Newb Questions

[snyderguy]

Hey all, I just joined this forum and just had a couple of questions to ask.

I've been keeping 3 angelfish, 3 platy fish, a lace catfish, pleco, and guppy in a 20 gallon for over a year now, none of which have died or caught any diseases (except one platy has scoliosis), but I want to try discus. I've wanted them for a long time now. So I went out and got myself a 55 gallon tank which currently has 10 neon tetras and a pleco, all which seem to be doing just fine. The tank has been cycling for over a month now and I'm pretty sure it's either very close to done or done with its cycle. I've got a whisper ex70 HOB filter and a few live plants as well. The temp. is about 78 degrees F. KH is about moderate. GH is just above moderate. And there are no nitrites and very little nitrates. Question is... how will I know when my tank is ready for discus? Being a poor college student, I don't exactly want to order them from a website only to get them and have them die a week later and there's nowhere I can buy them around here within 2 hours. Any tips? Thanks!
- Josh

[mjs020294]

The tank should be cycled after a month. I would raise the temperature to 82f, which is too warm for the Neons.

I know the first advice you will get around here is you need to quarantine Discus for four weeks, so a third tank is required.

[snyderguy]

how exactly do you quarantine discus?

[snyderguy]

ok, so I did some of my own research and I have a 10 gallon that I can quarantine them in but it all says "you should do this if you're introducing discus to already established discus." since i don't have any other discus, is this still necessary?

[mjs020294]

ok, so I did some of my own research and I have a 10 gallon that I can quarantine them in but it all says "you should do this if you're introducing discus to already established discus." since i don't have any other discus, is this still necessary?

yes.

[Chad Hughes]

I may take a bit of a verbal beating for this, but you should be OK to add discus directly to this new tank without issue. I've done it in the past and had great success. In fact, my contest tank had 12 cory cats that I added 14 days prior to the introduction of the 6 discus. No issues.

Your filter sounds cycled. If you are reading zero ammonia and nitrite with trace nitrate, that indicates a cycled filter. remember, once you add more livestock (discus), you'll put an additional load on this filter that may take a few days to react to the new bioload. I would recommend that once the new discus are added to the tank, feed lightly. Twice a day for about a week should be fine. Do not overfeed at each feeding. Only feed as much as they will eat in 15 to 30 minutes. This will give the filter time to establish a large enough bacteria bed to support the bio load that is in this tank.

Definately get the temp up to a minimum of 83F. Neons will likely start to disappear.

Hope that helps!

Best wishes!

[snyderguy]

Ok. Thanks for the help. I raised the temp. on my heater so we will see how they do. I've considered buying from somethingsphishy.com.
Is anyone against this website?

[mjs020294]

Ok. Thanks for the help. I raised the temp. on my heater so we will see how they do. I've considered buying from somethingsphishy.com.
Is anyone against this website?

Duck and cover :D

[snyderguy]

haha, why is that?

[mjs020294]

haha, why is that?

I bought form them recently, and got relatively lucky. Here are some reasons to avoid them:

- Descriptions/Website - None of his names or picture are accurate, you will not get what you order.

- Shipping - They do that absolutely bare minimum, and the fish will not be in good shape when they arrive. I was lucky because I live very close to their facility (which happens to be a private house)

- Customer Service - The man is has rude and arrogant as a human being could possibly be, and I am trying to be nice here.


Try Googling "somethingphishy review". This site and the internet is littered with horror stories about the site and the rude man that runs it.


I would recommend one of the sponsors of this site. Discus Hans seems like a very ethical man, and his product is second to none.

[90 Gallons of Fun]

Just do a search here at SD, it was enough information for me to stay away.

[Chad Hughes]

Ok. Thanks for the help. I raised the temp. on my heater so we will see how they do. I've considered buying from somethingsphishy.com.
Is anyone against this website?

I went that route many years ago....

As the above have said, customer service is not great and you may not get what you order. There are much better ways to go about your first discus stock. Forum sponsors are always a good bet! What part of the country are you in?

[DerekFF]

I recently bought from Kennys discus. I went to his operation and saw it in action. It's clean, organized, the fish are top notch and he's a super cool guy. You can't go wrong with most if not all our sponsors. You WILL be happy with their fish. Somethingfishy is a disgrace to discus lovers around the world from what I hear.

[keno]

Do a search on this forum about places to buy discus from. Right away you will see where to avoid, and please do avoid them, there are 1000's of people on here that care about discus and their care, use this information :)

[snyderguy]

I went that route many years ago....

As the above have said, customer service is not great and you may not get what you order. There are much better ways to go about your first discus stock. Forum sponsors are always a good bet! What part of the country are you in?

I'm from the Grand Rapids area in Michigan. Know of any places close by?

[Keith Perkins]

I may take a bit of a verbal beating for this, but you should be OK to add discus directly to this new tank without issue. I've done it in the past and had great success...Definately get the temp up to a minimum of 83F. Neons will likely start to disappear.

You're right Chad, you're about to take a beating. I originally started my 72 bowfront tank with cardinals, neons, and other tetras. I slowly raised my temp to 86 and didn't have a problem losing any of them. :) As for the quarantine, the primary purposes for this are to avoid introducing diseases from your new fish to your old fish and to not additionally stress new fish that were just moved/shipped. Since you don't have any large or aggressive fish in your tank added stress to the new fish isn't a problem. If your new fish arrive with a bug you'll probably start losing neons. Hmm, the cost of a whole new tank set-up versus the cost of a few neons, tough choice. :D Don't EVER buy additional discus though and not quarantine them. It's pretty much as dangerous as your discus playing Russian Roulette.

[snyderguy]

thanks! :D
now if only i could find a place with reasonable charges "/

[Chad Hughes]

You're right Chad, you're about to take a beating. I originally started my 72 bowfront tank with cardinals, neons, and other tetras. I slowly raised my temp to 86 and didn't have a problem losing any of them. :) As for the quarantine, the primary purposes for this are to avoid introducing diseases from your new fish to your old fish and to not additionally stress new fish that were just moved/shipped. Since you don't have any large or aggressive fish in your tank added stress to the new fish isn't a problem. If your new fish arrive with a bug you'll probably start losing neons. Hmm, the cost of a whole new tank set-up versus the cost of a few neons, tough choice. :D Don't EVER buy additional discus though and not quarantine them. It's pretty much as dangerous as your discus playing Russian Roulette.

That wasn't so bad.... LOL!

[Chad Hughes]

thanks! :D
now if only i could find a place with reasonable charges "/

I'm not sure who is in your immediate area, but there are people close to you. In fact, the East coast is littered with disucs breeders and distributors. Check out the sponsor section! You're bound to find someone closer than I am. By the way, you'll always pay shipping for discus unless you are lucky enough to have a bredder/importer near you. It's well worth it though!

Best wishes!

[rickztahone]

i'm late to the party but i do agree with Chad and i don't think you should take a beating for taking such a stand on QT bypassing in this particular case. i always feel that if there hasn't been any other sick fish, e.g., angels/discus/cory's...etc then you can put them in their own tank. as advised, do not buy more discus in the future and not quarantine them, that's a receipe for disaster. lastly, stay away from somethingfishy.com and go straight to one of our sponsors.

[rickztahone]

didn't someone have some gorgeous turks in the Grand Rapids area fellow SD'ers?