Help! I just bought discus!

[Vyache]

Well I went and did it. The guy at the fish store had a special running on 1.5 inch discus at $9.99 USD. I bought two even though their tank is not ready. I put them in a 135 gallon tank with a community of loaches, bala sharks and dwarf gouramis. The tank is not too crowded, most of the fish are still small and there are plenty of hiding places. It has a pH of 6.8 negligable ammonia and nitrites and has a temperature of 82F. None of the fish stores in my area have water hardness tests except in $50 combo kits. I had them order seperate tests but they are not in yet. I do 20% water changes twice a week.

Are my fish doomed? I've been reading about massive water changes, are these necessary in a huge tank like this? My tapwater pH is 7.6. Will the fish be ok in the community tank for a couple weeks while I establish their 55 gallon corner aquarium, or is it better that I start a bare tank now? I've got a ten gallon and an extra heater, I could use some water from my 135 and start massive water changes tomarrow. I could get some pH down from the hardware store and put some in a five gallon bucket to age overnight, then do a 50% water change every other night.

What should I do? I'm panicing here! By the way, they've been in the community tank for about an hour now and they actually look more comfortable there than they did at the fish store.

Help!

 

[luvfishies]

Calm down. They will be fine for now. I worry about the "negligible ammonia and nitrites", though.

Your pH is fine for juvie discus, and a hardness up to 10 will be OK too. Once they get bigger (lots of food many times a day,,,,,that's why the massive daily waterchanges), you will have to lower the hardness IF THEY LAY EGGS. Many discus do just fine in "less than perfect" conditions. It's for breeding them that things get a little more "exacting".

Do waterchanges for now to keep ammo/nitrites as close to 0 as possible, if not absolute 0.

Keep a close eye.....and keep that 10g handy just in case. One may pick on the other...2 is not a good number...5 is better as they like to "school" and aggravate each other at the same time.

Oh, and congrats! You will looooooove these guys,....they are like puppies once they settle in an realise that you are the food source.

 

[Vyache]

Thanks I feel better already. And I just found out that the gravel for the 55 gallon tank will be ready tomarrow. Its crushed and tumbled amethyst.

 

[wayne]

Buy 3 more else one WILL beat on the other , possibly to the point of death, but a 55 should be able to handle 5 growing discus.  Don't waorry too much re massive water changes - will these 2 relatively put so much more load on a 135 - I don't think so.  Just make sure they aren't freaked out by the sharks charging around.
 Feed them little and often.  Small discus of this size really do need feeding 4 or 5 times a day to keep them growing - their guts aren't very long.  So you will need to watch those water parameters.  I personally wouldn't buy them that small as I have a job that means 2 feeds a day might be the max.

 

[RedTurquoise]

Good deal? Well, maybe! What strain of discus?

Do not worry about ph and hardness as it is not as important as consistancy. I would not start messing with the water parameters (that was recommended to me by many breeders).

My growout tank ph is 7.6 and I use tap water that is aged 24hours, heated, aerated and treated for chlorine/chloramines. I do 90-95% daily water changes in my 30G and feed 4-5x a day. The reason you must do massive water changes is for increased growth, getting rid of nitrates/poo poo and reducing the 'hormonal' thingy that they say prevents growth. Small discus require very clean water, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, very low nitrates.

Are my fish doomed? I've been reading about massive water changes, are these necessary in a huge tank like this?

Depends on your test kit readings and the bio load that the other fish will produce. Daily water changes of 20-30% will help. Feeding will be a problem though since you do have other fish to compete with.

? My tapwater pH is 7.6. Will the fish be ok in the community tank for a couple weeks while I establish their 55 gallon corner aquarium, or is it better that I start a bare tank now?

Better to leave them in your established tank than stress them out in an uncycled tank submitting them to ammonia/nitrites.

I agree with the others, get more. You will love them but keep them happy by consistancy. I love watching my 14 discus in my 30G. So beautiful!

 

[Vyache]

I originally planned on getting 5 but I didn't want to get that many and have them all die because of imperfect conditions. They were also a little smaller than the fish store guy described them, probably not intentional, more of a function of my optimistic imagination. If these two do ok, I'll probably get a new batch latter. One is a red turquoise, the other is uniform light blue neither I nor the LFS owner knew much about official coloration terms.

 

[RedTurquoise]

Another question to ask is where he bought them from and possibly who bred them!

O, and enjoy them!  *thumbsupsmiley*

 

[fishboy]

Can we get an update? I would like to see how this has turned out so far.

 

[Vyache]

discus update

The two discus I bought seem to be doing alright. They swim around the tank shyly but at least they don't hid all the time. Sometimes they follow around the dwarf gouramis, which are about there size. I've seen them pick at the gravel, but not eat when I feed the other fish. They stay away from this frenzy of action. Also they are displaying dark bars, which I think means that they are under stress. I'm going to put gravel in the tank they are going to go into tonight. I also bought a fluval 404 canister filter on ebay that I'm going to install on their 55 gallon tank. Overkill? Maybe, but it wasn't much more for this larger filter than a smaller model. I am worried that it might cause too much current however, but until I actually have it in my hands I won't know exactly how to deal with that potential problem. Does anyone know if a dimmer switch would work to slow down the pump?

 

[luvfishies]

I personally don't think that a 404 will give too much current. I use a AC200 and AC300 in a 55g. The current doesn't bother my discus at all....and the love the water current at waterchange time!