New in Keeping Discus

[maruf]

Hi

I am new in keeping discus.

I have 4 pairs of Leopard snake skin discus, size: 4.5 to 5 Inches. Now I am keeping them in a 5 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet tank. I would like to move them in 3.5 feet by 18inch by 2 feet tank. Will that be okay? The capacity of the tank would be 75 Gallons.. 9 gallon per fish.

Very Basic Set up, Bare bottom, 2 sponge filters, Clean the bottom wastage everyday, 10% water change daily, 50% weekly, Tepm: 28 to 30 degrees, Morning diet: Brine Shrimp, Night diet: Tetra Bits.. Please let me know if you require any further information.

Regards
Maruf

[judy]

No. It will not be okay. Keep them in the larger tank, BB. Skip the brine shrimp. Feed freeze-dried blackworms instead, and vary the diet with other foods: beefheart flake, for instance.
And make those daily WCs larger.

[steakman]

maruf,
It should be ok as long as you keep the WCs more often and larger amount per change. I'd do 70% 2 times/week.
The only draw back is fighting for territories during spawn.
You can add more varieties to their diet as judy mentioned because frozen brine shrimp has very little nutrition value.
Hope it'll help

[Cevoe]

The 75 would be ok but you are right on the edge, especially if you are looking for pairing.
If you up the amount of water being changed and continue to treat them as grow-outs you would probably squeeze more size out of them.
Both Judy and Steakman make real good points so I would take some advice from both of them.
Put them in the larger tank, skip the brine shrimp and increase the water changes a little.
Also, with eight fish and those two tanks it sounds like you could get even more discus.
If you move them to the larger tank do you plan on putting any more in the 75?

[maruf]

Dear All

Thanks a lot for advice. I would like to keep them for about 8 weeks and then I would like to transfer in a bigger tank. My display tank is about 7 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet. I want to put different colors on it. Once they form pair, I will put the pairs in separate tanks.. Hope you guys would agree.. any advice??

I have read the discussion about BHM but I am a bit scared to make it.any advice? Temporarily is Tetra BITS good option for food? Also here in Dhaka, Bangladesh we do not have good filtaration systems available. I do not have any plan to go abroad in next 6 months..

About water: Our Tap water is not clean at all and In my apartment, It is difficult to store water.. I have set up a commercial usable filter.. The filer has 3 steps.. 1. 5 micron, 2. 1 micron, 3. UV light. I am not using the UV light as I have heard that would kill every bacteria and viruses in water.. there fore if I put water directly from the filter for W/C, would that be okay? I will add extra heaters every time in terms of W/C to maintain the temp.. (any advice)

Any easy way to make BHM? Good quality discus foods are not available here..

Regards
Maruf

[judy]

That sounds like a good plan in terms of the tank. Personally, I would use the UV light. You do want to kill all those nasties. You could use homemade beefheart mix, but just make sure you suck out all the leftovers from the bottom soon after feeding. I would suggest you check out Angelspus.com's beefheart flake. It is much cleaner than beefheart, does not dirty up the tank, and my discus love it. There is never any left over. You can get it mail order. Also, get some of Al's freezedried blackworms (he runs this forum) by mail order. Meanwhile, Tetrabits would be ok.

[maruf]

Judy: If I use UV light, It won't be harmful, yes? And I can put the water directly in the tank in case of water change? Sorry I am asking too may questions.. This is my fourth attempt to keep discus.. Dont want to take any more risk:*(.. hope thats okay with you..

I have to rely on home made.. as from Dhaka, It would be extremely difficult to make payment online..

Any advice to make Beef heart at home.. what would be the easiest recipe..?

Regards
Maruf

[judy]

Yes, you can put the water directly in the tank (I take it your water is not chlorinated) and the UV will harm nothing. For beefheart recipes, there are lost of good ones you can look up in the forum under foods and nutrition; I haven't used it in years. I find it too messy.
Can you do PayPal from Dhaka? Or pay online by credit card?

[steakman]

maruf,
I have fed my Juvies with beef heart for a long time. My recipe is really simple and it works great with very good result.
I use either beef or veal heart, or in case when I can't find neither, I use pig heart as well.
First trim all the fat and the vein part.
What you have left is the soft tissue.
Then cut them into strips 2-3 inches long, 1/2 inch thick.
After that I lay them on a sheet of paper, wrap them in plastic bags, and put them in a freezer.
When I am ready to feed them, I take out 1 at a time, and use a sharp knife to cut them into very thin pieces, then chop them off side way into tiny bits.
It takes roughly about 5 minutes to prepare.
After you get it all done, the meat is soft and ready to feed.
You don't need to mix anything else, and it doesn't make a lot of mess like other mix recipe.
The grow rate is amazing.
To compensate for the lack of other nutritious stuffs I feed them the flakes, bits, tiny pellets as well.
Hope it'll help.

[maruf]

Steakman: That's really helpful.. When I read about putting so many things together.. thats a bit scary.. Thanks a lot for help..

Judy: Yes, The water is chlorinated.. I usually use anti chlorine in every WC.. I buy anti Chlorine from local aquarium store.. Hope that's okay.. I will try to manage the UV light asap.. Making payment online is not a easy process here.. So need to depend on what is available here.. locally.. I had terrible experience by listening to the local stores.. I have already lost so many fishes.. So trying to find the best possible way to keep discus.. as they are my fav..

Cevoe: Thanks for your advice.

Regards
Maruf