Given Three Discus - Some Questions

[FreakIndeed]

Hi everyone,

This is my first of hopefully many posts at the Discus Forums. I was given three beautiful Discus two weeks ago. I'm wondering about how Discus generally behave. My three seem to be rather reclusive. They spend the entire day together in one corner of the tank. At night with the lights out I see them slowly floating around. They are extremely lazy eaters. The food always makes it to the aquarium floor before they pursue it at all. The only food they even reasonably act excited about is frozen bloodworms. Previous owner fed Tetra brand Cichlid food, I've started them on New Life Spectrum Discus mix. Is this all normal?

I've read that three Discus is about the worse number you can keep. Do you think that is a problem? The guy who gave them to me said the huge one (about 7 inches) was the father of the other two. The female had died (some time ago). He said both smaller ones are the same age from the same batch of fry. Yet one is significantly smaller... I'm assuming this could be because it was the one the other two picked on.

Do you think I should try to add a few more Discus to bring them out? If I do, will it hurt to add several smaller Discus or should I spend a fortune on larger grown out species?

Maybe my aquascape isn't Discus friendly?

Here's the tank details:

Standard 55 Gallon
Ammonia and Nitrite = 0ppm
Nitrate = 5ppm (lots of live plants)
PH = 6.8 (kept that low naturally by C02 injection and driftwood, no buffers)
82 F Temp
Weekly water change of 40%

Tankmates:

School of 6 Silver Tip Tetras
School of 6 Harlequin Rasboras
Pair of German Blue Rams
Two Pearl Gouramis
Couple Juli Cories
Algae crew of 3 Siamensis and 4 Ottos

I'm not opposed to removing the school of Silver Tips if you think less schooling fish would help the Discus feel the tank was more open.

Here's some pics!

Thanks,

Tony

http://www.kicksclub.org/tony/discus-1.jpg

http://www.kicksclub.org/tony/discus-2.jpg

http://www.kicksclub.org/tony/discus-3.jpg

[Erk]

Welcome to the forum FreakIndeed :D

I am still rather new to the hobby of discus, so I will write some things, and hopefully some of the other members will be on here to help you before too long.

I know there are members on here that feed the new life mix...I havent been able to find it myself, so you should be fine there.

I have a 46 gallon and have 4 young discus in it. I think the more you can fit, the happier they will all be. I think if you would like to get one or two more, they should be the same size as the smallest one you have? I dont believe there is a problem to have them at different sizes.

I think most members on here will tell you 82F is a tad low for discus. I wouldnt do anything until other members get on here, but 84 to 84+ is good for young discus, Im not too sure about older discus, but I would try to bump it to 84 and see how that goes.

What lighting do you have on the tank? They are not too fond of bright light...not that you cant use bright light, but it may just extend the "settling in" process a lil bit

Im sorry I cant help you on the silver tips, I have never heard of them. Im not sure how the gouramis will do in there either, but this is all just me, and I would def. wait for the other members to chime in before doing anything....just some things for you to think about in the meantime

The discus look nice in the pics....they can take anywhere from a week to a month to settle in well....you could try to feed them beefheart, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp and tetra colorbits, in small quantities to see what they go for. Also, mine seemed to like the hikari discus pellets from day one....they def. like a variety of foods, and if the previous owner was only feeding the "Tetra brand Cichlid food" it may take them a lil to get used to the other foods, but once they do, they will attack the food from your hands :lol:

Hopefully some other members will be on to help....and they are extremely helpful!

Good luck with everything :D
Eric

[Erk]

Also, what is the filtration you have on the tank? :oops:

Thanks

[FreakIndeed]

Hi Erk,

Thanks for the response. I have no problem bumping up to 84. Will my plants do ok at that temp? I've had all the other fish at 84 before with the exception of the Pearl Gouramis, the Ottos and the Cories. Will they be ok?

I've got a Rena Filstar XP3 keeping the water crystal clear!

[Erk]

I HAD two ottos, in my tank, and I think one starved or something(Im not very good at adding algae wafers to the tank! hahaha :lol: seems to slip my mind) I have a corydora catfish, and they both do fine. A lot of members on here have ottos and cories kept at much higher then 84. I really cant speak for the gourami tho...sorry. Hopefully another member will be on and can help there. Or maybe you wanna post it in the tankmates section

I have to go update my signature! haha....Im about 84 now too :wink:

As for the plants....Im still working on that part of the project...but mine dont grow due to other reasons....Im not sure what plants you have, but most do just fine up to 84, I think much over that, and they will grow, but not "thrive"

Nice filter btw :wink: I think as long as you have adequate oxygen exchange, the fish should do fine, just adjust the temp slowly and see how it goes....I would imagine it should make the discus eat a lil more aggressively, the higher temp speeds the metabolism up

Good luck :D

[scott bowler]

HI FreakIndeed welcome to the forum .to me it all looks good to and like Erk i think that it may be better to up the temp a little .try a few other foods to get them to come out .some times discus do take a while to come out and settle in. So give them a litle longer the tank looks nice as for the other fish i think the only fish in there that you may have a prob with it the Pearl Gouramis dont know if they will like it . It wouldnt be a bad idea to get another discus if you have the room .4 is better but not all that inportant if they are happyIMO.good luck with it all scott

[Bill T.]

Lovely looking Discus.

Q: Why did the female die?

Discus like very soft water, so the gourami's may not do too well. also, I think the gourami's can be quite savage at protecting their territory, in which case they could be harrassing your Discus - sit & watch.

The Discus will take a while to adjust to their new environment, so be patient.

Warning signs for disease would be white pooh, rapid breathing, flicking and scratching on rocks etc.

[FreakIndeed]

Well, I sure haven't seen any of those warning signs, thank goodness. Plus, they are eating frozen bloodworms pretty well... as long as I stay away from the tank.

The Pearl Gouramis are small and very peaceful. They were only added to the tank from quarantine a couple days ago, well after the Discus had been acting reclusive.

I have no idea why or when the female died. The person that gave them to me did not go into much detail at all. I have no clue how old the fish are, although he acted like he had them for a long time. I didn't get them from someone I know, it was someone who had posted on a local message board in my area. I basically walked in put the fish in my bucket and left. He wasn't very happy, as the tank had just leaked about 50 gallons of water and ruined his dining room floor and basement ceiling.

My water is not soft at all. I did ask him if he was treating the water in any way and he said these fish have been kept in the local tap water all there lives. GH is about 9 and KH is about 4 and a half. The local breeder where I will buy additional Discus breeds in the same tap water I use. He's only a couple miles down the road. I guess the fish just get used to living and breeding in what we have around here.

Here's his website:

http://www.centralohiodiscus.com

I was thinking about going over later this week and picking up a couple of the "3+" Wayne NG Super Blue Angel w/ Certificate $35/ea" on the "Fish Available For Sale" page. Do you think these would go well with the Discus I have and help them feel a little more comfortable? Or do I need something bigger? The middle size Discus I currently have is about 4 1/2 inches.

[FreakIndeed]

Oh, I forgot to mention, I did raise the tank temp to 84 F over the course of the day. All the fish are doing just fine.

[Merrilyn]

Welcome to the forum, and welcome to the wonderful world of discus.

Discus really do like their water warm, even 86 degrees isn't too high, and at times of illness I've had the temp up to 90 for a few days. That's why we usually recommend keeping discus on their own, simply because they thrive in water that other fish find difficult to tolerate.

The best and most natural tankmates for discus are cardinal tetras. These guys love the warmth, just like discus, where neons won't be quite so happy.

The tankmates you have in there at the moment should be fine. The pearl gouramies are the only ones I have doubts about. They prefer their water much cooler, but wait and see how they cope.

Your fish are looking good. The little guy is definately a bit stunted, so hopefully the increase in temperature and the more varied diet will help with his appetite.

Good luck with them. Your tank looks very discus friendly, lots of plants to hide in, and still plenty of swimming space.

:P