Im brand new to Discus! Please help!

[Bdawg]

Hey guys,

Ok, heres the deal. I have a 33 gallon already cycled tank with 4 zebras, 2 gold barbs and a tiny pleco. My pH is about 7.5 in tank and has been the same almost all of the year and a half the tank has been set up. There is no ammonia and evertyhing seems pretty good. I recently have become interested in Discus and decided that I amy try my hand at them. This would require swithcing the fishing I have in there already (exept for the pleco, he stays to clean the tank).

As I said I am totally new and need to know how many discus I can keep, what i should change, basicly everything. thanks alot!

[Tony]

Q) how high are you prepare to run the tank temp up to.
disucs needs ~28C plus. Sometime up to 32C for treatment.
The other tank mate may not take it. Are you willing to take the risk.
Q) I find that I kill a lot of discus in a tropical tank with tank mates, and gravel bottom if the discus are juvenile (say 2" fish) Are you prepare to take the risk?
Q) are you prepare to run a different tank to grow out 6 2" discus before you move it into the tropical setup or are you prepare to get 1-2 big discus (say 1yr old one)....
Q) how many wc are you prepare to do... different people has different opinion... but at least prepare to do couple 10%-25% wc per week.

enough discouraging thoughts...
may be consider setting another 55g tank bb, running at 30C and get 6 2" discus??? They are lovely and extremely addictive

[dm]

Tony gives good advice. You are only going to be able to have a couple, maybe three full grown Discus in there but if you are growing them out, you will want to have at least 6. Then you are going to have to decide eventually if you want to get rid of some (hard to do) or get a bigger tank.

[BlueBull]

Bdawg, loose the Pleco and get a Cory.

[Mr.Trips]

Congrats!

With Discus, keeping the Pleco is fine, that is what I have in two of my tanks.

Make sure you do water changes, with aged water if possible.

7.5 is ok on PH, that is what mine runs, and have had no problems.

With a 33 gallon you can hold around 6 2 inch discus, but as they grow you will need to get a bigger tank. A 33 gallon is best used as a hospital tank or to raise young in. If your very serious about getting discus, I would suggest you get a 55 gallon minimum!

Make sure you pick up your fish from a reputable dealer, and have fun! I just love mine!

[Bdawg]

Thank you for all the replies! As for water changes, I can do they every week, and vaccum the gravel everyt two weeks. The Local pet store is great around here, all there fish are kept in showlike tanks, simulated to their natural environment. The discus there I have looked at before and are adult size, I believe, and are a about as big as a cd, nice and round, no football shapes. They are very eager and follow your hand right to the top. Unfortunatly I dont know what type they are, but I think they are either heckel discus or blue discus.

[Bdawg]

Oops, sorry, I remembered some questions I wanted to ask.

1. I plan on keeping either a pair, or 3 adult discus. Will this be alright with regular water changes?

2. Right now, my tank is decently planted, will I have to remove the plants and just keep the driftwood centerpiece? (I hear discus get freaked out if there is nothing in the tank.)

3. What else should I know to ensure happy and healthly discus?

[Smokey]

Bdawg - I hope you find discus ownership a rewarding one.

1st -'''cleaning the gravel every 2 weeks''' not a good idea. be prepared to clean the gravel ''DAILY''. Not a good thing to have food and feces ''ROT'' in the tank.

2nd - step up the water changes... daily - [while you clean the gravel].

3rd - GET RID OF THE PLECO - they are a conaviour/scavanger.... and WIIL feed of the sides of sleeping fish...!!!

4th - Reason for the continious water changes .....the water should '' NOT '' have a ''NITRATE'' LEVEL higher than 10 ppm... Disucs do not like high nitrates.


5th - properly maintaned tanks are beautiful. It only taks a few minutes to do the w/c....well, maybe 30 minutes of your time. The rest of the time, you get to set back and watch the ''KING OF FISH - - - THE MIGHTY DISCUS''.

Smokey

[Carol_Roberts]

Your 33 gallon tank is the right size for a pair of discus. Try to get a male and female. Don't get three unless you are prepared to take one back.

With adults you may be able to get by with less water changes - every other day water changes and gravel cleaning would be nice - do you really want to keep the gravel? Plan on removing about 10 gallons of water during your water changes.

Discus are different than other tropical fish. They need a really, really clean enviornment. Read through the board to see how other successful hobbiests keep their discus. Look at pictures and ask lots of questions. We're here to help.