beginner discus questions?

[vic277]

Hello SimplyDiscus,
My name is Victor and I am considering keeping discus.I have some idea's on how to raise and keep discus and also some questions.I am experienced in keeping cichlids but never kept discus.

Here's what I have.
Tank;bare bottom 75 gallon.
Filtration;Aqua clear 110(I also own a few Ehiem 2217's)
heaters;250 watt visi-therm stealth.
liquid test kit;ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,ph,gh,kh.
light fixture;standard fluorescent strip light that comes with tank.

Here's what I know.
baby discus require 4-6 feedings a day.
at least 1 water change of 50% a day.
A stable water temp. of 82-84 degrees.

Here's my questions.
Is my tank to large to raise baby discus in? I'm thinking of a group of 6-8 fish.
I plan on using my tap water as is(besides adding Prime)the ph is around 7.2 or so and is slightly on the hard side.I haven't taken a reading in a while so I don't have exact measurements yet.Is the water from my tap suitable?
Feeding 4 times a day enough?,or should it be more?
What's a good feeding regime as far as types of food?
When Discus are adults do they require the same water change/feeding schedule?My understanding is that feeding once a day with a water change of 50% once a week is good.But I like advice from those with experience.

Here's My goal.
To raise fish to adult size and then move them to a 90gallon or larger tank with a large sump.
The tank will have white sand bottom 1-2'' thick some drift wood a few round rocks and maybe a few sword plants in pots and some floaters like frog bit.a Although I'm not sure if I want plants yet.
As for other fish,I'm thinking of a small school of some sort of tetra,maybe some hatchet fish,and some sort of mess/algae control fish.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post any advice would be a big help.

[bs6749]

Hello SimplyDiscus,
My name is Victor and I am considering keeping discus.I have some idea's on how to raise and keep discus and also some questions.I am experienced in keeping cichlids but never kept discus.

Here's what I have.
Tank;bare bottom 75 gallon.
Filtration;Aqua clear 110(I also own a few Ehiem 2217's)
heaters;250 watt visi-therm stealth.
liquid test kit;ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,ph,gh,kh.
light fixture;standard fluorescent strip light that comes with tank.

Here's what I know.
baby discus require 4-6 feedings a day.
at least 1 water change of 50% a day.
A stable water temp. of 82-84 degrees. I'd say 86 would be better.

Here's my questions.
Is my tank to large to raise baby discus in? It depends on your definition of "baby discus". I would grow out a group of 6-10 discus until they are 3" in a 29g tank and then switch them over to a 55g or your 75g. You would possibly divide your 75 so that you grow them out in 1/3 of the tank for now until the get larger. Then as they do you can move the divider. Light defelctors commonly called "egg crate" make for wonderful dividers along with suction cups.
I'm thinking of a group of 6-8 fish.Good choice.
I plan on using my tap water as is(besides adding Prime)the ph is around 7.2 or so and is slightly on the hard side.I haven't taken a reading in a while so I don't have exact measurements yet.Is the water from my tap suitable?The water will be perfect as long as you add a dechlorinator such as Prime if it is needed. Young discus can actually do better in slightly harder water as the calcium helps their bone structure.
Feeding 4 times a day enough?,or should it be more?I'd say shoot for as many as you can do with 4 being the minimum. Of course this depends on the size of the fish. Adults can go with 1 feeding per day but the breeders in Asia can do a dozen feedings per day and it shows by the size these fish get in a minimal amount of time. More feedings are better.
What's a good feeding regime as far as types of food? I'd recommend a high quality flake or pellet in addition to frozen foods such as bloodworms, brine shrimp, spirulina enriched brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, krill, etc. Also a good beefheart mix or seafood mix would be a great addition to their diet.
When Discus are adults do they require the same water change/feeding schedule?My understanding is that feeding once a day with a water change of 50% once a week is good.But I like advice from those with experience.Once per day is sufficient, though mine get 3+ feedings per day 5 days out of the week, once per day on Fridays, and they might not eat on Saturday as I'm gone all day (often) at work. They are doing just fine. As far as water changes, the more the merrier. You will get used to the amount that you will need to change when that time comes. I'd say 50% once per week would be the bare minimum I'd do. It would be better yet to do a 1/3 water change every 2-3 days. Live plants can help to soak up excess nitrates, which I try to keep as low as possible. I wouldn't let them get over 20ppm in your tank, 5-10ppm in my tank.

Here's My goal.
To raise fish to adult size and then move them to a 90gallon or larger tank with a large sump.
The tank will have white sand bottom 1-2'' thick some drift wood a few round rocks and maybe a few sword plants in pots and some floaters like frog bit.a Although I'm not sure if I want plants yet.
As for other fish,I'm thinking of a small school of some sort of tetra,maybe some hatchet fish,and some sort of mess/algae control fish.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post any advice would be a big help.

Answers in red.

[vic277]

bs6749, thanks for the good info!

[Eddie]

I'd say temp at 86 minimum for juvies and also recommend a good mix either beefheart or seafood based. Other than that looks like you have it down. One thing I would also recommend. Have some meds on hand in the event of an emergency. Something for the effective treatment of parasites and bacteria. Also some good things to have on hand, Epsom salt and ordinary table salt (I use non-iodized morton salt).

Best of luck with your little ones

Oh yeah....make sure you get QUALITY discus to begin with, very important or the whole plan will not work.


Take care,

Eddie

[poconogal]

You've received excellent advice here about everything, including starting with quality Discus, so I'd stay away from purchasing any LFS Discus. Buy from a sponsor here or another good source, but not any LFS. Good luck with your babies!

[vic277]

Thanks for all the feed back,
As for which which discuss to buy,I'm partial to a more wild looking discus,
For my first attempt I would rather start with a domesticated strain and I don't want to break the bank on my first discus fish either.looking to spend a max of $40 a fish.
So i guess my question is;are there domesticated strains of wild type discus and is my price cap realistic?
If anyone has any suggestions on were to start looking I'm all ears.

Thanks,Victor.

[rickztahone]

Thanks for all the feed back,
As for which which discuss to buy,I'm partial to a more wild looking discus,
For my first attempt I would rather start with a domesticated strain and I don't want to break the bank on my first discus fish either.looking to spend a max of $40 a fish.
So i guess my question is;are there domesticated strains of wild type discus and is my price cap realistic?
If anyone has any suggestions on were to start looking I'm all ears.

Thanks,Victor.

i have a domestic brown that has the wild look to him/her and wasn't that expensive at about 4". i can't remember exactly how much but i think it was around $45 or so. check out my profile for the pictures

[Jhhnn]

Dunno that $40 is realistic as a "cap", but $40-$50 apiece + shipping is pretty realistic for some nice fish from at least one of our sponsors-

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=68066&highlight=january

Availability of any particular strain is always an issue, so it pays to talk to them, particularly the ones who import, as they may be able to get what you want if they know what it is...

I'm partial to wild-type fish, myself, and also to snakeskins... I think I got the best of both worlds with the recent arrival of my RSXAF crosses- crossing dissimilar strains seems to let the "wild" genes dominate sometimes. Check out the pics of his June shipment...

If you'll edit your profile, let members know your approximate locale, they may be able to volunteer info wrt breeders in your area, too...