Discus

[amiz]

hi guys does any one on here keep Discus, Cos I'm trying to set up a tank for them.
how often do you change water, how much at a time, what do you keep with them

cheer amiz

[_jake_]

Not a personal keeper, but i know they need soft water. and you can unlike Angel Fish keep small tetra's with them, or have angel fish instead.

[xyra]

Hi,

They like clean water, lots of water changes, lots of filtration and a lot of warmth.

Get healthy fish to begin with, this is a generalisation, but;

German lineage - very clean health wise, acclimatised to higher pH, slightly fewer varietys

Asian lineage - can carry some parasites, but often have a stronger immune system, acclimatised to lower pH, lots of colour morphs.

Wild - very sensitive, few colour morphs, can carry parasites.

In general I prefer German lineage. Mine are locally bred by a friend of mine, I keep them in tap water, pH 7.8 and water so hard any harder and it would punch you.

Don't mix german and asian fish - there will be health problems.

Discus do get quite big - 8" and larger in diameter isn't uncommon.

Buy from a breeder - it is MUCH cheaper than shops. You can get pigeon bloods and other nice varietys for £10 or less a fish.

If you do want to by from Maidenhead or similar the fish are usually asian lineage (maidenhead fish certainly are so I am told).

Stable water is far better for them than trying to soften the water and having parameters bouncing all over the place.

Water needs to be roughly between 28C and 30C.

They need either a good sized shoal or a single fish. Any less than 7 or 9 (aim for odd numbers) and they will fight and single out fish to pick on (even with my original group of 10 i lost one or two to aggression - they tend to stop eating once picked on).

I try and do 50% water change once a week - more would be better but I run out of time with all the tanks!

Keep anything that are calm and they can't each (there is an argument about whether angelfish are safe or carry diseases, but I won't go into that here). A full grown discus can easily each small tetras and barbs - these are quite big fish, fair bit bigger than angelfish).

Personally I only keep discus with discus.

They are reasonable slow growing - they usually take around 3 years to reach full size. Mine are about 1.5yrs old and are around 4" - 5" in diameter - however I don't powerfeed.

This was in september;



I keep them bare bottom to make it easier to keep the tank clean. I would recommend getting them stablised in a nice clean bare bottom tank then think about adding other things (sand, plants, other decor, other quaranteened fish) after a few months.

Edit; good breeders;

Devotedly Discus (german fish), Plymouth discus (not sure), Discus South (asian fish), Chen's discus (not sure)


Keeping discus healthy really is the key - they are notoriously difficult to treat as they tend to stop eating the second they get ill. As they have high metabolisms they loose weight quickly. At least the high temps means they don't get white spot.

[simonas]

'd agree with the large group advice from xyra. I have 4 at the moment but due to lack of funds have to wait till end of month to get a couple more. One is beng picked on but I'm target feeding him so I'm keeping a good eye on him, these fish aren't as dainyty and shy as people make out, I've just been feeding them and as I'm trying to get the frozen food out they were pecking at my hands. great fish in my opinion

[amiz]

Originally Posted by xyra

Hi,

They like clean water, lots of water changes, lots of filtration and a lot of warmth.

Get healthy fish to begin with, this is a generalisation, but;

German lineage - very clean health wise, acclimatised to higher pH, slightly fewer varietys

Asian lineage - can carry some parasites, but often have a stronger immune system, acclimatised to lower pH, lots of colour morphs.

Wild - very sensitive, few colour morphs, can carry parasites.

In general I prefer German lineage. Mine are locally bred by a friend of mine, I keep them in tap water, pH 7.8 and water so hard any harder and it would punch you.

Don't mix german and asian fish - there will be health problems.

Discus do get quite big - 8" and larger in diameter isn't uncommon.

Buy from a breeder - it is MUCH cheaper than shops. You can get pigeon bloods and other nice varietys for £10 or less a fish.

If you do want to by from Maidenhead or similar the fish are usually asian lineage (maidenhead fish certainly are so I am told).

Stable water is far better for them than trying to soften the water and having parameters bouncing all over the place.

Water needs to be roughly between 28C and 30C.

They need either a good sized shoal or a single fish. Any less than 7 or 9 (aim for odd numbers) and they will fight and single out fish to pick on (even with my original group of 10 i lost one or two to aggression - they tend to stop eating once picked on).

I try and do 50% water change once a week - more would be better but I run out of time with all the tanks!

Keep anything that are calm and they can't each (there is an argument about whether angelfish are safe or carry diseases, but I won't go into that here). A full grown discus can easily each small tetras and barbs - these are quite big fish, fair bit bigger than angelfish).

Personally I only keep discus with discus.

They are reasonable slow growing - they usually take around 3 years to reach full size. Mine are about 1.5yrs old and are around 4" - 5" in diameter - however I don't powerfeed.

This was in september;



I keep them bare bottom to make it easier to keep the tank clean. I would recommend getting them stablised in a nice clean bare bottom tank then think about adding other things (sand, plants, other decor, other quaranteened fish) after a few months.

Edit; good breeders;

Devotedly Discus (german fish), Plymouth discus (not sure), Discus South (asian fish), Chen's discus (not sure)


Keeping discus healthy really is the key - they are notoriously difficult to treat as they tend to stop eating the second they get ill. As they have high metabolisms they loose weight quickly. At least the high temps means they don't get white spot.

Thanls for the information, it really helps as I've been looking at a pair maidenhead aquriums. but will try and find some from the german linage as like you I live in a bit of a hard water area and I'm using the RO water to lower the pH.

do any of the above dealers deliver.

cheers amiz

[amiz]

Originally Posted by simonas

'd agree with the large group advice from xyra. I have 4 at the moment but due to lack of funds have to wait till end of month to get a couple more. One is beng picked on but I'm target feeding him so I'm keeping a good eye on him, these fish aren't as dainyty and shy as people make out, I've just been feeding them and as I'm trying to get the frozen food out they were pecking at my hands. great fish in my opinion

cheers for the info I was thinking about getting a small pair to begin with