Tell us about yourselves....Please

[jeep]

Welcome Nancy! You've come to the right place to learn about discus. Feel free to read and ask anything that comes to mind. We're always here to make sure your hobby is a complete success!!

[danotaylor]

G’day Nancy. Welcome to SD. That is a lovely love story
Are you asking regarding routine cleaning maintenance or planning a complete tear deep cleaning down cleaning of your tank?
Many folks here will drain the tank down to just enough water for the discus to lay flat on the bottom for routine large volume water changes. This can be a little unnerving at first, especially with the uneven terrain of a planted tank w substrate.
For a tear down, if you don’t have an empty hospital tank that is big enough, get yourselves a 50 gal tote from your local hardware store, put 30gals of water in, transfer your discus. If it’s gonna be hours while the main tank is empty, use a seeded sponge filter or air stone. Once refilled, plop your discus back in the main tank

[Redbird]

I would like ideas on how to take care of our 16 discus while we clean out our 200 gallon tank

[Redbird]

Hi, y’all!
I am a life- long Texan. I was married for forty years to a wonderful man who died in 2020. I remarried my terrific second husband, whose wife died in 2020 also. We met online! We are both in our late sixties. How’s that for a love story! It was a true miracle, and we are two grateful people to have found each other.
I only recently began to keep Discus. I have a lot to learn, and that’s why I am here.

[BiotopeEnjoyer]

Hi Pat,
Thank you! I'll fashion something together or get a couple smaller lids and make it work before I add discus.

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Tristan and glad to see you have become more than a lurker. Welcome to the forum. Beautiful tank but have a suggestion. Discus do and can jump so you might consider a top for the tank. Perhaps an acrylic top might be a consideration.
Pat

[BiotopeEnjoyer]

Hello all,

Been on / researching discus for about a year pending house move and finally moved / settled and now looking to slowly accumulate tank / equipment over the next 6 months with the aim of setting tank up early 2026 with the aim going 'live' with discus early 2027 (want to get tank settled, matured and back in the swing of things, been over 10 years since I've had tropical fish)

Just watched the video posted above, although I think I'd watched this a while back when going through a tank building research binge. plan is to set up a 500 litre (135 US g) with a large sump beneath. It's going to be planted, however I'll made note of comments in the above video regarding layouts etc. I will be keeping some shoals of Tetra's and probably Corydoras, the twig catfish as well, and maybe some small placo's.

Look forward to reading through these forums over the coming weeks as I start to purchase equipment etc and start the build etc.

P.S, I'm UK based.

Kind Regards

Dan

Hey Dan, I've been lurking on SimplyDiscus for a while but reading your post made me finally sign up so I could reply here. I've been through a very similar journey over the last few months, starting a new, planted tank with the end goal of adding discus. I've been meaning to do a write up of my experience so far, so if you (or anyone else) would find that helpful I can put it below. I hope you have a great experience with your upcoming tank that leads to your dream Discus setup in 2027!

Similar to your tank, I have a relatively large setup (6 x2 x2, 180 gallons on paper perhaps more like 165g in reality considering glass thickness and substrate), planted, a large school of Tetra's, Corydoras and a pleco, with a plan to eventually add discus. I'm setting it up as a fairly strict South America biotope (hence my goofy username).

Vid: https://youtu.be/3TXdLEdxmIw (old pic below, so you know what you're getting with the youtube vid)
The lighting and phone camera in the vid make it appear a bit more yellow than it really is, but it is fairly tanin-stained. I'm leaving it that way purposefully because I think it goes with the theme. Very excited to see the discus in there eventually. Would love to see your tank when it arrives!

Best wishes,
Tristan

[jeep]

Welcome Dan! You're already light years ahead of many new hobbyists. There's a lot of bad and conflicting information out there on social media, and many newcomers accept advice without thinking twice from others who think they're qualified to give advice because they've been doing it for a few months. Doing your own research is the key in case any possible issues arise and you've come to the right place. If your research doesn't give you the answers you're looking for, we're all here to help!

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Dan, when I joined the forum many moons ago I did four months of research and asking questions. Best of luck moving forward and we are here if you need any assistance!
Pat

[DandilionHawkthursh]

Haha, I've had the discus bug for years, without any discus. research has been the only way I could scratch that itch lol.

[LizStreithorst]

Welcome to Simply. Good luck with your project and congratulations for doing research and planning in advance.

[DandilionHawkthursh]

Hello all,

Been on / researching discus for about a year pending house move and finally moved / settled and now looking to slowly accumulate tank / equipment over the next 6 months with the aim of setting tank up early 2026 with the aim going 'live' with discus early 2027 (want to get tank settled, matured and back in the swing of things, been over 10 years since I've had tropical fish)

Just watched the video posted above, although I think I'd watched this a while back when going through a tank building research binge. plan is to set up a 500 litre (135 US g) with a large sump beneath. It's going to be planted, however I'll made note of comments in the above video regarding layouts etc. I will be keeping some shoals of Tetra's and probably Corydoras, the twig catfish as well, and maybe some small placo's.

Look forward to reading through these forums over the coming weeks as I start to purchase equipment etc and start the build etc.

P.S, I'm UK based.

Kind Regards

Dan

[Second Hand Pat]

Welcome to the forum Kendal and this is a great place to learn. I would suggest starting with this video done by Al who runs this place. Watch the YouTube video in the first post of this thread https://forum.simplydiscus.com/forum...tch-this-video.
Pat

[jeep]

Welcome to the forum Kendal!!

[Kendal]

Hello.
I’m new to the discus world.
I have had fish before but nothing as exotic as these beautiful creatures.
I have 5 kids Ann grown and moved out and 13 grandkids.
It’s just me and my beautiful German Shepherd now so I thought it was time to try something different.
Im just in the tank shopping stage to start my discus journey so any and all help would be greatly appreciated.