IM A NEWBY AT DISCUS NEED ASSISTANCE!

[ILUVDISCUS]

Hi People,

So to all you discus fanatics, can someone help me out on Discus im recently been starting up my very first tank of discus. So can someone give me some suggestions on what i should put in my tank? and can someone suggest some good breeders for me


Thank you,

Tyrone

[Ryan]

Hi Tyrone,

The first thing you need to do is establish an idea of what your goal is. Do you want to raise out the biggest, healthiest discus you can for the sake of owning big healthy discus, or are you leaning more toward a decorative planted setup with discus as a focal point?

Most of the time, your best bet is to start with a bare-bottom tank. Juvenile fish eat lots and lots, and therefore put off lots of waste. This can get stuck in sand or gravel and be a pain to clean. Most of us here encourage bare-bottom tanks because they are easier to maintain and less likely to cause problems for you later. Once you get to know discus basics, then you can branch out.

I would start with a bare-bottom tank (no sand or gravel), adequate heating (I use a heater with the appropriate wattage to heat my tank to about 88 degrees), filtration (sponge filters are easy, but power filters like AquaClears are good add-ons), and that's about it :)

I do water changes daily on my discus, anywhere from 25 - 75% depending on how heavily stocked a tank is. This removes waste (I siphon by hand) and gives them nice, clean water. I think 75% can be a little extreme in some cases, but that's how I like to do things :)

If you don't like the bare-bottom idea, there are people among us who can assist you on decorative tanks. I think we have a few people that converted to bare-bottom though, and love it.

As far as breeders, there are tons of people out there with good fish. Ask around. See if a member here is close to you and breeding discus. It might be fun to go look at them up close and personal.

Some sites you may want to look into are Cary's (www.greatlakesdiscus.com), Mike's (www.adiscusdream.com), Chad's (www.discusobsession.com), Jeff's (www.southamericancichlids.com), and many more. Also, our own Brewmaster (Al) has some nice babies from time to time :)

Ryan

Double Dam! Ryan,
RIGHT on!


Another Up and comeing Breeder/ importer You might Want to Check out would be Jeff seems like a honest Guy to Me. and am very good at judgeing right off the bat.
If My buddy Danny likes him Then I do To!


E-Mail: jeff@discusfarm.us
Website: discusfarm.us
HTH
TakeCare,
Cary Gld!

[April]

hi and welcome aboard!! think ryan said it all very well. i too would strongly urge you to stick to a bare bottom tank to learn. and grow. start with a group of at least 6 . 8 or 10 are better if you can. the bigger the group the better they eat and feel more secure. the rule of thumb is about 1 per 10 gallons. but if you start with little ones..they are more secure in a smaller tank.but then you need alot more water changes. the secret to success with discus is lots of clean water . i do very large changes. but if you can do about 25 percent or more a day..you'll get good growth. I think the biggest problem wtih discus is for them to have stunted growth. and that usually comes from not enough water changes and a good varied diet.
best to grow out in bare bottom.then once they get bigger you can always try a planted tank. or more decorative.
most of us end up wanting another tank..and just a few more discus.!! so no time for extra stuff to clean.
theres a saying in discus keeping that everyone uses .
the k.i.s.s. method. keep it simple stupid. ok..no idea why we need the stupid..but a well known discus breeder coined this phrase.
another one which comes up alot is G.D.A.W.c. go do a water change. if they look stressed....then a good water change and they will be happier.
yes all the breeders who were mentioned have good discus...and are trustworthy breeders. tell us where you live.or go to the discus locator board lower down and you may find someone in your area.

[Ryan]

DUH.. Thanks Cary... what was I thinking? I forgot about Jeff for some reason! And we talk to him in chat all the time, so I don't see how I overlooked him... There's also Joe (www.enchanteddiscus.com)... Isn't there a big discus links page somewhere with all the U.S. breeders and importers on it? I forget where it is.

Ryan

[DarkDiscus]

Tyrone,

Welcome to Discusland! It's great to have you here!

One addition to this great advice is: Buy yourself a smaller tank 20-30 gallons for use as a hospital and quarantine tank. With luck you will never have to use it as a hospital, but always quarantine new fish (after your first batch, of course) to avoid disease spread and other problems.

One other bit of advice: Try to define your goals with discus before buying. Of course they may change, but decide if you are looking for a show tank, to dabble in breeding or whatever. This will help you plan for what sized tanks you will need, how you are going to set up your filtration, etc.

Good luck!

John

[Francisco_Borrero]

There you have it.
Great place, great advise, friendly and helpful people.
I started 3 years ago, and against all advice, I insisted in a planted tank from the beginning. I was good at plants and other fishes already. It did not work; not for the discus, not very well for the plants.
I am not saying it can't be done, I know it is possible. In fact, I might try it again, just better. But it is easier and safer to start with bare tanks.
Stick around. Good luck. Cheers, Francisco.

[roger]

Everyone is passing on very sound advice.

Heres my philosophy which does take into account what everyone else is saying.

1. Get a 29g or so sized tank and set it up bare bottom. Use an aquaclear or sponge filter for the tank and find a decent heater. Ask around most people have a favorite but everyone seems to dislike the EBO brand these days. My tanks are at 84 though 84-88 would probably work fine. Start cycling the tank, I threw in a few cory cats (skunk corys) for a small bio load since they where going into the final tank anyways.

2. Start looking for a local breeder if you can find one. Since its going to take a couple of weeks for your tank to cycle this should give you time. A local breeder should hopefully be using water similar to yours. Failing finding a local breeder you already have a list of breeders from the other people. You can add Tim at www.usdiscus.com to that list.

3. Start planning what your goals are (keeping them alive is always my 1st goal). The 2 weeks to cycle the tank along with finding a breeder should help you get your plans in order. Things that I didnt consider where being able to do water changes and feeding. Fortunately feeding hasnt been an issue and the schedule of 25% water changes every other day seem to work fine. My tanks are a bit over filtered but even then I dont like to skip a change if I can avoid it. So this is also a good time to start looking for places to get good quality food for your fish.

4. Get your first set of fish into the qt tank and now you have 4 weeks to start putting your final tank together. Tack on 2 weeks to cycle the final tank and that takes you out 6 weeks. I would suggest a bare bottom tank, though if you cant take the site I used a few clay pots and pieces of slate with plastic plants siliconed to them. Just keep in mind the more you put down the harder it is to clean up the fish poop.

http://discus.pagina.nl/

[Ryan]

Thanks, Cary :) That's the one!

[Carol_Roberts]

:o Don't make the mistake of adding discus before your filter is fully cycled.

On a first tank it can take 6 weeks to fully cycle a filter using dither fish or a fishless cycle.

IF you already have a cycled tank you can place the new filter in the old tank and it will cycle in a couple of weeks because the nitrifying bacteria are already present in the established tank or you can add media from a tank that has already been cycled to your filter.

Carol :heart1:

[John_Nicholson]

I don't know where you live but if possible find a breeder in your neck of the woods and go pickup the fish in person. If that is not possible then any of the breeders mentioned above would be good.

-john