Does anyone know anything about discus? (It's a tropical fish.)

[AMKuska]

My husband loves tropical fish. He has 6+ fish tanks in the garage, and he used to have more until I complained about them creeping out of the garage and into our house. He also used to keep monster fish, smiling acara, and many other unique species.

As enthusiastic as he is about fish and keeping them - he is not very good at keeping the sensitive ones alive. He starts playing mad scientist with the chemicals and stressing them out.

Anyway, he got a great deal on "Discus" which is some sort of cichlid. They are usually very expensive fish, about $50 each. He was able to get some young discus for just $10 each, and got a whole bunch of them.

Well in short they have almost all died. Quite promptly.

I took one of them yesterday in order to figure out how to take care of it and put it in my shrimp tank. I expected to find him dead this morning, but he's gliding along happily enough today, and seems to love my tank and every corner of it.

The problem is, he's not eating. (Have tried bloodworms, my endler food, flake food, and some kind of exotic fish 'stress' food.) I'm not sure what to do to get him to eat.

Also, does anyone know what color they are supposed to be? This one came to me white, then it was white with stripes, than it turned purple, and now its peach with these reddish purple fins and a little mottling along the top.

Dev is overjoyed "George" is still alive and wants me to rebuild my tank in the garage. >.< I only have one tank, but I have spent hours gardening in it. I'm not sure I'm up for making another one.

He also informed me I now have to do 50% water changes every single day because the discus is in there, but I feel that would upset the bacteria in my tank. He's tiny, or I'd never have put him in with my endlers and yellow shrimp. I do very light water changes with regular water testing and let my plants do much of the work. I've never had a problem, and in the year or so I've kept my tank I've had 0 fish die and have lost 2 shrimp. Can a discus person explain the need for these changes to me?

Sorry to be such a bother and come here, but this is the only forum I am a part of. I don't subscribe to any fishy forums because endlers and shrimp are just not that complicated!

 

[bobm]

When your' clock is ticking down for the impending cross country move ... why keep fish as they will more likely than not , not make the move in any event ? Sell the tanks and fish at your next garage sale !

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

@secuono has discus, she could answer your questions.

I do know that there are all sorts of different colors of discus, so they aren't really "supposed" to be any color in particular. I've read that they can be quite finicky (especially when it comes to pH and freshness of water) so not surprised that some died on you.

 

[AMKuska]

bobm, if I have learned one thing from my four years of marriage to this man, it is to never state the obvious. He'll break down his fish tanks when he's ready to, and harbors dreams of both packing all 200+ fish along, but also all 30 chickens. I don't want to take any chickens or fish along, but if I say that, then he's going to be more determined than ever to pack them all in the car with us for the entire trip. I'd rather build him new tanks, keep the ones we have, and let him come to the same conclusion on his own. It might take a bit longer, but he's a smart guy and will figure it out peacefully, just as long as he doesn't feel like he's being pushed.

Discus are expensive, but very easy to sell and have the added bonus of not taking your hand off when you try to feed them like the "monster fish" he tried keeping before the discus. I don't want to know what is next after discus.

As for my little fish tank: Those shrimp I keep are worth $5 each, breed like rabbits, and sell pretty easily. I'm hoping to pad the savings account with shrimp money before we leave, so for now its sitting on my desk, and I still entertain myself by moving plants around and tying moss to rocks.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i found something that looks like it may help you. http://rockymountaindiscus.com/Discus_Fish_Care.htm

i have never raised this types of fish before but i've had Striped Convicts and Oscars and i know they both come from the same area of South America and have nearly the same requirements. they are a little fickle about the quality of their water. has you dh tested his tank water to be sure the ph, kh, nitrites and nitrates are at the proper levels for the fish? also has he been using tap water or something that has been filtered?

i've been in the habit of using bottled water from a local grocery store since my tap water has way too many chemicals to offset. i would like to have a reverse osmosis setup for my tanks and my upcoming pond.

 

[thistlebloom]

AMKuska, you are a wise woman.

It took me much longer to see that my husband would eventually make the best choice if I let him be. He claims I'm the stubborn one, but he comes from a long line of hard-headedness.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

Hubby has had salt water fish for decades. Even a reef tank once. Never change the water that often! It needs to get kinda skanky when brand new and then the bacteria take over. In our 120 gal tank a few years ago, he would change some of the water about every 2 - 3 months. But we had filters, and more equipment to make sure that it was the right bacti level and the right composition.

 

[baymule]

@AMKuska you are smart. My mom taught me to plant a little seed in their tiny little minds, nurture it, water it and wait for it to come out of their mouth--all their idea. Then you clap your hands and exclaim "I'm so glad YOU thought of that" while they beam and bask in your adulation.

 

[Jared77]

Discus are sensitive. They want warm, soft, slightly acidic, clean but STABLE water conditions.

They are more sensitive to ammonia and ammonium because water temp & pH shown here http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Ammonia

It's a shrimp tank so the water is obviously clean and stable. This is why your discus is doing so well.

Besides that plants have a huge benefit on the nitrogen cycle in a tank. Not only do they provide increased surface area for nitrifying bacteria to attach themselves to (which break down ammonia. & ammonium into nitrite and nitrate see http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/The_Nitrogen_Cycle) but the plants themselves will take up nitrates as a source of nitrogen which is a key component in photosynthesis.

Especially plants without a root system such as java moss, or anacharis, or require root systems that cannot be submerged like Java fern or floating plants like duckweed, or water lettuce or water hyacinth. They will take up nitrogen sources right out of the water for photosynthesis. It's a very efficient way to manage nitrogen levels in the tank and create stability from a water quality perspective.

As far as your discus not eating he's probably hunting baby shrimp and feasting on them. Why ear what you have you offer when fresh life food is so much tastier and appealing?

Discus come in a TON of colors and patterns. Google is your friend there and it's not uncommon to see very high prices for pattern/colors but it's all about clean patterns and good color to get those prices not any different than koi in that regard.

The 50% water changes are a myth. Water quality is what will get them to thrive. Plants, a good bacteria bed will do a lot to get you where the fish wants to be.

They can get rather big and an adult discus is a very striking fish. I'd look at doing at least a tank that's 48" long and as wide as you have available. 12" or 18" is fine. A respectable canister filter with a biological media is best. Bio balls, or even crumbled lava rock again the goal is surface area for the nitrifying bacteria that will thrive in an oxygen rich high water flow area.

I'd build a simple canopy to fit over the tank. Lots of plans online and for a couple pieces of plywood and some 1"x2" you can have something pretty nice.

I'd put as many of these fixtures http://t.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-L...rescent-Light-C-2-40-120-MBE-2INKO/100148706/ that you can fit into that canopy as possible. Usually it's 2 on a 12" tank 3 on an 18" tank. I'd put fluorite as a substrate for your plants. It's good stuff and really pretty much a plug and play substrate.

Plant the tank with something pretty like some sword plants http://www.aquariumplants.com/Swords_s/32.htm some cryptocoryne wendtii http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=71 and some cryptocoryne spiralis http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/m...=Cryptocoryne_spiralis_Cryptocoryne_spiralis_ or cryptocoryne retrospiralis http://www.floridaaquatic.com/aquarium_plant_cryptocoryne_retrospiralis.html would look good. Some java moss tied to a piece of lava rock or driftwood would do nicely too.

Those are all medium/lower light required plants that are not expensive, are pretty tough, and will do well in Discus friendly waters.

You could even do a yeast CO2 generator to help get your pH down a bit depending on how hard your water is, plus it's good for the plants. A 2L bottle, some bakers yeast, airline tubing, silicone caulk, check valve and your pretty much good to go. Pretty cheap way to supplement with. Lots of info online if you wanted to go that route. I ran the airline tubing into a small submersible "powerhead" type pump so the bubbles would get broken up in the pump and aimed it the length of the tank to create current that way. Turned it down and just let it do it's thing.

That's a fairly simple set up. I know folks keep a gems with them, some folks use a school of a smaller tetra species like rummy nose, or cardinals to help get the discus comfortable in more open water areas but it's not necessary. I've seen harlequin rasboras, and even a school of lemon tetras that was very striking with discus. It's all in what you want to do with them.

They are not the easiest fish to keep but if you have quality stock it's not impossible either. Just takes done planning and willingness to adapt together them happy.

 

[seedcorn]

Alright Jared! Any suggestions to keep aquarium plants. Only Horwort does well for me.