Starting out

[Krelean]

This is my second post. I know most of you have tuns of experience and I can see everyone pretty much maintains the same opinions about bb and feedings.

Of course, I brought from the LFS so I can learn about these beauties. I bought 1 to start, per the LFS. I was told 1 or 3 and 3 was just too much cash. The LFS sells for $55 to 60 for 2.5-3 inch. I've been to a few stores and I could definitely see the difference in quality from store to store. Most carry the ones that come as a variety and look pretty yucky.

Anyhow, during our initital 8 weeks with new baby blue, my clown loaches were picking on it. Some of both the upper and lower fins have been nipped at and it's not growing well, looks like it was starving. The most unfortunate part, just after we got it, my husband was out of work for 7 weeks, so I couldn't go buy 2 more :( Soon as I could, we traded the clowns, yoyo's and all our lemon tetras for more discus. I currently have a blue turquoise, red turquoise, flachen snakeskin and a blue diamond. The newest 3 are doing great. I am feeding 2x per day and I would say they are 3 inch, with the exception of our first that looks HORRIBLE.


Their poops are brownish colored, I don't see any skin lesions or signs of illness. I have done 2 water changes this week so far. I have a 60 gal with 2 Aquaclear 110's and a gravel bottom. I was not told at the LFS that BB was best and unfortunately, I'm more willing to clean more often than pull my rock because of the spike I could cause in my biological system. My tank has been spot on for testing for months and months. I tested today and my Nitrites are elevated to 10/15 or so and I did a 10gal change this morning. I will do another each day till the level goes down.
Do I need to feed more than 2x daily? I'm not interested in breeding, it's not where my interest lies. My temp is 85. The tank mates are bushy pleco's, neons, cardinals, cory cats, and discus.

Where do I go from here?

I'd like to add, I am not new to tanks. I grew up with them and personally have had tanks for 20 years. I'm new to discus and feel the LFS didn't fully inform me.

[ZX10R]

I know more people will jump in here but the first thing I will say is you need to be feeding atleast 4-6 times a day. And a lot of people will say no less then 6 discus since they like to be in a group. LFS are a rip off well atleast the ones near me are.

Good Luck
Sean

[moik]

RUN,,start something else..Once the discus bug got you ,,your done...Just kidding....What a lovely ride your instored for...

[RWD HERO]

Change your water more often, I like to do 50% water changes daily (was doing 85%-90% but it seemed to stress the fish out). What are you feeding them?

[jimg]

2 good feedings a day I would say is a minimum. I think 2 110 aqua clears on a 60 gallon is too much! with the gravel and the other fish in the tank your taking a chance, but some do it with no problems, just keep it as clean and stable as possible.

[Altum Nut]

Welcome to SD Krelean,

I just want to check you tested right. Below is what you quoted.
I tested today and my Nitrites are elevated to 10/15 or so and I did a 10gal change this morning.Nitrite should read 0. Did you test for Ammonia?
If this is the case I would jump it to 20g per day and lose the gravel which holds all kind of nasty stuff.

...Ralph

[ericatdallas]

7

Of course, I brought from the LFS so I can learn about these beauties. I bought 1 to start, per the LFS. I was told 1 or 3 and 3 was just too much cash. The LFS sells for $55 to 60 for 2.5-3 inch. I've been to a few stores and I could definitely see the difference in quality from store to store. Most carry the ones that come as a variety and look pretty yucky.

You know, I -almost- bought a 5" fish from a LFS for $50 but the owner actually stopped me... he said, "These guys here are bad" and he continued to explain why. He said the one I was picking in particular was deformed (I didn't even notice after he told me!) and he was getting more in a week and I should look then. So not all LFS are scum and not all of them are overpriced ($50 for a 5" is pretty reasonable).

That's how I started my journey to ending up here. I went on Craigslist and found a guy selling discus. He was kind of far away so I did a Google on the guy and it lead to this website. He's a member here (not very active) and a lot of people were saying what great fish he has at amazing prices.

I ended up getting fish from him at an average of $6/each (he had a brief special where he was trying to get rid of one of his strains). As a beginner I didn't care what strain he was selling or that everyone in the local area had some.

Another guy sells his fish for $15.

Basically, I'm recommending you should check the Buy/Sell section of this forum first. You may find a member here that's selling.

Although you're buying even smaller fish usually (1.5-2.5") so they're slightly more high maintenance than the 3" who have proven a little more survival skills but at that price you can afford to experiment.

The SD member here was also selling some of his fully grown adult discus for about $50-60 several months ago.

[RWD HERO]

I was going to buy some Discus form my LFS. Before I dropped $300 on some fish I decided to do a little research. After doing some reading and discovering this site I went back to the store and was talking to the owner about them. He only had 4 in stock, I mentioned that I had read that 6 is the ideal number (at the minimum). The owner said "thats true, but to be honest ill sell you what ever you want". I didn't really like the attitude so i left. Then I found Hans, and found out from him that he is their supplier. Ended up saving a good deal of money going straight to him.

[Krelean]

So, what is the general opinion on Hans? I am 100000% comfortable with my LFS, I've been buying there a long time and haven't had any issues. They buy from Hans.

[RWD HERO]

Hans is awesome! Why not buy directly from the supplier? Save some money and if you visit him to pick up you get a chance to pick his brain a little. When I got mine I was there for a little over an hour just asking him questions. Im sure it got on his nerves a little, but I learned a lot!

[Krelean]

I am in Arizona, I wish I could go visit Hans. I hesitate to buy from him directly since our LFS treats the fish and quarantines them before they will sell them. I trust that what I'm getting has been taken care of and proper measures have been taken. I know they are not "top notch" fish I'm getting, but I'm not looking to breed them.

[thepup]

You know, I -almost- bought a 5" fish from a LFS for $50 but the owner actually stopped me... he said, "These guys here are bad" and he continued to explain why. He said the one I was picking in particular was deformed (I didn't even notice after he told me!) and he was getting more in a week and I should look then. So not all LFS are scum and not all of them are overpriced ($50 for a 5" is pretty reasonable).

That's how I started my journey to ending up here. I went on Craigslist and found a guy selling discus. He was kind of far away so I did a Google on the guy and it lead to this website. He's a member here (not very active) and a lot of people were saying what great fish he has at amazing prices.

I ended up getting fish from him at an average of $6/each (he had a brief special where he was trying to get rid of one of his strains). As a beginner I didn't care what strain he was selling or that everyone in the local area had some.

Another guy sells his fish for $15.

Basically, I'm recommending you should check the Buy/Sell section of this forum first. You may find a member here that's selling.

Although you're buying even smaller fish usually (1.5-2.5") so they're slightly more high maintenance than the 3" who have proven a little more survival skills but at that price you can afford to experiment.

The SD member here was also selling some of his fully grown adult discus for about $50-60 several months ago.

Eric I believe we got our Discus from the same person.Did you get to take advantage of his deal, I did.

[ericatdallas]

His buy1get1 deal? Are you from Ohio or Kentucky? What part?

[thepup]

His buy1get1 deal? Are you from Ohio or Kentucky? What part?

I am in Cincinnati.

[ericatdallas]

I am in Cincinnati.

Yup, then we bought from the same guy. How many did you get? I ended up buying 15 the last time I was out there. All of them are growing like crazy on BH. I'm kind of neglecting them b/c I'm pretty busy (hard to tell with me always posting here :P ) though.

I live up in Dayton.

[thepup]

I got 13 all together, mine are growing really well also. Although they aren't in a bare bottom tank and they have tank mates they seem to be growing just fine.We'll see how it works out.