New to Discus need advice!!

[diggler81]

I have been trying to keep discus in my 75 gallon tank with no luck my ph is on the higher side between 7.4 and 7.6. does any recommend ph buffer to lower it? What about black water additives? Any luck any of this or am I just over thinking this? Any help would be appreciated.

[camuth8]

7.4 -7.6 is what a lot of people here keep their pH at. The reason you're not being successful is definitely not the pH. How many feedings a day? How many water changes and what size? Where do you get your discus? These are all questions that will pertain to seeing why you're unsuccessful. Maybe it's not these.

Welcome to SD!

[BODYDUB]

My PH is in the same neighborhood as yours, so you're fine in that department...........

[discuspaul]

You have no problem with that pH if it's steady.
What do you mean when you say you're not being successful keeping discus ?- I suppose that means you've lost some recently.
Don't add any chemicals or try to change anything in your tank - just tell us how long your tank has been set up, the number & size of your discus, how long you've had them, where you got them, what you're feeding them, and something meaningful about your tank routine -e.g. - wcs - quantity & frequency, water params testing, filtering, vacs.- bare-bottom or planted with substrate, etc.
Hopefully that will give some clues to help you out.

[diggler81]

yes i have lost all six that i have had. all about half dollar size/all about 2-3 weeks/tank has been set up for about two years/ph 7.4-7.6 /nitrate between 40-80/nirate 0/ammonia 0water on harder side/2-3 feedings a day but never see them eat - 20% water change every 2 days- gravel bottom with some live plants/ has aquaclear 110 hang on filter.

Thanks for the welcome

[strawberryblonde]

Your pH isn't the problem. Your water quality is.

Discus require much cleaner water than that, especially juveniles. \

If you really want to grow them out from that size, invest in a 30 gallon tank, a large sponge filter and an airstone/pump.

Paint the bottom and back of the new tank white, add the filter, and airstone, heat to 84 degrees and then cycle the tank using a fishless cycle (pure ammonia - you can find the directions on this site as well as others if you do a search).

Once it's cycled, purchase a group of new juvies.

They will need at least one large water change per day and 5-6 feedings of high quality discus foods. You'll be changing that water every day, and rinsing out the sponge filter in used tank water every day, until they reach 4"... about 3-4 months.

At that point they would be ready to go into your 75g tank, but ONLY if you clean up the tank and improve the water quality. If you don't, they will still sicken and die.

As a number to shoot for, nitrates should be around 5 - 10ppm. Never higher than 10. It's best to use sand as a substrate rather than gravel since it's easier to keep clean. Plants will grow in sand, but you may have to choose which to keep and which to get rid of, depending on how each type responds to the sand and large water changes.

[Trubble]

You are in good hands with Toni. Take her advice, read the stickies in the beginner section, good luck and welcome to Simply.

[diggler81]

is there specific reason for sponge filter compared to hob filter? I do have a 30 gallon tank that is running with sand and a back round can i use that /or do i have to paint white?

[strawberryblonde]

If you have a 30, definitely use it. Oh and yes, you need to remove the sand and paint at least the bottom of it white. That's so that the discus don't see their reflections on the bare bottom.

Sand is much more difficult to keep clean enough for growing discus. They will chase food all over and poop large amounts everywhere. Trust me, you'll be glad you removed the sand. LOL

I recommend the sponge filters because they are easier to clean when you're growing out discus. The easier they are to clean, the more likely you are to do it regularly. =)

[diggler81]

ok will thank u I will keep u informed on process

[diggler81]

Have more questions. how many discus can I keep in a 125 Gallon and does anyone have experience keeping arowanas w/discus?

[Boyd Luth]

You are in good hands with Toni. Take her advice, read the stickies in the beginner section, good luck and welcome to Simply.

+1....read, read, read the Forum, use the Search....welcome to SD :-)

[Trubble]

Have more questions. how many discus can I keep in a 125 Gallon and does anyone have experience keeping arowanas w/discus?

I don't have an answer with regards to Arowanas. I'm sure someone will respond soon, though.

The normal rule of thumb with regards to number of Discus a tank can accomidate is 1 adult Discus fish per 10 gallons of water. Using that formula, you can assume 10-12 discus.

[discuspaul]

Diggler - please do yourself a huge favor & do a lot more research on caring for discus. For starters, read all the stickies here in the discus basics section, as Trubble suggested. And as Toni mentioned, it appears you have likely lost your young discus to poor water quality, especially since they were so small.
Chances are that you will lose more, unless and until you learn what it takes to raise them properly.

If you had done some homework beforehand, you would not have started out discus-keeping with half-dollar size babies.
As for your question about discus tank-mates, there is a fairly wide range of fish that may be compatibly kept with discus, but unfortunately arowanas are not among them. Sorry to say this, but the mere fact that you posed that question tells us that you don't yet know enough about discus to keep them successfully.

[Baygon]

+100 to all of the above. They are right that PH level is not the main issue here (I have 7.5 all time and mines are just happy that way). Playing with PH is playing with fire which will burn yourself eventually.

Have more questions. how many discus can I keep in a 125 Gallon and does anyone have experience keeping arowanas w/discus?

Regarding your arowana question I have one 5" silver arowana with six 4" discus and they eat together whenever its feeding time. Water quality is a concern over here as arowanas are heavy waste catergory so you have the watch out on that. Besides that you just have to make sure the aro is well fed and the discus wont fit in its mouth LOL.

As for experiment two weeks ago I added two 1" common fishes (dont know the name) and they are still swimming at the bottom of the tank and eating.