I knew off the bat that I wouldn’t ever be allowed to have a 125 gallon tank or something that crazy to keep discus, but of all the tropical fish, fresh or salt water, I still feel most drawn to discus. I decided to try raising a group of 4 juvenile blue cobalts from the stendker’s line. The day they arrived in the mail was one of the happiest days in my life.
I had some Peruvian angels, similarly sized, to act as dither fish. Over the years the angels died off one by one, mostly due to some weird intestinal issues that I never solved. I lost the smallest discus in the summer of 2023 for no apparent reason. One day I noticed that she was not swimming around or going after food as usual, and her body has darkened a bit. So I transferred her to a hospital tank and medicated. I wasn’t able to save her and I didn’t really figure out what had happened.
(June 09, 2022)

I raised these discus on beef hearts for a year, and started introducing dry pellets and flakes. Eventually they are fully on dry food which saves so much time.
I was concerned that the water quality will not be good enough given the bioload and the amount and frequency of my feeding. I had a lot of terrestrial plants to absorb the excess nutrients in the water. The whole 40 gallon tank runs on a Fluval canister filter, one of those all-in-one in tank filter, and just plants. I started off with sand on the bottom and subsequently removed it since it got dirty really fast and was also infested with snails. I had been very consistent with WC - 30% weekly with very occasional exceptions.
(July 30, 2022)
(Oct 09, 2022)



(Oct 09, 2022)


(March 04, 2023)

(December 10, 2023)
Fast forward to 2024, I attempted to breed a mated pair. They would lay eggs regularly in a 20 gallon breeding tank and the eggs would get to the wriggler stage but no further. I couldn’t get them to attach to the parents. I eventually gave up and moved them back to the main display tank.
(June, 19, 2024)


Looking ahead, I’m currently QT’ing 4 juvenile discus from a local store. Malaysian breed, colorful, and pretty active in the QT setup. Looking forward to adding them to the main display and remove the egg crate barrier so it’s a nice group of 7.
(Dec, 08, 2024)


I had some Peruvian angels, similarly sized, to act as dither fish. Over the years the angels died off one by one, mostly due to some weird intestinal issues that I never solved. I lost the smallest discus in the summer of 2023 for no apparent reason. One day I noticed that she was not swimming around or going after food as usual, and her body has darkened a bit. So I transferred her to a hospital tank and medicated. I wasn’t able to save her and I didn’t really figure out what had happened.
(June 09, 2022)
I raised these discus on beef hearts for a year, and started introducing dry pellets and flakes. Eventually they are fully on dry food which saves so much time.
I was concerned that the water quality will not be good enough given the bioload and the amount and frequency of my feeding. I had a lot of terrestrial plants to absorb the excess nutrients in the water. The whole 40 gallon tank runs on a Fluval canister filter, one of those all-in-one in tank filter, and just plants. I started off with sand on the bottom and subsequently removed it since it got dirty really fast and was also infested with snails. I had been very consistent with WC - 30% weekly with very occasional exceptions.
(July 30, 2022)
(Oct 09, 2022)
(Oct 09, 2022)
(March 04, 2023)
(December 10, 2023)
Fast forward to 2024, I attempted to breed a mated pair. They would lay eggs regularly in a 20 gallon breeding tank and the eggs would get to the wriggler stage but no further. I couldn’t get them to attach to the parents. I eventually gave up and moved them back to the main display tank.
(June, 19, 2024)
Looking ahead, I’m currently QT’ing 4 juvenile discus from a local store. Malaysian breed, colorful, and pretty active in the QT setup. Looking forward to adding them to the main display and remove the egg crate barrier so it’s a nice group of 7.
(Dec, 08, 2024)
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