My First Discus

[SNap0283]

After months of looking at Discus in stores today I finally got my own!! I was in "Pet Supplies Plus" a local franchise pet store. They usually don't carry Discus, but today they got in a shipment of 5 and there was no price listed, they only had the $2.99 price for Angels, so I asked how much they were. The lady said I'm not sure what they go for let me ask, so then the kid who seemed to be in charge of the fish section came over and said he wasn't sure what they sold them for but he guessed about $2.99 So obviously this was my perfect opportunity to get some Discus and happy as ever I said "I'll take all 5!"

Now my questions......... I'm new to this, while I've read a lot it's a whole other ball game when they are your own fish. (I posted some pics of them in the other forum, I'll put a link at the end) I got them home and they won't eat and sort of hid off in the corners behind everything. I've read this is normal when added to a new tank so I'm not too worried, should I be? Also I'd like to know what kind of Discus they are, I'm not too good at classifying Discus yet so any help would be nice. They are about 1.5" - 2" around how old would that make my babies? And lastly, how can I tell if they are in good health and don't have any major deformities? Of course any tips on what to do would be great and any help at all that you could offer would be excellent!!

Thanks
Jef


The pics...
http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=11;action=display;threadid=5979

[paulmat]

Jef
They look to be a Pigion of some sort,kinda hard to tell exactly till they grow up a little. I think you were wise to buy them at that price,how could you loose. They appear to be healthy. They should be hungry soon.What are you feeding them,you might try some frozen blood worms(hikari)

Paul :guitarist:

[Kent]

$2.99 WOW! :o There is some Powder Blue Juveniles at my LFS....only for $47.99!!!!!

I think I'm going to have to hate you now. Just Kidding ;)

Congrats and very Nice pics!

[ping]

Wow $2.99 each.... that's really cheap ... buy more if they still have it. ;D

Nice looking fish.... Congrats.

[larry lob]

Hi, Welcome and what a steal nice one!!!!

A couple of question, if i may .......
what size tank are they in?
what are the water perameters (if you have tested them) ?
are they on thier own in the tank?
what filtration are you using?
and what temp is the water?

sorry to ask so much but you didn't say if you had any experiance keeping fish so with this info we can help make sure these good looking fish and you are happy.
if your not new to fish then excuse my assumption.
i hope you bring each other many years of joy.
they look in good condition and seem bright at 1.5 - 2 " i would guess they are around 4 - 5 months old.
when they settle and start eating feed them regularly and often with a varied diet make sure they grow, looking at the eyes they might be a month or 2 out on growth so get them fattened up and all will be great.
what great fish for the money at a LFS you would expect to pay near 10 times that! for those fish.

Good luck and all the best.

Larry

[April]

to get them growing you will need to do big water changes daily. which they most likely havent have...it will also help them get used to you working around their tank. feed tiny amounts at a time and hopefully soon they will start connecting you with food and start coming up for it. when you start seeing them rising up more off of the bottom they are getting more relaxed and happy.
good deal

[jeep]

I'd say someone screwed up. $2.99? I bet he's no longer in charge of the fish section...

[SNap0283]

Thanks for all the help!! They still arn't eating and hid in a group around the tank, hopefully soon they start to become more comfortable.

They are in a 29G with 4 Angels, 4 Cardinal Tetras, 5 Guppies and a Pleco. I'm thinking of taking out the Guppies, I'm not sure if they make good tank mates for Discus and don't want to encounter any problems. This tank has been up and running for about a year with the forementioned fish. The pH is kepted at about 6.4 and I brought the temperature up from 82° to 85° when I added the Discus. The general hardness is usually around 4° and carbonate hardness is always under 1° Water out of my tap has that hardness and it doesn't change after being added to the tank. The pH from my tap is about 7.4 but quickly drops to 6.6 - 6.4 when it is added to a tank. I have a Penguin Bio-Wheel power filter keeping my water clean. I hope all this is good for the Discus, I have the impresion from doing research that I shouldn't have a problem with this setup. Am I right?? Please correct me if I'm wrong about any of this. I have like 8 years of experiance with fish, but havn't kept Discus yet so I'm confident I can provide for the Discus what they need, as long as I know what they need!

Yeah $2.99 I'm pretty sure someone screwed up.... and I was more than happy to take advantage ;D


Thanks
Jef

[EthanCote.com]

Hi Jeff,

This is my first impression. I think you need another tank just for them Discus.

Alot of people suggest not to mix Angels and Discus while others have no problem with the mixture.

The problem I see is that with that many fish in a 29gal, you will need to do regular WC of about 30-40% daily. Not sure how often u feed them and are they getting any food?

Angels tend to be much more aggressive and stronger and thus I imagine they are getting most of the food? Also the Angels and others have been in the tank first so they know the normal routine and probably have set up territory.

Has the Angels pick on the Discus at all?

Questions for you:
1. How often and how much do you change water?
2. How often and how much do you feed them?
3. What do you feed them?
4. Are they being pick on?


Well hopefully that will send a bit of light on your situation. Wish you luck.


Cheers,

Chi.

PS: Find the same kid and perhaps he will give you 25Cents for a new tank. ;)

[Carol_Roberts]

Yep, those are pigeons or a pigeon cross. Judging from the eye size I'd say they are about 5 months old.

I also think the angels will out compete them for food and that the discus should have their own tank for now.

Pigeons are pretty tough. I'd bump the heat up to about 88 for the first week, do water changes everyday of at least 25% and add salt - 1 or 2 tablespoons per 10 gallons - replace with cahnge water. Feed just what they will eat in 30 minutes. Try red foods like flakes, tetra bits, and frozen bloodworms.

$2.99 is probably less than the store paid wholesale.
CArol :heart1:

[Tonyintx]

Hi everyone, just curious, I heard someone mention adding salt? is that table salt, sea salt or what? please advise. I never heard about adding salt what is it for and why??? ???

[jeep]

salt will relax them and produce a slime coat, in addition to other benificial qualities.

In your situation 1TBS per 10 - 12 gallons would not be a bad idea...

[Tonyintx]

Thanks for the info jeep, one last question is that table salt sea salt or what kind of salt? thx everyone I love this site ;D

[Carol_Roberts]

It helps clean the gills and changes the osmotic pressure in the water. You can use sea salt, pickling salt, rock salt table salt (some reccomend uniodized). At higher doses it will help control fungus. Just use it for a week until they settle in.
Carol :heart1:

[SNap0283]

I used to change 15% of the water weekly..... but that has certainly been stepped up, as mentioned I am now doing 30% daily and have found a new home for the Guppies. The Angels are still pretty young, I just recently got them and they are a bit smaller than the Discus and haven't seemed to bother them at all so I'm not sure how worried I should be. I added the salt as suggested. I was feeding the fish in that tank 3 times a day and plan on doing the same... unless someone suggests otherwise. I had been feeding flake food supplemented with frozen bloodworms, freeze dried bloodworms, frozen baby brine shrimp, freeze dried baby brine shrimp, freeze dried tubifixed worms and a bunch of other food I have. I plan on feeding pretty much the same, using bloodworms more often now. I have been putting in a lot of extra food so that the Discus don't need to fight at all for it, there’s plenty to go around but so far they have not gone after any of the food and still hide... I hope they start to eat soon :-\

Thanks everyone for the help and keep commenting it has certainly helped me learn a lot :)


Jef

[BlueTurquoise]

Wow that is darn cheap! they look like very nice tangerine PB's or somethign of the sort.

If they dan't start eating for more than a week or two then I would have to say you may need to take action with medication, but only if the need arises. Maybe you should have a skim through some of the disease/Sickness and medication section just to familiarize yourself with what may be involved... just in case.

Good luck with them, let us know how you go and welcome aboard!

Chong

[Carol_Roberts]

A mistake many of us make at first is to add too much food. You have gravel and it can easily fall between the rocks quickly fouling your water. (another reason bare bottoms are best). You won't necessarily see an ammonia spike, but your water will start to smell mucky. Water full of disolved proteins and organics is not healthy for discus.

Carol :heart1:

[redlines]

IMO I would get those fish their own tank, no gravel, move the temp to 88 - 90 add salt as recomended earlier & feed them some BLACKWORMS!

You saved plenty of money on the fish so get them their own tank THEY DESERVE IT & THEY WILL THANK YOU LATER trust me!

:fish: :fish: :fish: :fish: :fish:

Andy

[Al_M.]

I am with Redlines on this one 100%
Al M. ;)

[SNap0283]

Yeah I'm sure I have been feeding too much, food falls all over the tank and they still wont eat! It is only day two so I guess I shouldn't worry just yet. I'll cut back on the amount I give them... I mean when they are ready to eat they will find the food :) Things seem like they are starting to come along especially when I turn the tank light off, the Discus swim around everywhere and don't seem to afraid of much. Progress!!!

I'll still take any advice I can get, I'm trying to heed it all the best that I possibly can.

Thanks Everyone!
Jef