got my new babies today!

[Faydra]

Well after several weeks of researching and getting my tank perfect, I am now the proud parent of six juvenile discus - three blue diamond and three red rose.

I had to special order them my LFS so they were sight unseen and they are my first discus ever. I can tell just from reading other posts and looking at pics that they are a little stunted but I'm no snob and I still think they are adorable! They look like little alien babies! :D

I have the lights turned off in the tank and just a dim light on in the room but it looks like they are already starting to explore. How long should I keep the tank lights off? I have read that frozen bloodworms are a good first food so that is what I will try. When should I try to feed them? Does anyone have any advise on the best food to feed young stunted discus?

[gr8nguyen1]

what makes you thnk they're stunted? any pictures? any how congratulations. how exciting it must be for you?

[Eddie]

Yeah, they may not be stunted if they are young. Youngins can sometimes have bigger eyes. They can grow into them with good food and water. Since they are young, there is time to reverse any prior adverse conditions.

Good foods for growth are Mals Freeze Dried Blackworms and homemade beefheart mix. You can also supplement this with a good pellet or flake. I recommend Angel Plus 1.5mm fry starter pellet and Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef flake.

All the best!


Eddie

[srusso]

I am only 16 or 17 days ahead of you! Congrats!! Good Luck! Watch them, a lot! Study every little detail. Watch and make sure all are eating, watch for gill movement. I had treat the two weakest for flukes... that had my hands trembling! The same two discus I got have been stunted a little, but I put in a bunch TLC into making sure they eat a lot and I have seen a change in just 15 days. The weakest discus now does a little bit of bullying... What size discus did you get? I kept the light off for only a few hours, because you got them from a LFS. A few hours later they ate a little blood worms... Please we all would love too see pictures!! :D :D :D

[Faydra]

Okay well my lights are on! They are huddling together but still moving slowly around the tank.

The blue diamonds especially have large eyes and look pretty stunted. But even if they aren't beautiful I love them anyways! :)

I took tomorrow off work just so I could have three complete days to watch them and make sure they are okay.

My plan is to do a daily wc. It's just easier for me to do smaller more frequent ones. What is a good percent for a daily wc?

[calihawker]

Post pics! We love Pics!

[Faydra]

Haha! Well I fed some bloodworms and everyone ate and seems very hungry! :D :D :D

I've never posted any pics before so I hope this works....
http://i999.photobucket.com/albums/af111/hoser159/Fish/IMG_1201.jpg
http://i999.photobucket.com/albums/af111/hoser159/Fish/IMG_1199.jpg
http://i999.photobucket.com/albums/af111/hoser159/Fish/IMG_1198.jpg
http://i999.photobucket.com/albums/af111/hoser159/Fish/IMG_1197.jpg

[luckyfind]

Faydra welcome to S.D. One of the best places to be for discus info and help.
Looks like they are settling in nicely and just have to be patient and do lots of reading on this site. I have only had discus for awhile and it has been a learning curve from just freshwater fish and a lot of fun along the way.

You will not need sponge filters for awhile so just check out the sponsors here.I have extras if you are in a bind.
Laurence

[MGM83]

wow congrats...Those are going to be some beautiful fish

[Faydra]

Thanks Lucky!

A fellow Canadian - and in BC no less! May I ask where you got your discus??

[luckyfind]

I got my blue diamonds and gold diamonds from April "Pets Beautiful" in Vancouver and some others from a breeder in Windfield just north of Kelowna. Just finished talking to another friend this evening and he has 4 he has to part with so will go see him Fri.
Laurence

[rickztahone]

they do seem to be stunted, the BD's more so than the reds. also, a bigger problem would be how skinny they look. they almost positively have worms. a round of deworming should be in order. stunted discus are not a bad thing, it's just something you should know going into the discus keeping hobby. since they are young you may still be able to put some size on them but you will have to work hard at it. the reds do have a slightly better chance from the looks of it though.

[erikc]

they do seem to be stunted, the BD's more so than the reds. also, a bigger problem would be how skinny they look. they almost positively have worms. a round of deworming should be in order. stunted discus are not a bad thing, it's just something you should know going into the discus keeping hobby. since they are young you may still be able to put some size on them but you will have to work hard at it. the reds do have a slightly better chance from the looks of it though.

Congratulations on your new fish and welcome to the discus hobby.

However I would agree with Rick, they are thin and some deworming will be in order.

[prolude006]

The reds look alright, little thin, but the BDs dont look so good. One looks pretty bad, with the caved in forehead. I would medicate for worms and feed them a lot, and change water quite a bit everyday, should turn them around.

David

[Faydra]

Wow, I've dewormed my cat and my dogs before but never my fish! How do I do that? What do I need?

I agree 100% with what you are saying, the BD are definetly worse looking than the reds. They are all super active this morning and eating well though. It hasn't been 24 hours yet and they already know me and come to the top of the tank for food!

So far I've been feeding frozen bloodworms with a pipet and making sure they all get some before it reaches the bottom. I also have frozen glassworms, brine shrimp and plankton from when I had my angelfish. Are any of those good food for discus?

I asked the question earlier but I don't think I heard back from anyone: What is a good percentage for a daily wc? Also, how soon can I start with my wc? They all seem to be settling in better than I expected, if I did a wc tonight, would that be too soon for them?

[John Crawford]

Lookin good,Keep us posted on their progress..

Regards John...

[Justice]

they do seem to be stunted, the BD's more so than the reds. also, a bigger problem would be how skinny they look. they almost positively have worms. a round of deworming should be in order. stunted discus are not a bad thing, it's just something you should know going into the discus keeping hobby. since they are young you may still be able to put some size on them but you will have to work hard at it. the reds do have a slightly better chance from the looks of it though.

I totally agree with Ricardo about the need to De-Worm!

And also just to add my 2 cents, I would lose the Gravel and go BB.

I hope You don't mind the advise and best of luck with Your Discus!

[Darrell Ward]

I totally agree with Ricardo about the need to De-Worm!

And also just to add my 2 cents, I would lose the Gravel and go BB.

I hope You don't mind the advise and best of luck with Your Discus!

I have to agree. The BD's look emaciated, they may not ever grow that much. It depends a lot on their age. The reds look fine from what I can see. Gravel is the worst thing you can have in a discus tank. Sand is better, BB is best, especially for young ones. If that tank is a 55 gal., and the discus are the only fish, a 50% water change every other day should be suffient for now, especially if you take out the gravel.

[kaceyo]

To de-worm them you can start with Prazi for tapeworms. You can usually find it at lfs under the name PraziPro, Parasite Clear by Jungle has it, and may have another med in it for other types of worms. I'm not sure what the lfs's have in the way of deworming specificly for roundworms, nematodes etc.
Def remove the gravel. You'll have a hard time ridding the fish of parasites if they can hide in the gravel. Besides it's just much healthier for juviniles.
A few things you may need are water conditioner (Prime, Ammo-Lock, AmQuel etc), an ammonia and nitrite test kits for now.
Do you have a filter?

[Faydra]

It is a 55 gallon tank and I have a Fluval 305 cannister filter running with ClearMax, Zeo-Carb and of course tons of bio spheres. The six discus are the only tank occupants.

I have been using Aqua Plus as my water conditioner. I have the following test kits which I use almost daily: ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, PH, KH/GH.

I have thought about removing the gravel however the tank is very much a "show piece" and though I would be willing to have a BB tank my husband thinks it would be "too ugly". I did manage to convince him to let me pull more than half of the plants/decor so that I can clean the gravel better.

I also plan to start making my own BH food and I have emailed Mal regarding his FDBW which appears to be the "bee's knees" for discus! :D

I think I will start my 50% water change regime tonight as they are all extremely bright and active.

Kaceyo - the only thing that I recognize as something I might be able to get from my LFS from your list is the Parasite Clear. Would this be sufficient? I've been trying to get a glimpse of their poops so I can confirm that they have worms but I haven't seen anything yet. Can I still treat them even if they don't have any, just to be on the safe side??

[kaceyo]

It is a 55 gallon tank and I have a Fluval 305 cannister filter running with ClearMax, Zeo-Carb and of course tons of bio spheres. The six discus are the only tank occupants.

I have been using Aqua Plus as my water conditioner. I have the following test kits which I use almost daily: ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, PH, KH/GH.

I have thought about removing the gravel however the tank is very much a "show piece" and though I would be willing to have a BB tank my husband thinks it would be "too ugly". I did manage to convince him to let me pull more than half of the plants/decor so that I can clean the gravel better.

I also plan to start making my own BH food and I have emailed Mal regarding his FDBW which appears to be the "bee's knees" for discus! :D

I think I will start my 50% water change regime tonight as they are all extremely bright and active.

Kaceyo - the only thing that I recognize as something I might be able to get from my LFS from your list is the Parasite Clear. Would this be sufficient? I've been trying to get a glimpse of their poops so I can confirm that they have worms but I haven't seen anything yet. Can I still treat them even if they don't have any, just to be on the safe side??

The fact that they eat well but are still very thin and emaciated is enough to suspect worms. You won't see tapeworms in their poop. Parasite Clear will work for the tapeworms. You'll need something else to treat for nematodes etc.

[lkc]

The health of the fish should come before your husband's aesthetic opinion. Believe me, siphon all that gravel outa there post haste!. Your water changes will be much more affective if you do that. I have 6 juvies in a 40 gallon long and I do a 60 percent water change every evening just after they finish their last feeding of the day (beefheart).
I started out with a planted tank two months ago before I got my gang from Hans. Tank was pretty, but I noticed I couldn't get all the gunk out of the substrate and the nitrates were not where I wanted them, fish were breathing harder than they should be. I took every thing out of the tank and the water stays pristine. This will continue until they become adults, then the tank can be planted and decorated the way you want.
If you want your new babies to reach their full potential, bite the bullet go barebottom till they grow up. BTW - with my daily water changes, i don't bother to test the water any more. By their actions, they let me know what's up.
Sorry if i sound fanatical but that's my $0.02

[jballauer]

Grats on the new fish!