hello

[lambo]

Hi, some of you might know me from ABF, but for those who don't let me introduce myself.

people call me lambo, i'm 16 years old from melbourne. I been keeping fish for 6 or so years now but only recently have decided to get serious. For those 6 years i mostly kept goldfish and cold water fish,,, occasionly a platty. I'm learning a lot quickly (yesterday i didn't even know what GH was :oops: ) and have now seen how many mistakes i have made.

I'm just about to buy a lot of 5 2ft tanks, and lots of other equipment. Dad has made the aggrement that when i am ready he will pay for 2 or so real small discus to put in a 2ft tank. if i manage to keep them alive for 4 months, then i can move them into a 200liter hexagon tank.

Deciding to be responsible, i joined the site to learn all aout there fish, and hopefully build up some knowledge on how to care for them, so that i can go and get some :D

[BlackGhost]

Cool, great to have you here.
Just rember is the hexagon tank is it a really tall one because if it is the surface area of the tank will determine how many fish you can keep. The smaller the surface area the less fish even it has 1000L.

[nicklee88]

hey,

lambo, welcome to DF.com

cheers Nick

[lambo]

Cool, great to have you here.
Just rember is the hexagon tank is it a really tall one because if it is the surface area of the tank will determine how many fish you can keep. The smaller the surface area the less fish even it has 1000L.


I think the tanks about 1 meter across, but if i put a bubble wall in won't that help icrease the surface area?

[flukes]

I strongly dont suggest starting with 2 small discus in a 2ft tank. They will out compete each other crazily, adults would be better.

I know you thinking of doing it as a test too see how you go, but by doing 2 young discus in a 2ft tank your making your chances very slim.

[lambo]

They will out compete each other? :S ok....i'm new to this and kinda well.....slow, so i don't really understand. Would it be easyier to buy more than 2?

would i be able to keep 2 adults in a 2ft tank for 4 months??? if not what would be the minimum size tank i could start them in??


thanks

[Proteus]

Hey there lambo, welcome to this crazy part of the .net

My suggestion would be to do a little more reading, ask a few questions, then prepare yourself to get seriously addicted to Dinnerplates...

:wink:

[lambo]

lol....thx everyone.


Know of any good sites to teach me some basics? this would be much appreciated.
Thanks

[kalebjarrod]

the basics are pretty simple

clean water

clean water

clean water

some food

the rest is minor after you nail these points

BYW welcome to the greatest show on earth, DF LOL

[lambo]

what about like sies of tanks, and like minimum sizes and stuff? that's going to be the biggest problem.

[Merrilyn]

Hey Lambo - welcome to the forum. Glad to have you on board. Everyone here is at various stages of learning. Even those of us who have had discus for many years, are still learning too. :wink:
Discus are a schooling fish and do better in a group of 4 - 6. They are cichlids and as such, want to form a pecking order. With 2 young fish, one will always be dominant, and the other will be miserable. By having more fish, it prevents one from always being picked on.

The 2 foot tank size you are talking about is perfect for one large breeding pair, but they are pretty choosy when it comes to partners, so most of us will put several discus in a large tank and wait for them to form pairs of their own choosing.
We also suggest starting out with a tank without any gravel in the bottom. Why? Well young fish need to be fed lots of food to grow, and they need really clean water. The bare tank will remind you to vacuum up uneaten food and fishwaste. You can still have a good looking tank with plants in pots or pieces of driftwood - just no gravel.

Discus need clean water and that means lots of water changes of at least 30% three or more times per week. So you need to decided how you will do that. And the water should be stored and aged for at least 24 hours before adding to the discus tank. So, lots of things to think about before you bring those first fish home.

I suggest you read thru some of the posts on this forum, especially in the General Discus Questions, and when you're ready, ask questions yourself. Discus are not the easiest fish to raise, but the sight of a tank of beautiful discus gliding thru the water will take your breath away. :shock:

[tennhound]

Lambo welcome to DF. Glad to have you here.

MARIE

[weird]

Welcome lambo, this is a great site. Please ask lots of questions. I only started out with discus 4 months back, however I believe that this site really helped accelerate my knowledge.

The basics I learnt is that discus love clean water, and initally this will mean dedication to back breaking bucket changes, until you learn how to streamline and automate this. Invest in a water storage container to age your water, have it setup with a heater and airstone/pump. Add prime. Leave 24-48 hours.

Because I do many often water changes I have positioned all my heaters below the 75% full tank mark, so I don't have to turn the heaters off, and wondering if I turned them back on. Once I jumped out of bed at 1 am whem I remembered I forgot to turn them on. Also heaters while on, and not submersed .... crack !

Also level of ph is not as critical as maintaining a stable ph, unless you intend on breeding. So tap water aired, treated with prime should be fine. You should not stress too much about adding acid buffers. A small, (and I stress 'small' as it is powerful stuff) amount of peat granuals should do fine, for softening and lowering ph.

Feed a variety of foods 3-5 times a day, and with regards to blood worms only used sterilized ones (hikari brand is a firm favourite amongst many).

Keep temp 28-30. If discus sick, use temperature/salt/water changes as your first line of treatment. Increase temperature to between 30-32 degrees for 1 to 3 days.

Sorry for the information dump.

Best of luck.

[flukes]

Lambo -
Where abouts in Melbourne are you? I want to make sure you start out with quality stock, so as not to ruin your discus experience. There is alot of crap out there and melbourne seems too be full of it. Might have to go interstate.

There are alot of us melbourians going interstate for better quality fish these days so too make it cheaper on yourself you can share the cost of frieght with another hobbyist.

If your set on using the 2ft tank i would only recommend using adults, although for a begginer juvi's are a better choice, so you can see whats required and how they grow, you would be better going with adults in that sized tank.

As a general rule adult discus require 10gal or 40ltrs. I think a 2ft tank is about 28gals, take out space for filters etc, and you would say enough room for 2 adults. For small juvi's you could get away with 6-7gals per fish but this only really works if the tank is 50gal +.

If you would like email me and i will help you out with some contacts, just please dont go out and impulse buy. Especially in Melbourne because you will pay too much for a lower quality fish.

Cheers
Scott

flukes@optusnet.com.au

[lambo]

thx for the advice ppl....out of all the forums i've ever joined this one seems to be the most welcoming by far....l :D

[Annie]

lambo
This is a great "comfy" forum...Slip your shoes off and grab a chair, the rest is all fun from here!

[lambo]

allright so yer i gave up on discus when dad said no 3ft tank....but now times have changed again and there's a dreadfull wall in the garage that has noting along it....so i'm thinking i might have to fill it up with a betta barracks and a 3ft tank for some discus.

So yer just saying hi again ;)

[Merrilyn]

Welcome back Lambo - we're here to help :wink: