difficulty???

[aquman]

:)Hi again everyone......
I have introduced myself very briefly in the past but now would like to it in some more detail for you all to have a better understanding of how its all going for me with my new discus fish hobby.

My names AJ , Ive just recently turned 14 and I have been keeping discus for about a year now. Im an experianed tropical fish keeper, having kept angels,bred gouramis etc for about 8 years now.

When i decided to try and start keeping discus I was in my first year of high school (yr 9, her in NZ), I had lots of time due to the minimal exams and work we had to do, so i had lots of time to take care of my discus(carrying out major water changes everyday).

Nowadays though i have not got as much of that time and im really feeling the pressure. I have got 2 discus in a 150 litre bare-bottom aquarium.
As the tank is not that big, water changes need to be more frequent as dirt builds up more quickly,(not saying the water is dirty or anything).

I cannot get a bigger tank due to the lack of space in our new house which we hae just moved into, so this tank will just have to do for the moment.

Can you please help me out here?
Whats the least amount of water changes i can do , do you guys reckon so the fish will be happy as well as giving me time for school and other things?

I love discus and dont want to give up here, so any helpful advice will gratefully be accepted.

Do you think i can carry on with the discus fish hobby , or would i be better off going back to the less time consuming fish???:(

Thank you very much for your time......

Kind regards
AJ

[wanderingfish]

I recommand this kind of filter:http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=75334
It's easy to DIY.My most tanks are small,for example 150l tank use 800l/H pump,with filter that's siphon pipe made of 3\4" pvc parts.
If the tank is stocked properly ,Ph would not drop quickly,it's not need of so ofter w/cs.

[mmorris]

You have two discus in a 42 gallon aquarium. That appears to be well understocked, which is a bonus. Are there other fish in the tank? Is it planted or does it have substrate? The question is not how few wc's can you get away with, but how often do you need to change the water and how much in order to provide optimal conditions. I recommend you do two 50% wc's a week with aged, heated, treated (for chlorine/chloramine) water, and carefully monitor ph and nitrates. There are other impurities that build up in the water, but nitrates are one we can measure. I assume your tank is already cycled. If you have plants, the nitrates may be low with infrequent wc's, but other impurities may build up. You might find you can change less, or you might find you need to do more.
Are the discus young, or are they a breeding pair? How long have you had them? If they are new, you could potentially have problems with them not getting along. Two generally isn't a good number unless they are a pair.

[aquman]

Hi guys , cheers for the help.
At the moment i have got two juvies , but for some strange reason i have not seen them fighting alot with one another . How many adult discus can you put in a 150 l tank?

As im not intending to get bigger tanks at the moment,would I be able to grow the juvies out in the tank which they will also be in when adult?
(i dont really mind how big they get really).

I have also just brought a 120 litre Hexagonal aquarium, as space is an issue at the moment , so am wondrin about how many adults i can put there????
I chose a Hex as they are taller????

( i have no other fish in my 150 l except a 'small miniture ' plec which cleans the tank (without harming the discus).

I cannot go to a 50 gal or bigger as i simply have not got the space........

As my tanks are BB , Could someone also please tell me of a good way to clean the bottom(to get rid of left over food/fish waste)? I have tried doing it the old fashioned way by scooping it up with a net, but that does not seem to work very well.

Would a siphon work?

Also the tanks both have eheim cannister (external) filters. I brought them for 350 NZ$ each .

Thnx, and exuse me throwing all sorts of questions at you . As i live in NZ we run off a different metric system to many of you guys living in America , so we say Litres rather than gallons lol!