[iz513]

definately one of my favorite fish that i have always wanted to keep.
i think my water is kinda hard cause im on a well if i test for GH will i be able to figure out if my water is suitable for discus. if it is too hard will driftwood be enough and if driftwood isnt enough is peat good to put in the filter. like ketapeat. so im not concerned about ph ill just use chemicals like amazon rain and if u have info on this hardness stuff please reply!!!!!

 

[Verse 34k]

Discus should be able to stand a fairly decent pH range ( 5.0 - 8.0, despite common belief ) so I think that shouldn't be a problem. If it is, I would recommend NOT changing the pH as it is very difficult to maintain a stable level.

As for the hardness issue, well you can try stuff like driftwood and extract. Keep in mind that driftwood will stain your water with tannins...

Another option would be using an R/O unit. However I would personally not recommend this as it removes a lot of essential nutrients in the water and can be very time consuming, too.

 

[iz513]

Ya i know theyre like 35 but if i find a good deal ill get one and ya about ph thats true and driftwood wont leach tannins if you soak them out enought it wont b a problem and the driftwood will soften a lil bit better than nothing and sounds good i wanted to put the discus with rams i see people wit them together all da time

 

[spawn]

for discus community tank...
ammonia->0
nitrite level->0
ph range->6-6.5

 

[aquaman]

You will need top notch filtration, [ I use a Rena xp4 ]. Soft water with a preferable ph of 6.4-6.8 will be good. Most important are constant water conditions. I would use peat to control the PH because this seems to create a more constant PH range & help a bit with GH. Stay away from chemicals to control PH. They may cause fast fluctuation in PH ranges that will stress out the fish. Once you have a stable tank, weekly water changes are good of 20-25%. I also feel having a good biological system is a must. This will help stabilize the tank. I use BIO-Media from Seachem & I love Seachem Purge to help control Nitrite,Nitrate & Ammonia. The Seachem Purigen is expensive, However is it re-chargeable and I have been using mine for about 6 months so far with 6 recharges & it still works great. Watch out for other fish that you put in the tank. Discus are very calm, slow moving fish. Anything to fast, aggressive will not create the best environment. In fact if I were doing a discus tank I would do primarily stay with Discus of a close size, with MABY a few schooling fish. The best shoaling fish I had that NEVER attacked my discus or angelfish were the HQ Rasborow. Keep them in a school of about 6. To many & they will eat all the food before the Discus have a chance. OH and also stay away from some algae eaters. They sometimes tend to stick to the side of the Discus and eat the slime coat.

 

[spawn]

yes absolutely true..partial water change of 20-30% per week is very important to maintain a discus community tank..moreover you can also keep a school of 12 or more cardinal or neon tetrs...moreover i have a blog about it.i wrote many points for discus keeper..you may visit my blog...
Discus Fish Care Secrets

 

[Dmaaaaax]

1.) It is easy to adjust and maintain a pH. I see people saying it is "not" posted everywhere on this forum. Whoever has problems with this is simply not doing it right. Adjusting the pH requires buffers. Once your water is buffered the pH is resistant to fluctuations. To buffer the pH you need 2 chemicals: acid buffer and akaline buffer. In combination, these 2 buffers can set your target pH and your kH. Once you figure out what you want, you add the same amount every week to the new water change. I do this by making up 25g of water in a trashcan the night before a change then add the chemicals to that. NEVER add it to your tank directly.

* Suppose you add peat to lower your pH. Your tap is at 8, but after 2 weeks in the tank it drops to 6.5. Great right? But now you have to do a water change and you trade out 25-50% water with tap that is at 8?! That is more fluctuation than if you just treated the new water with a buffer to match your tank.

2.) Most discus can survive a range of pH, GH, and kH but they prefer softer water with a kH and GH at 4 or lower and a pH of 6-6.5. This brings out their colors more and helps with spawning. Temperature is also important. They like 80-88F. I keep mine at 85F. This also prevents ich.

3.) If your water is hard, the best way to bring it down is with a mixture of RO/DI water, but unless the water is liquid metal, most discus are fine with semi-hard water.

4.) If this will be a pretty bare tank, just for Discus, I know a lot of people who do 50%-100% water changes a week. If you are changing larger amounts, though keep all water parameters the same. This is where perfect tap water conditions would be ideal otherwise an RO unit would be helpful.

5.) Watch where you buy discus! Local stores offer better survival initially, but if they look bad at the store, they won't get any better in your tank. Once their growth is stunted, they remain smaller. It is not a good idea to just buy one discus at a time, since they are cichlids and are territorial. Also get ones that are similar in size if possible.

 

[spawn]

Discus by their colours is the most costly and beautiful of all fishes. Discus is also a master loving fish, usually when I give food to my discus I give hands to discus’s bodies. In this blog I will say you how to maintain a discus community aquarium.

1. DISCUS IN A COMMUNITY AQUARIUM
The primary thing for keeping discus is to keep discus in a community aquarium. There are minimum of 6 discus in a tank, so that the community form by them, and all discus can move all together. If you keep a community tank for discus aquarium that is the best thing for all, if your discus form community then half of your job is done.

2. BIG TANK
For a very well set up discus tank, you must see that the size of tank is of minimum 4 ft. Discus can grow very fast, so obviously, they need more and more space to move around in the aquarium. If discus can move freely in your tank, then you can easily say that that discus can grow very fast as it is also very healthy fish, which is out of any diseases…

3. FIXED TEMP AND PH LEVEL
Discus is a very sensitive fish. discus needs a fixed temp and ph level…for the first day of my discus keeping I keep 30 deg centigrade temp and ph level 7. I am very successful for that…many people say that discus can also live 28 deg temp.. However, I will go for 30 deg temperature. You should buy a thermostat and fixed at 30 deg temperature. Many people also keep a digital meter to see the temperature of the aquarium.

4. TOXIC LEVEL
For discus or any aquarium, the NH3 and nitrite must be zero.
Steps taken to remove toxic level
1. You change 40 % water change in every week, also provides some medicines needed for discus. I give “rid all” (red) after changing the water.
2. You can but a siphon to remove the wastes from fishes…because the wastes can cause high the toxic level…there are too many things to reduce toxic level.. iltering in a proper way is also helps you to remove it…

5. FILTRATION
For discus aquarium, the most important thing is filtration. the best is obviously the external filter…those who don’t use it(as I also) use biological filter or undergravel filter but not the power filter because discus can’t survive in high power filtering system. You can see that the juvenile discus is near the filter because due to the power the filter drags the discus towards it. Hence, the discus cannot swim freely and may die due to this. I have an experience about that…

6. FOOD
Feeding discus also an important part to be a successful discus keeper…from my experience, I say that discus loves to eat frozen warm like “tetra bits”. My discuses are always eager to take this food. Discus can eat 3 times max but not more than that. Be sure that when you give food to discus the extra food that must not go to the bottom because it causes toxic level high. it is an experience of lifetime that discus feed from your hand but it happens if you keep your discus very well. When you go to your aquarium all discus come near you…my discus also do that.

7. HIDING PLACE
You should know that discus loves to hide, so that you should provide driftwoods and plants in your aquarium. But most importantly keep your discus in a calm and cool atmosphere…specially for the juveniles and the newer discus when attacked by other discus go to the hiding place and hide. if you don’ provide hiding place discus can die…

8. COMPATIBLE FISH WITH DISCUS
The discus you can keep neon and cardinal tetra, angel, clown loach, pleco, cory, black ghost knife, Asiatic, elephant nose etc... However, never keep gold fish and others.

9. PLANTS
Too many plants but selective plants can give in a discus tank. They are anubias sp, echinodorous sp, java moss, anacharis sp …be sure that the plants you give in a disus tank is well matched for the discus or not…because most of the plants don’t survive the high temp needed for discus(30 deg temp).

10. SIZE FACTOR OF DISCUS
For discus aquarium, you should see that there is same size of discus; this has some advantages… when you keep all same size discus then the discus can’t fight with each other and hence all discus can live well, so that they can grow rapidly. where as if you keep different size of discus then the juveniles are attacked by bigger one and many a times they die due to this, if not die the are stunned discus, because lack of food they stop their growth. So keep all same size discus.

 

[chadasmus]

Spawn you said that you should have a min of 6 discus in a tank, do you add them all at once? Isn't that alot of fish to add at one time? i was thinking of doing discus and i was ust wondering,

 

[spawn]

no add your discus one by one in an alternate day will be a great idea.first introduce one discus in your tank if it is ok then introduce other discus after one day...so that they can make a community with in a few days...