Snookgum123
Tue Aug 25, 2009, 05:24 PM
Forgive me English is not my first Language. :D
Discus require more attention than any other fish. They cost more to maintain but once you get it down it will become a daily routine to you. I been raising discus for about 31/2 years now. I have wide variety of different discus that I buy and sell to venders. The problem that I see is that discus owner will tell you what you need to do but don’t go into details of why and how you should approach to doing certain things!
Steps to water change. Water changing Daily for good health or 1x a week if being lazy is a must!! Do not change the water if they are scared of you!!!
A. Fill up a bottle with the water you want to use. Pour in some chlorine remover in it course.
B. Let it sit for at least 2 days with a heater to match the same temperature as it is inside your fish tank.
C. After 2days remove the water that you want out but not to make any *movement* in the water. Disturbance is a bad thing! I suggest using a pump and put a hose in the back left or right corner. Suck only about 10% if you are doing daily maintenance and 50% if you are only doing weekly maintenance.
D. Pump the water that you have from the bottle and into the fish tank. *Poor water straight into the fish tank will cause your fish to stress out. At all time you should not notice your fish run off and hide or get scared!!!!!!!*
There is a lot of talks about ph and kh… From my experience you want your Discus to adapt to you and not you adapting to them. I don’t change my ph or the softness of my water I use regular tap water and that is it. If you make them adapt to the ph or kh than you have to maintain it and that’s a big hassle.
3. Temperature must stay constant at 85-86! I have 2 heater one on the left and one on the right. I have 2 temperature gauge one on the left and one on the right as well.
4. If you love discus and don’t care much about how your environment look. I would suggest to go with a plain fish tank with no gravel rocks or anything! Your fish will be a lot healthier. Because lots of Bacteria grows in the dark making your fish get sick! Besides it makes cleaning a lot easier too!! Plus your fish is free to swim around and not get stuck! It is also a good method to force your discus from not being scared of you!
5. Oxygen for your fish tank. The best way to create oxygen is easy! Get yourself a canister filter. Make a very small hole on the top of the pipe that is sucking the water in. The very top part where it start to curve down going to your canister. Don’t worry water does not shoot out from there if that is what you are thinking! Like a pin size hole nothing bigger than that. If there is too much bubbles than put tap around it and put that pin in there to adjust the air bubbles coming out!. This will eliminate the need to get an air pump!! You will get soo much air going into the canister being trap forcing a diffusion to take place. Also make sure the hose that is pumping water back out into the tank is level with the water level to create a rippling effect. *Ripple effect is another method to get air into the water.
6. Spend at least 2-3 hrs a day looking at your fish. So they will recognize you. Wont be scared of you going toward the tank….They are should be treated like pets and want some attentions from its owner!! That is also a good way to know your fish too and its habits.
7. I feed my fish nothing but gold fish flakes even new comers. They will eventually eat them. I feed bloodworms to them maybe only 2x a weeks so its to not pollute the water!
I hope this helps !
Discus require more attention than any other fish. They cost more to maintain but once you get it down it will become a daily routine to you. I been raising discus for about 31/2 years now. I have wide variety of different discus that I buy and sell to venders. The problem that I see is that discus owner will tell you what you need to do but don’t go into details of why and how you should approach to doing certain things!
Steps to water change. Water changing Daily for good health or 1x a week if being lazy is a must!! Do not change the water if they are scared of you!!!
A. Fill up a bottle with the water you want to use. Pour in some chlorine remover in it course.
B. Let it sit for at least 2 days with a heater to match the same temperature as it is inside your fish tank.
C. After 2days remove the water that you want out but not to make any *movement* in the water. Disturbance is a bad thing! I suggest using a pump and put a hose in the back left or right corner. Suck only about 10% if you are doing daily maintenance and 50% if you are only doing weekly maintenance.
D. Pump the water that you have from the bottle and into the fish tank. *Poor water straight into the fish tank will cause your fish to stress out. At all time you should not notice your fish run off and hide or get scared!!!!!!!*
There is a lot of talks about ph and kh… From my experience you want your Discus to adapt to you and not you adapting to them. I don’t change my ph or the softness of my water I use regular tap water and that is it. If you make them adapt to the ph or kh than you have to maintain it and that’s a big hassle.
3. Temperature must stay constant at 85-86! I have 2 heater one on the left and one on the right. I have 2 temperature gauge one on the left and one on the right as well.
4. If you love discus and don’t care much about how your environment look. I would suggest to go with a plain fish tank with no gravel rocks or anything! Your fish will be a lot healthier. Because lots of Bacteria grows in the dark making your fish get sick! Besides it makes cleaning a lot easier too!! Plus your fish is free to swim around and not get stuck! It is also a good method to force your discus from not being scared of you!
5. Oxygen for your fish tank. The best way to create oxygen is easy! Get yourself a canister filter. Make a very small hole on the top of the pipe that is sucking the water in. The very top part where it start to curve down going to your canister. Don’t worry water does not shoot out from there if that is what you are thinking! Like a pin size hole nothing bigger than that. If there is too much bubbles than put tap around it and put that pin in there to adjust the air bubbles coming out!. This will eliminate the need to get an air pump!! You will get soo much air going into the canister being trap forcing a diffusion to take place. Also make sure the hose that is pumping water back out into the tank is level with the water level to create a rippling effect. *Ripple effect is another method to get air into the water.
6. Spend at least 2-3 hrs a day looking at your fish. So they will recognize you. Wont be scared of you going toward the tank….They are should be treated like pets and want some attentions from its owner!! That is also a good way to know your fish too and its habits.
7. I feed my fish nothing but gold fish flakes even new comers. They will eventually eat them. I feed bloodworms to them maybe only 2x a weeks so its to not pollute the water!
I hope this helps !