Need help for feeding baby discus in community tank

[pitmindi]

I have a 120 gallon tank, 6’ long, 18” wide, 22” height. I started it on 10/10/08. I have two Fluval 405 canister filters. I have 2 strips of lights, 120 watts total. There are some real plants (Java fern, etc ) and some tall fake ones. There is about an inch of gravel on the bottom. I do 50% water change 2-3 times weekly. My water temp is 83. My water is ammonia 0, ph 7.6, nitrite 0.5 and nitrate 5.0. I had been feeding my fish quite sparingly until this past weekend, when I received my 10 mail order quarter-size discus fish. These baby discus fish ignore the food, whereas all the other fish devour any and all food. Any suggestions about feeding my baby discus without overfeeding? I feed 2 times a day. My baby discus are usually on the side with the tall fake plants. I tried putting the discus food in plastic tubing until it falls to the bottom and then putting flakes on the surface of the opposite end to attract the other fish away from the discus food and uncovering the discus food after most of the fish swim to the flake food on the opposite side. This works somewhat, the discus have less competition for food this way, but the other fish eat their flakes so fast and then come to eat the discus food before the discus have eaten much. I then have to put more and more flakes to try to keep the other fish away from the discus as they feed. I think this results in overfeeding, and I don’t believe the discus get an adequate amount of their food. Any suggestions to try???? (Please don’t tell me to give any fish back since this isn’t possible and won’t be helpful!!) Below is a listing of my fish.THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND ASSISTANCE!!!!
3 female beta
1 bubble eye goldfish
1 goldfish (3”)
3 panda cory
3 albino cory
2 balloon molly
3 dalmation molly
3 zebra danio
4 algae eaters
7 platies
4 dwarf gourami
10 neons
3 guppies
10 discus (quarter size)

[ShinShin]

Hello,

You must make up your mind. Do you want to raise discus or have a community tank. Your set-up now, as it is, will not work for the discus you presently have.

Mat

[above design]

You are going to have a hard time making this work. You have cold water fish mixed with warm water fish. Not to mention not the best tank mates for Discus. Get your nitrites down to 0. Put a divider in. Seperate the Discus from the rest of the fish. Sorry, without seperating the Discus and putting them in their own tank the outlook is not good.


-Mark

[MRQuad]

i am new to discus mate, but they are good if they are on their own tank, and it should be barebottom.. and feed them 5-6 times a day.. that's what i am doing right now, and do a daily water change. especially that they are a baby, so far, mine are doing great..

[Darrell Ward]

First, let me say welcome to Simply. I have to agree with the others above. Your fish list is just not compatible. Especially not for young discus. Unless you pull them out of there pretty quick, their future doesn't look bright I'm afraid. Small discus need much cleaner water at all times than you can possibly provide in that tank to grow properly. Not only that, they need lots of high protein food. They won't get enough to eat with all the other fish competing for food, as you have found out already. They need more than just flakes as well. Discus also need water temps in the 80's, and the other fish, especially a goldfish, can transmit parasites that are harmless to them, but may seriously affect very young discus. I would suggest searching around this site for more information. There is no better place anywhere to learn about discus care than this site. Good luck! :)

[1077]

I agree with those above. Goldfish will not tolerate the 84 to 86 degree water that discus need. Some keep them in water even warmer. Goldfish are also prolific poop producers in their own right and with the number of discus you have the three a week water changes might not be enough. Zebra danios will no doubt out compete nearly all fish for food and your small discus need several feedings per day to remain healthy in the long term. You do not indicate what species of algae eater you have ,but unless they are bristlenose or otocinclus which remain relatively small they probably will not be suited for your discus tank Some so called algae eaters such as chinese algae eater quickly stop eating algae and instead find the fish food more to their liking and also become aggressive towards other fish as they become larger. Common plecos grow very large and produce lots of poo which is not what you need to deal with. Were it me I would keep the gravel and perhaps some corydoras to help police the bottom and the others i would find new digs for.:)