Discus Keeping

[Lt shinysides]

Hello all
Im new to tropical fish keeping, i have a Juwel 180 tank with assorted tropical fish. Its been set up for about 7 months now and all is good, i recently visited my local aquaruim and the Discus for sale took my eye so i'm looking to set my tank up to keep them. The chap at the aquaruim said my tank is ideally to small but should be ok in the short term. Any advice on what i will need would be great, he did mention as my PH is quite high (7.6) i would need an RO unit!. Is this the case or what can i do to get my water conditions ready for the discus. I dont want to get a bigger tank until i really need it so trying to work with what i have.
Also i have six medium sized Angle fish in the tank would they be able to live along side the Discus.
Cheers for any help
Lee

 

[kaivalagi]

Best posting in the new world cichlid section as that's what Discus are
You'll get more help and advice there

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with kaiv! Discus are unique and beautiful cichlids, similar to angels in many ways and most keepers of them go to some pretty far lengths to get their environment right. As such, among species-specific tanks that are done, these are among the more popular and discus keeping is definately a bit of a separate specialty of the hobby.

I would take a stab at saying that getting the water right and to some extent providing the correct tank dimensions and physical decor are all significant parts of the specialty. In particular, its a very big deal to get set up to do RO water and have that gear take all the minerals and other things out of your source water.. and then to have the knowledge, skill and methodical patience to both maintain the equipment and put the correct substances back in the water to bring it to the right parameters. These are very dedicated hobbyists!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Gilli]

Discus are not easy to keep and not an ideal fish for a beginner as the water qualtity etc has to be spot on. As they are also very expensive - I wouldnt go there until you have more fishkeeping experience.

 

[kaivalagi]

Discus are not easy to keep and not an ideal fish for a beginner as the water qualtity etc has to be spot on. As they are also very expensive - I wouldnt go there until you have more fishkeeping experience.

+1

Once you have been fish keeping for some time then maybe consider them again, but they are expensive and a little cock up could cost you both in money and loss

For a start the tank you have really doesn't cut it for a group of discus (I assume the 180 stands for 180 litres?), and although you could transfer them to a bigger tank when more grown it's best to start with the tank they will live in going forwards

Why not try keeping a variety of south/central american cichlids (not discus) first, that's what I am doing and I've been in the hobby for about a year now. With a tank of 180 litres you could go for quite a few species, from something like Apistos/Rams (dwarf cichlids) up to firemouth/convict/acara (mid sized cichlids, maxing at around 5")

Just make sure you read up on the mixing of different cichlids and community fish, you'll need to make sure that in the long term all the fish will get along...

Hope that helps

 

[Lt shinysides]

Discus are not easy to keep and not an ideal fish for a beginner as the water qualtity etc has to be spot on. As they are also very expensive - I wouldnt go there until you have more fishkeeping experience.

+1

Once you have been fish keeping for some time then maybe consider them again, but they are expensive and a little cock up could cost you both in money and loss

For a start the tank you have really doesn't cut it for a group of discus (I assume the 180 stands for 180 litres?), and although you could transfer them to a bigger tank when more grown it's best to start with the tank they will live in going forwards

Why not try keeping a variety of south/central american cichlids (not discus) first, that's what I am doing and I've been in the hobby for about a year now. With a tank of 180 litres you could go for quite a few species, from something like Apistos/Rams (dwarf cichlids) up to firemouth/convict/acara (mid sized cichlids, maxing at around 5")

Just make sure you read up on the mixing of different cichlids and community fish, you'll need to make sure that in the long term all the fish will get along...

Hope that helps

 

[kaivalagi]

Did you mean to post something after the quote?

 

[drobbyb]

I'd be inclined to agree with the above posters. I have kept discus before and they can be a lot of work and worry. It's no big deal to buy 10 neons and lose 4 of them at $2 a piece, but at $35 a piece for discus (some are far more expensive than that) it turns into a big deal. Discus need a fully mature established tank, and if you get them young they may need daily water changes to grow properly and develop the proper shape. Then there's the diet, lots of high protein high quality foods like beef heart, bloodworms, prawn (shrimp for us Americans), etc. Your best friend with discus is research and experience. Angelfish are really easy compared to discus.

I would recommend keeping some GBR (German blue rams) first so that you will get used to the strict water conditions and temperature.

 

[kaivalagi]

I would recommend keeping some GBR (German blue rams) first so that you will get used to the strict water conditions and temperature.

Good call on the GBR's, it would be a good "stepping stone" fish on the road to experience for discus keeping

 

[Lt shinysides]

I would recommend keeping some GBR (German blue rams) first so that you will get used to the strict water conditions and temperature.

Good call on the GBR's, it would be a good "stepping stone" fish on the road to experience for discus keeping

Cheers all for the great advice, think I'll give the Discus a miss till I get a bigger tank. Will def look into getting some GBR's.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, GBR need really good water too - a great suggestion as a stepping stone experience, challanging yourself to do the water changes necessary. WD

 

[kaivalagi]

If you have any new questions or just want to let us know how things are getting on then post away in the new world cichlid section

There's lot's of experienced peeps in there who can help out or would just generally be interested in how things are in your tank

 

[the bendy fella]

Hello all
Im new to tropical fish keeping, i have a Juwel 180 tank with assorted tropical fish. Its been set up for about 7 months now and all is good, i recently visited my local aquaruim and the Discus for sale took my eye so i'm looking to set my tank up to keep them. The chap at the aquaruim said my tank is ideally to small but should be ok in the short term. Any advice on what i will need would be great, he did mention as my PH is quite high (7.6) i would need an RO unit!. Is this the case or what can i do to get my water conditions ready for the discus. I dont want to get a bigger tank until i really need it so trying to work with what i have.
Also i have six medium sized Angle fish in the tank would they be able to live along side the Discus.
Cheers for any help
Lee

discus are like any other fish they need quality water an weekly water changes which i think is a must anyway if u take it seriously. ive had my tank for 3 months and i got 2 discus last month and they are doing fine. nitrite 0...nitrate..0 ammonia..0. ph is 7, 25% water change each week and u cant go wrong. feed them 3 times a day.yes ur ph mite be slightly high but u could maybe buy a buffer to stable the ph. my tank size is 85 litres well planted with a good air stone. temp 86

 

[Tizer]

wow you really know how to spoil them with space

 

[Aquascaper]

Keeping a fish for 4 weeks and saying they're doing fine is not really saying anything.

However common knowledge is....
22g is far too small a tank for Discus, 55g minimum but 75g recommended by most.
They should be in groups of 6 minimum until an established pair form.
A well planted tank shouldn't have an airstone.
You don't make any mention of your filtration.

As for your advice, adding chemicals to obtain/buffer correct pH with Discus is a recipe for disaster and is strongly advised against. You say you feed three times a day but don't make any mention of what food you give?