First time owner

[cmich]

Hey everyone,
My name is Blake and I just bought my first two discus. I'm a student at Central Michigan University and have kept planted tanks for a few years. I'm really excited and can't wait to experiance all of the joys of owning discus. I have two small turquoise discus about 2 1/2 inches. I'll post some pictures once they get used to the tank.

[rickztahone]

welcome to simply discus

[Mr Wild]

Hi there and welcome.
I am sure you will enjoy this forum and the help and friendliness of everyone on here. Good luck with your fish and enjoy. Remember discus LOVE clean water!

[poconogal]

Welcome to SD! I know you'll love keeping Discus, they are addicting! With only 2 Discus though, you may end up with one beating up the other and eventually causing its death (there are the exceptions but for the most part more is better). If you have 3 Discus, one or two will bully the third, cause its death, then you have 2, and the same thing happens. With Discus, who are shoaling fish, its best to keep a minimum of 5 to spread out aggression, especially among juvies and sub adults. Once they are adults, they are usually less aggressive with each other, but not always. If you have room in your tank, I'd get at least 3 more.

[Don Trinko]

I have has several groups of 4 that worked ok. I now have only 2 in one tank that were raised in a group of 4. They get along fine and have never spawned but I think it is because they were raised together. Have fun; Don T.

[cmich]

Thanks everyone. I plan on having five in the tank soon. As a college student my funds are fairly limited. Although, any money I do have tends to go to my fish tank. It's only a matter of time before I have a few more discus to add to my tank. I would just like to find quality similarly sized discus.

Just to add a little more about myself, my tank is fully planted. I have 9 cardinal tetras, 5 hengel's rasboras, 4 praecox rainbows, 3 flying fox, 3 yoyo loaches, 5 corycats, 2 bristlenose plecos, 2 longfin ablino bristlenose, and 1 angel fish.

I've heard from some poeple to be careful having angels with discus, and i've also heard from some people that they mix fine. My angel is similarly sized to the two discus and they have been getting along swimmingly (pun intended) so far. Any opinions on their compatability is welcome.

[LizStreithorst]

Angels can be aggressive but I have had nothing but success keeping Angels with Discus

[DiscusDude85]

Welcome to the discus world. Better get prepared to go broke!. LOL! I got bit by the discus bug about 2 years ago now and my hobby has taken off. I started with 2 goldfish in a bowl. Hopped up to a 10 gallon with one discus, Next a 20 with two then a 40 with 4 up to a 60 with 6 and now a 110 with 11 discus its an addiction get ready for it. Read as much as you can. Just when you think you know all there is about discus go back and read some more. Ive been on here every day for the past 2 years or so and i never stop learning. There are many challenges that await you but your main concern is WATER CHANGES. They are so important! Good diet is equally as important. Ive kept an angel fish with my discus since day one its the wifes. It makes a nice tank mate, As previously stated it can get a little agressive but then again so do my discus. Well the best of luck to you. And ps stay in college hard work DOESNT pay off.


Joe

[cmich]

Joe,

I can relate to your angel fish being your wifes. My girlfriend bought our angel fish over a year ago because she wanted one of the fish in the tank to be hers. Everytime I get new fish, she reminds me that they have to get along with her angel fish. She is contantly scared she is going to come home and i'll have brought her angel back to the store. Angel fish aren't my favorite, but i've grown quite fond of the one we currently have- so hopefully there are no problems between him and my new discus.

Blake

[poconogal]

I don't see where you mentioned the size of your tank (if you did). What size is it?

I've kept angels with Discus with no problems. They hung out together, one big happy shoal and I actually think the Angels thought they were also Discus! I never witnessed any aggression towards the Discus from the Angels. There's been a concern circulating for many years that Angels carry some sort of "mysterious" disease that Discus can catch. I myself believe its a myth, as do many others who have never had problems keeping the two together. The other concern is that Angels are aggressive feeders and some feel they will eat all the food and the Discus can't compete. My Discus ate just as aggressively as the Angels did, I think even more so, so I never found that to be true either. After the Discus, Angels are my favorites.

Just remember to QT any new fish that you bring home for 4-6 weeks before putting them into your main tank and remember that Discus really appreciate CLEAN water so if you keep up with your WCs, you should be fine.

[cmich]

I have a 55 gallon tank for the discus. So far they appear to be settling in very well. I can't wait to add new discus. Anyone know of good places to get discus in Michigan?

[GrillMaster]

Cary Strong is a very reputable breeder and sponsor here! :)

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumdisplay.php?f=68

[cmich]

Thanks Mark,

Anyone else know of any breeders in Michigan? Anything further north? I may have to make a trip to see Cary.

Blake

[poconogal]

....Just to add a little more about myself, my tank is fully planted. I have 9 cardinal tetras, 5 hengel's rasboras, 4 praecox rainbows, 3 flying fox, 3 yoyo loaches, 5 corycats, 2 bristlenose plecos, 2 longfin ablino bristlenose, and 1 angel fish.

I've heard from some poeple to be careful having angels with discus, and i've also heard from some people that they mix fine. My angel is similarly sized to the two discus and they have been getting along swimmingly (pun intended) so far. Any opinions on their compatability is welcome.
Do you have all those fish with the Discus in a 55? Better start saving up for a bigger tank if so, or be ready to get rid of some of your other fish.

[Don Trinko]

It is worth the trip to see Cary but call ahead. He sells a lot of discus and if you go right before his next shipment comes in your choices will be limmited. I think this is true for most of the dealers. Don T.

[Peachtree Discus]

2+1/2 inchers will need lots of feeding & clean water....you will face some challenges with your planted (non-BB) tank and your supporting cast. none-the-less....


...I know you'll love keeping Discus, they are addicting! ...

i 2nd that. welcome to SD!!!!

[cmich]

Do you have all those fish with the Discus in a 55? Better start saving up for a bigger tank if so, or be ready to get rid of some of your other fish.

I do have all of those fish with the discus, and I will eventually get a bigger tank. My two discus are just 2 1/2 inches right now, and I do small daily water changes.

[cmich]

I tried to post a picture, but it said my files were too big. Any trick to posting pictures?

[rickztahone]

I tried to post a picture, but it said my files were too big. Any trick to posting pictures?

no trick, just click "post reply" click on the paperclip icon and hit browse and then choose the file from your computer that you choose to upload. that's all :D

[rickztahone]

sry, just realized you said it was too big. so open the picture on your computer and open it with the "paint" program and resize it. go to "image" and then click "stretch/skew" and resize accordingly

[cmich]

Here's a picture of my two discus. I realize it is very bad picture quality, but it gives an idea of what they look like. The picture was taken only a few hours after they were in the tank. I'll try to find a way to get a better picture of them at some point.

[cmich]

Also, thanks for the help on how to post a picture!

[rickztahone]

Also, thanks for the help on how to post a picture!

for sure, no problem ;)