Al

[Alexxxsv]

Thanks for the input Al
I feed hikari sticks to the arowana and the angelfish eat the vibra bites and flakes. My discus eat vibra bites and hikari discus pellets as well as frozen beef heart. What would be a different food for me to add to the mix? I will rehome the arowana. I never considered rehoming my angels it’s going to be a hard decision to make �� lol
And I think I will try to qt my PB just to say I tried but I do notice the bottom of the pecking order discus don’t grow as fast and stay relatively small. Lots of factors to consider since the source of where I bought all of them might not have been the greatest. I’ve been looking at Jack wattley discus, Chicago discus, and discus.com
Will buy another 3 at the 3.5-4” range in hopes of better quality once the aro is out of there.

[brewmaster15]

Thanks for the input Al
I feed hikari sticks to the arowana and the angelfish eat the vibra bites and flakes. My discus eat vibra bites and hikari discus pellets as well as frozen beef heart. What would be a different food for me to add to the mix? I will rehome the arowana. I never considered rehoming my angels it’s going to be a hard decision to make �� lol
And I think I will try to qt my PB just to say I tried but I do notice the bottom of the pecking order discus don’t grow as fast and stay relatively small. Lots of factors to consider since the source of where I bought all of them might not have been the greatest. I’ve been looking at Jack wattley discus, Chicago discus, and discus.com
Will buy another 3 at the 3.5-4” range in hopes of better quality once the aro is out of there.

Chicago Discus would be a great choice and they are a sponsor of the forum which helps keep us online. You can also look at other great sponsors here...http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumdisplay.php?42-SimplyDiscus-Sponsors when members use our sponsors they are helping to keep the forum here for members in need to get guidance and the sponsors really try hard to provide great fish.


al

[Iminit]

Do you still have the 60? You can see the angels look great! That’s why the discus don’t. No clue what the arowana is like. Havnt had one since I was a kid. Now please look at the sponsors of this site. You will find they are recommended by most discus sites. Simply pretty much dictates this. They’re a reason! Of the 3 you picked Chicago is it. The others NEED to be avoided!! Next buy the biggest discus you can afford. Big =healthy. Recently bought 3 from chicago136117136118 in the second pic the Chicago one is in front. Than a local and the last 2 are a pair of blue tigers I got from Pingco last year.

[Alexxxsv]

Alright folks no more arowana and angelfish. Listening to your advice on these moves! Have a discus in quarantine right now as well. I have a few plans for this tank. Will be moved into my house now and would like to add some rummy nose tetra school.

[Alexxxsv]

Possibly a gold nugget pleco and some corydoras for a nice show tank in my living room ! Convinced the wife
That way I can interact with them more and feed them more frequently very excited. Going to ask for some man power next weekend. Question? If I drain my tank like 90% and move my tank and use my seeded 2 2fx5s they should be fine right? I already do 80% water changes anyways.

[brewmaster15]

Should be fine to drain and move the tank and filters. Sounds like you have a decent plan in place.. dont skimp on the QT time for that new discus... and dont forget to QT other new fish.

What kind of discus did you get? If you get a chance post its pic here.
Al

[Alexxxsv]

He is like a red based turquoise I’ll post pictures later after work. He was a trade for my arowana at a lfs
Yes I will qt new fish in a 29 gal

[Alexxxsv]

Here is a picture of the new guy in the tank he was in at the LFS

[Alexxxsv]

Hey guys brought my tank inside. Loving the new scape and all fish doing great except for my pigeon that was already ill. Quarantined the guy but did not make a difference. Anyways just want a clean up crew and some rummynose maybe some more plants. Here are some picture bombs! A video will do more justice but enjoy I’ll record a feeding video soon