New To Discus

[badisbadis101]

Wow - first post at a new forum:D Anyway, i am 15, and have kept many species of fish for pretty much ever. However, i have never kept discus, mainly because of the cost and supposed difficulty. However, i think i am ready to jump into the world of discus keeping.

I would like to acquire approximately 10 young discus (3" maybe) and eventually place them into a ~120 Gallon show tank. I understand that it is easier to raise them in a bare bottomed tank, without tankmates, and then place them into the show tank once they are mostly grown. If this is true, what size tank would be necessary to grow them out to the 4-5" mark, before placing them in the show tank? I have a spare 29 gallon, but i believe that would be too small for 10 growing discus.

Anyway, i have a few questions:
1. What temperature is best for growing out discus?
2. How many feedings a day are necessary? I am a student, so i am gone from 6:30 - 3:00 every day. is three feedings a day enough? (One before school, one after school, and then one in the evening (~8:00) )
3. I live in houston, and was considering buying from Gulf Coast Discus. Is this a good choice?
4. Are discus truly as difficult as they are made out to be?
5. I might want to breed these if a pair forms. Is their anything special to consider if you are raising breeding discus as opposed to show discus?
6. Water changes? How many, and what percent for raising? How bout for the show tank? In my other tanks, i perform 50% once a week, but i assume i would need more for discus.

Thanks for answering my probably basic questions. I cannot wait to explore these friendly and exciting looking forums :)

[Don Trinko]

1. 84 to 86
2. 4 to 6 with a variety of foods
3. Don't know
4. Discus require warm temp, clean water, and good food. They do get sick from time to time so you will eventual become an amateur vet.
5. no but start with all one variety and look up the genetics ahead so you will know what the young might look like.
6. Water changes is dependent on bioload. There are many opinions ranging from 50% or more per day to 20% per month. With the my bioload I change 40% twice a week. ( gravel, fake plants, and 1 discus/10g) Many do larger/more frequent WC than I do.
You have the correct idea; Read alot, ask questions. BTW 29g is not big enough for 10. If you care for them properly they will grow fast. Don T.

[badisbadis101]

Thanks a bunch :)

Are discus any more prone to illness or premature death than any other fish if they are kept properly?

Also, what size tank would be best for growing 10 discus out? They will eventually end up in a 120, probably when they hit around 5 inches. How big of a tank will 10 5" discus need? 55? 75? Also, would the 29g work for breeding pair?

[FatFutures]

3. Gulf Coast Discus is an EXCELLENT choice! You're lucky to have such a great seller so close to you! No shipping and you can hand pick your discus!

[target]

Thanks a bunch :)

Are discus any more prone to illness or premature death than any other fish if they are kept properly?

Also, what size tank would be best for growing 10 discus out? They will eventually end up in a 120, probably when they hit around 5 inches. How big of a tank will 10 5" discus need? 55? 75? Also, would the 29g work for breeding pair?

The rule of thumb, from everything I have read here, is 1 discus for every 10 gallons of water. So 10 discus would require a 100 gallon tank.

Daniel

[badisbadis101]

The rule of thumb, from everything I have read here, is 1 discus for every 10 gallons of water. So 10 discus would require a 100 gallon tank.

Daniel

I understand that is for adult discus - when adults, they will have a 120. How big do they need for growout?

[digthemlows]

I would do a barebottom 75 gallon............you might get away with a 55 but not for very long............Plus 10 will look pretty packed in anything small..........find a 65 or 75 used, get a couple of good sponge filters, grab some beautiful discus from Dan and Gulf Coast and have fun!!!

[bs6749]

Some might disagree but I think you would be okay if you get another 29 gallon tank. You could get a double stand for a 29 to stack them in order to save space. Place 5 in each tank and grow them out to about 3.5 inches, which shouldn't take long. If you do this you will have the perfect size QT tank after you are done growing them out IMO. Why spend so much on a 75 just to grow them out...you won't be using the tank that long, keep that in mind if cost is an issue. You could spend that extra money on some extra nice fish...Dan would be a good choice IMO.

[subcooler]

I'll start with welcome to Simply Discus & commend you for doing some research before just jumping into this hobby-Good job!
I'm relatively new to discus myself, but agree with all Don's comments.
I'll also try to share a few things I learned since finding my way here:
1) striving for low Ph is not needed-constant Ph is definately a requirement(don't mess with chemicals to achieve the low Ph # you probably read/heard about needing).
2)Have a good water test kit before you get the discus.
3)Start with good quality discus-any sponsors here will provide those:D
4)Ask many questions here-I've found it to be the best source of reliable info.

I never bought fish from Gulf Coast, but have chatted with Dan on the phone.
He seems like a very helpful guy & his pics show that he has some very nice Discus!
Best of luck with your discus-Keep us posted (We love pic's!)
Rob

[MostlyDiscus]

Hey babbad101,

All have good suggestions for you. Don has a good outline for you though. With only a 50percent water change the larger the tank the better. Feed moderate portions as you may be tempeted to feed more to make up for the fewer feedings. I think the newer auto feeders for pellets or flakes is a reasonable way to go. Make sure you look at ph and temp somewhat when doing your WC(water change). Most people feed frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp and a homemade mix of some kind. I use turkey hearts for my base protien but you dont need to go that far. Clean water and steady paramiters is more important. Good Luck Ed

[badisbadis101]

I will try to make more frequent water changes on my discus tanks, the 50% weekly is just my other tanks. Would 2x 50% water changes a week be good? I have 2 automatic feeders that i can put to use on this tank :) (they each feed 2x a day, so i could set them to feed 4x a day :) )

Another 29 Gallon actually sounds like the best thing for me, because i would actually be able to use it afterwards, although my africans wouldnt mind an upgrade from a 55 to a 75 once the discus are grown ;)

[MostlyDiscus]

Double B 101,

Let me start out by saying that for you age you intrest in fish is impressive. I have a 16 yr old and a decent fish setup and the two dont seem to mix. I dont use auto feeders but I seem to recall others that do and something about the fish coming to the feeders and not them??? I know a breeder who has been breeding for a long time. He still does his WC by bucket and only does WC once a week if memory serves me right. You can get into long conversations about stunting etc but if your water is clean then you shouldnt have a problem with your fish. I really think common sense comes into play too though. You have had fish for a while so I will say this about discus. A drastic ph changes is a big no no bad bad 101 hehe sorry couldnt resist. I might keep my ph and hardness up for the time being so that your parameters are stable. I think bio bactieria nutrafaction stops at a lower ph but Im not sure where that ph mark is. Graham from Canada seems to know alot about water and meds though among others on the site. GLGD Ed

[bs6749]

If it were me growing out discus in a 29 I'd probably change out 5 gallons of water 2 times a week and then 10 gallons the third time that week.

If you notice that the feeders seem to be overfeeding, which may very well be the case at some point, I'd suggest more water changes.

[badisbadis101]

MostlyDiscus - LOL, fish have always just facinated me, and i have always liked them. They are relatively easy to keep, but offer many challenges as well. I do not know too many teens who like fish as a hobby, but most of them are just unaware of it, in my experience. I have gotten all of my freinds to sit down and just watch my tanks, and they all seemed to enjoy it, with a couple even setting up their own tanks :)

As for water changes, bs6749's schedule sounds good, although would their be any harm in going for 10 -15 each time? And i have only once tried to change my pH for my fish, and it ended in disaster, so i am not going to try again. Besides, tap water is easier (and cheaper ;) )

Feeding is still open - i do not know what would be best, so more opinions would be helpful

[bs6749]

If you have good tap water and if the fish are acclimated to tap water then there is no harm in changing 10-15 gallons each time. It can be a pain (for me) since I have to mix RO water with tap as mine is a little on the hard side at the moment (moving soon). It might be considered "overkill" by some people though.

[badisbadis101]

That is what i thought. I just figure that if i am going to change water, i might as well change as much as i can at a time, as it has got to be better for the fish, right?

[bs6749]

As long as the water parameters (pH, temp, chlorine/chloramine) of the new water is close to those of the tank and chlorine/chloramine neutralized, I don't see why it would hurt to change more.