pH7
01-03-2012, 05:54 PM
I've spent about 40 of the last 72 hours on researching discus (obsessive much?). All my research agrees that hardness is not nearly the issue that stability is.
=== Key concepts that I've picked up are as follows: ===
* discus have near zero tolerance for nitrates when growing out and when spawing; as adults you can get away with nitrates more
* discus don't care about pH very much as long as it's somewhat sane and as long as it doesn't fluctuate; fluctuations are deadly.
* discus don't care about hardness near as much as they care about consistency. After they are aclimated to your water, leave it alone! This is good news for me, because I won't have to worry about the risk of pH crashing by using RO water and CO2. Let's be honest, RO+CO2 is a recipie for disaster unless you are constantly vigilant. There will always be a risk of pH crash-- you can diminish the risk, but you can't remove it
* discus don't tolerate temperature changes, and need to be nice and toasty warm at all times, even during water changes; water changes should be near the exact temperature and pH as the tank water
* it's all about the water changes. 30% three times a week, or 50% twice a week for discus you want to "raise" to adulthood. Otherwise, buy adults.
* feed live foods that don't foul the water
* vary the diet, and don't use flake food.
* bare bottom tank is almost required so you can get out any lost food or organic matter/waste on a daily basis; nothing can be allowed to settle in the substrate and become, eventually, nitrate
* quarantine like it was a religion; no exceptions
* put a pre-filter sponge on your cannister filter intake; no dying organic matter should get into the filter, allowing it to become a nitrate factory
* watch out for hex and hith disease, and be ready to medicate; have a sufficiently large hospital tank ready
* buy no less than 4 discus at a time, and try to keep them the same size/age so there isn't bullying
* buy discus from a local breeder who stands behind the fish purchase, and learn to identify stunted, sick, abused, and genetically deformed discus; I didn't know how to identify those things at first, and nearly dropped half a grand on bad discus off craigslist because I didn't know what to buy and what to avoid
* introduce discus first, tank mates later; they're ciclids and they need to get their pecking order sorted out first
* I can't believe how much I can learn in two days; the above isn't near the half of it
=== All of these things are good for me, except: ===
* I have a 200 gallon tank and a 55 gallon sump; huge water changes are going to be cost-intensive to say the least
* Live food, namely california black worms and beef heart, cost a lot more than spirulina 20
* I dislike bare bottom tanks, so I'm going to have to buy adult discus who are done growing (so nitrates aren't nearly so much a factor) and it's going to be 3x the initial cost; the bright side is that I won't have to raise them, which is hard, time-consuming, quite costly (they eat 3x more and you have to change water more often)
* I have a few extra purchases to make that I didn't anticipate: big hospital tank (including figuring out where the heck to put it), more UV sterilization (mine is currently inadequate), battery backup for my heaters, NEW and bigger heaters, a mini-fridge for my live foods, specialized medications, and all the stuff you either forget or didn't know you had to plan for that you have to buy at the last minute
~ph7, Aquarium Ninja
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
=== Key concepts that I've picked up are as follows: ===
* discus have near zero tolerance for nitrates when growing out and when spawing; as adults you can get away with nitrates more
* discus don't care about pH very much as long as it's somewhat sane and as long as it doesn't fluctuate; fluctuations are deadly.
* discus don't care about hardness near as much as they care about consistency. After they are aclimated to your water, leave it alone! This is good news for me, because I won't have to worry about the risk of pH crashing by using RO water and CO2. Let's be honest, RO+CO2 is a recipie for disaster unless you are constantly vigilant. There will always be a risk of pH crash-- you can diminish the risk, but you can't remove it
* discus don't tolerate temperature changes, and need to be nice and toasty warm at all times, even during water changes; water changes should be near the exact temperature and pH as the tank water
* it's all about the water changes. 30% three times a week, or 50% twice a week for discus you want to "raise" to adulthood. Otherwise, buy adults.
* feed live foods that don't foul the water
* vary the diet, and don't use flake food.
* bare bottom tank is almost required so you can get out any lost food or organic matter/waste on a daily basis; nothing can be allowed to settle in the substrate and become, eventually, nitrate
* quarantine like it was a religion; no exceptions
* put a pre-filter sponge on your cannister filter intake; no dying organic matter should get into the filter, allowing it to become a nitrate factory
* watch out for hex and hith disease, and be ready to medicate; have a sufficiently large hospital tank ready
* buy no less than 4 discus at a time, and try to keep them the same size/age so there isn't bullying
* buy discus from a local breeder who stands behind the fish purchase, and learn to identify stunted, sick, abused, and genetically deformed discus; I didn't know how to identify those things at first, and nearly dropped half a grand on bad discus off craigslist because I didn't know what to buy and what to avoid
* introduce discus first, tank mates later; they're ciclids and they need to get their pecking order sorted out first
* I can't believe how much I can learn in two days; the above isn't near the half of it
=== All of these things are good for me, except: ===
* I have a 200 gallon tank and a 55 gallon sump; huge water changes are going to be cost-intensive to say the least
* Live food, namely california black worms and beef heart, cost a lot more than spirulina 20
* I dislike bare bottom tanks, so I'm going to have to buy adult discus who are done growing (so nitrates aren't nearly so much a factor) and it's going to be 3x the initial cost; the bright side is that I won't have to raise them, which is hard, time-consuming, quite costly (they eat 3x more and you have to change water more often)
* I have a few extra purchases to make that I didn't anticipate: big hospital tank (including figuring out where the heck to put it), more UV sterilization (mine is currently inadequate), battery backup for my heaters, NEW and bigger heaters, a mini-fridge for my live foods, specialized medications, and all the stuff you either forget or didn't know you had to plan for that you have to buy at the last minute
~ph7, Aquarium Ninja
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk