Newbie!!

[agamble]

:) Hello! I am a newbie (obviously, by the post title)... I recently began a 90 gallon planted tank, about 6 months ago, from scratch. Didn't even know what a planted tank was, I just wanted to "easily" fill a space in my home and quickly became obsessed (lol, husband now things I'm certifiably crazy) I started adding plants and angelfish, making mistakes as I went, lost some fish, killed some plants, flooded my house a few times *haha*
I added DIY c02 that made my plants go wild. Never had a heater, but the water stayed at 78. Have a t5 with a pinkish flora light. Marine land canister filter. Have always done lots of water changes to keep it clear and happy, our water is naturally soft but I still use bottled periodically. The angels paired off and started nesting, turned into complete little jerks and killed almost everything around them. The shrimp started multiplying like rabbits, and even the neon tetras started throwing eggs around but the fish ate all of them. A few plants started flowering at the top of the tank... Everything looked good so I dedided to change gears. I hauled off the angels to somewhere more suitable, and then I found a discus specialty store called Jo Jo Aquarium in Sacramento. Yesterday was the big day I had planned for.. I brought home 3 gorgeous juvenile discus, they are about 3 or 4 inches and absolutely stunning. I hope I can be successful at this. I would like to post pics and get some advice and critiques from you all... I do have 3 questions:

1) what temp should I keep my tank at in order to keep the discus happy and the plants? (it's about 84 right now but I don't know if my plants can last long with that, can they?)

2) How do I post pictures on a forum?

3) can anyone explain discus body language to me? They seem to be very expressive fish, but I don't know how to tell if they are happy or stressed. The large red turquoise seems to be settling in, the red melon is shy but curious and the smaller turquoise won't really put up his back fins (top?) I think he is having the hardest time adjusting but I don't really know because I am new to this and there is so much contradictory info on the web.

[discuspaul]

That's a somewhat daring move for someone new to discus, but I applaud you nonetheless.
Something that may help you get off on the right foot at this moment, albeit a little late, is to have a read of my beginner's guide to getting started with discus, in the Discus Basics for Beginners section of this forum - link:
www.forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?86009-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Getting-Started-with-Discus

A 90 gallon tank is great for discus - and being planted, it's a little tough on a newbie to discus-keeping, but could work out ok if you do some homework. Your temp is fine, you just need to devote a little more time, care, and attention to making sure you're treating your new little beauties properly.
3" to 4" fish are fine, but the number of fish you have, at 3, is not the best number for sociability/pecking order aggression problems - I suggest you'll want to increase that number to 6 or more preferably.
Discus seldom cause problems for other types of compatible fish, but they can stress each other out with pecking order establishment.
Your 3 new ones will take some time to adjust, settle in, and be comfortable in their new environment - up to 2-3 weeks or more - just be patient and get them eating. And you'lll notice some mainly harmless 'pushing & shoving' behavior, which should dissipate when you add a few more.
And your plants can do fine @ 84 F - they may just need to do some adapting to the higher temp.
Won't deal with posting pics this go-round.
Take a deep breath, do a little research, and we wish you all the best in getting things going in a manner that will create and develop an environment that will make your discus thrive.
Let us know if we can be of help as time goes on.

[strawberryblonde]

Hi and welcome to my obsession! (my husband thinks I'm a bit nuts too)

You have a great size tank for discus, so no worries there. You also bought a good size for growing out in a planted tank, but it's going to take a bit more time and effort on your part to keep the tank healthy during the growing period. So long as you stick with the daily routine you'll do fine.

The first thing to know about is water changes. Here's where your plants are going to take a beating. Discus hate nitrates, which plants use for food, so that's a GOOD thing, but even with plants discus can create more mess than can be consumed, so as a rule it's best to do a WC every day (every other day if that works and your discus remain healthy). The amount to change is up to you, but if it was me I'd do 50% per day just to be safe, or 80% every other day if you choose that schedule. The more the better is the standard rule.

The second thing is feedings. To get maximum growth during the first few months in your home you'll need to feed them a variety of foods and feed fairly often. Feedings can be spread out during the day, or you can do one in the morning and then 2-4 at night, followed by the water change. My discus LOVE Al's Freeze Dried Blackworms, frozen beefheart cubes and Ocean Nutrition Discus flakes, but you can pick choose from a wide variety to find what your discus like best.

The third thing is the number of discus. As Paul mentioned, with discus more is better. They are naturally aggressive with each other, though not nearly as badly as most other cichlids. If they are in a group of 6 or more they will sort out a pecking order and the aggression will be spread out rather than focused on just one fish.

Your temps are fine and your plants should handle it fairly easily.

Other than that, take time to read everything you can on here, ask questions and have fun with your new guys! Oh, for pics you just need 10 posts and then you can upload pictures so long as they are under 40kb I think (I try to keep mine to 30 kb each). To get the 10 posts you can just keep posting on this thread...one after another with any content you want, till you reach 10.

Can't wait to see your pics!!!

[agamble]

Thanks for the advice! I have another question, it's driving me crazy trying to figure it out... I am fine doing big water changes every day or every other day, but how do you keep the water temp stable? I have a fluval heater now, it's for a large tank, but it seems to take over a day to heat the tank. Today I heated the water before pouring it in (by keeping the 5 gallon bottled in a warm water bath for about an hour) ... It still lowered the temp to 81-82. The fish seem happy and active but I know the place I purchased them from kept them in the high 80's so I'm a bit worried ~ how do you keep the temp up with daily water changes?

[drew22to375]

Most people either age their water in another tank/water barrel with a heater or adjust the tap water going back in the tank to the same temp as their tank.

[strawberryblonde]

Drew has the right ideas. If you can age your water in a separate tank/barrel then you can add a heater to bring it up to temp, just also be sure to add a bubbler to the aging tank so that you get good circulation and no hot spots.

If you can't age the water you can use tap. You said it's fairly soft and if so, it's perfect for discus. Do you know the pH of your tap water? Anything between 6.0 and up to the high end of 8.2 or so is fine for growing out discus. No need for bottled water with these guys unless you have a problem with your tap. Just be sure to add Prime, Safe or some other chlorine/chloramine neutralizer with each water change. I like Prime and Safe because they're a lot cheaper than most other brands and work well.

I add a teaspoon of Safe directly to my 115 before I add straight tap water that's adjusted to the correct temps. I've never had any problems doing it that way.

[strawberryblonde]

Well darn it, forgot to answer your question about how to tell if your fish are happy or stressed.

If they're stressed they'll usually darken a bit and if they have bars (vertical black stripes), they'll show them. They can also hide and refuse to eat if they're feeling stressed.

It's totally normal for discus to show their bars during periods of excitement, stress and during feeding times. Even more common for them to be stressed and show it during the first few weeks of settling into a new tank. They tend to be fairly shy creatures by nature (they are considered food for things like piranha in the wild) so sudden movements, a new tank, new hands in the tank, etc. will cause them to flee or hide and show dark colors till they get used to you and the surroundings.

Once they get to know you though they'll open up and most become very docile! Mine eat from my hands and "beg" me for food whenever they see me. It's a hoot to see them all gathered in the corner staring at me while I'm in the kitchen...just hoping for handouts.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Don't forget, if using straight tap water from your sink, you will need to get some Seachem Prime (liquid) or Safe (powder) to help remove chlorine and ammonias from your tank. You can get it online or at your LFS. Good luck and hope to see pictures soon!