Go For It
03-18-2006, 12:22 PM
Well, I've been waiting for Jeff from DiscusFarm to regain his stock before I purchased any Discus to be certain I was buying healthy, good quality fish from a reputable breeder. However, yesterday I ended up bringing home my very first Discus. A friend of mine had purchased a Discus from the LFS and put it in with a tank of Angels, he complained that the Discus was to "delicate" and tried to give it away to other people. No one wanted the fish because they didn't want to put in the work of taking care of it properly, so my friend was just planning on putting it in a container and freezing it until it died. So, I just brought the little guy home. He may not be a show-quality, perfectly healthy Discus, but I didn't want to see it die.
So anyway, I'm still very much a beginner and was not 100% ready to take in this fish, but its better for him than a freezer. I have him in a 60-gallon, BB tank with the water temperature at 84 degrees. I have an AquaClear 110 running in the tank with no carbon and a prefilter around the intake tube. Again, because this was a random, quick-decision situation, I didn't get the chance to paint the bottom and back of the tank, and I can now see why many of you do paint it... he spends most of his time looking and showing off at his reflection.
As far as feeding goes, he gave me some pellet type food titled "TetraMin Tropical Granules" and also gave me live Bloodworms, which he has been feeding it. I fed the Discus some live Bloodworms yesterday evening and he ate them all. When I woke up this morning I gave him some of the granules but he didn't seem interested at all and hasn't' eaten them.
The Discus looks like a Cobalt Blue (approx. 2-3 inches) and looks pretty healthy, however, I could have sworn that when I first put him in the tank yesterday his eyes had no trace of red, but this morning both of them were colored a bright red. Can you guys give me any suggestions to keep this little guy healthy? Maybe some food brands of flakes or frozen food that you guys recommend? What could I do about the tank painting situation? The tank does have a light... how often should it be on? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
I know you guys discourage just jumping into purchasing Discus without being totally ready, and I apologize for it, but I just didn't want this little guy to be placed in a freezer and die. Thanks for your help.
So anyway, I'm still very much a beginner and was not 100% ready to take in this fish, but its better for him than a freezer. I have him in a 60-gallon, BB tank with the water temperature at 84 degrees. I have an AquaClear 110 running in the tank with no carbon and a prefilter around the intake tube. Again, because this was a random, quick-decision situation, I didn't get the chance to paint the bottom and back of the tank, and I can now see why many of you do paint it... he spends most of his time looking and showing off at his reflection.
As far as feeding goes, he gave me some pellet type food titled "TetraMin Tropical Granules" and also gave me live Bloodworms, which he has been feeding it. I fed the Discus some live Bloodworms yesterday evening and he ate them all. When I woke up this morning I gave him some of the granules but he didn't seem interested at all and hasn't' eaten them.
The Discus looks like a Cobalt Blue (approx. 2-3 inches) and looks pretty healthy, however, I could have sworn that when I first put him in the tank yesterday his eyes had no trace of red, but this morning both of them were colored a bright red. Can you guys give me any suggestions to keep this little guy healthy? Maybe some food brands of flakes or frozen food that you guys recommend? What could I do about the tank painting situation? The tank does have a light... how often should it be on? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
I know you guys discourage just jumping into purchasing Discus without being totally ready, and I apologize for it, but I just didn't want this little guy to be placed in a freezer and die. Thanks for your help.