New Member :) Looking For Help.

[steven_askham]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to this forum and it appears to be very good and have nice, friendly members. Any way I am only 16 years old however I have been keeping tropical fish for approx 2 years and have bred a number of fish: livebearers (obviously), Angelfish, Kribensis, Bristlenose plecs, German Blue Ram, Convicts, Rainbow Cichlid and the Sea Frog Pufferfish. I have been published in a fishkeeping magazine this year for the article I written regarding the sea frog pufferfish. :)

Now I am trying discus, not to breed however that is my aim in the long run however I am just wanting a nice show tank at the moment. So here is the story so far....

About 7 monthes ago I purchased 4 small discus from a lfs, and they got along great except one who was very small and scranny, I think he got picked on. He died near christmas time so that only left three. Therefore I added another two. But now alot of the discus hide in my decor and have not seemed to grow much.

The other day I visited a lfs that I had never been to before and I was amazed at the tank containing full sized discus. It was the first time I have seen fully grown ones in reall life i.e. not just an image and I was amazed. I loved the tank as it did not contain much and theefore the discus could not hide so they were visible at all times. The discus were following people around the tank etc ... I loved it!

So I want to know how the tank should be; bearing in mind I still want it to be a show tank. (Images would be great) I know that in the future I will neeed to get rid of some of the discus due to potential size, but I am hoping to obtain a breeding pair from 5 juvi's that I have. In the tank there is also 2 bristlenose plecos and a breeding pair of rams. Water checks etc are fine. P.H. is 6.5.

The tank size is 36 x 18 x 18 (inch

[sammigold]

Hi Steven, Welcome.... If you have a look on the photo album section of the forum you will find heaps of peoples tank shots.... some planted and some bare bottomed display/show tanks... hopefully you will get some ideas.....
ps. in regard to growth of juveniles you will probably read here that to get optimum growth quicky it is advisable to do regular w/c every day or 2nd day... that may help with growth as they love pristine conditions especially as babies HTH

[Anubias]

Hi Steven,

Welcome you sound like a very focused fishkeeper! The only thing i would add is to be careful with your bristlenose plecos. I have been told that catfish can get a taste for eating the slime coat off discus, evenutally killing them.

A lot of people however don't believe this. Have a look in the General Discus Questions forum and you will see a thread "PLECO'S AND GIBBICEPS SUCKING DISCUS SLIME COAT'. There's a few different opinions there.

Good Luck!

[Bill T.]

Hello Stephen.
Sounds like you have follwed a sensible course. Start with less demanding fish and work up to the "King of the Aquarium".

Lady Red would probably advise to never take pitty on small, weak looking Discus as they invariable will not thrive.

I notice you have kept angels before - have your discus been in a tank with the angels, or even in the same tank? The reason I ask is that angels can carry some nasty bugs which do them no harm, but seriously upset discus. Especially intestinal worms.

I have a couple of red turquoise discus which I got when they were very small. Both these fish were very slow to grow and nearly died a few times - very prone to disease and illness.

Then I treated them for parasites and intestinal worms and they really took off. So if your fish continue to be skittish, and especially if they go off their food, try talking to those who know (Lady Red is very experienced) about treatment for these bugs.
Best of luck!

[steven_askham]

Thank you for quick replys. regarding the angelfish they have never been close to them as I am aware of the theory that they carry parrasites. however i cam quite skeptical regarding this matter as many top discus keepers have successfully kepp angels with discus. However I have not due to the 'risk'.

They are an ok size at the moment i.e. 3 inch in diameter and are not showing any signs of illness other than hiding.

[Merrilyn]

Welcome to the forum Steven. You are more than ready to move onto discus :D

Juvenile discus seem to grow better in a fairly bare tank. Not sure if it's to do with the fact that you can keep it cleaner, or that the discus have nowhere to hide, and so spend their time swimming around the tank looking for food.

Bare doesn't mean an ugly tank. I have seen some really beautiful tanks decorated with just some artistic pieces of driftwood, and java fern attached. You can make a really beautiful tank, but one that is still easy to care for, and promotes good growth in your fish.

[wickedglass]

your tank is just over 45 gallons. As a rule of thumb it's 1 adult discus per 10 gallons of water. 5 should be fine though.
I've never had any problems with bristlenoses or other plecos, myself, but there are people who apparently have, so maybe look for some literature on the net about this, and make up your own mind.
I've found my discus like to have "ditherfish" ... ie. tetras or something other benign along the same lines ... pencilfish (nannostomus) for example ... as companionfish in the tank. Although it is not essential, I've found it works like a charm. It's like in the jungle, a lot of animals have learned to recognise the distress call of a certain bird and when that bird sounds its distress call then everything else goes into hiding. So do discus. If there aren't any other fish about, then there "must" be a predator about, so the discus hide. Tetras can fulfil a very comforting role.
Discus also like their water soft.
But in saying that, they're (unlike what some people may believe) quite hardy fishes, and given the right kind of acclimation, they will grow and thrive in a wide range of water. If you eventually want to breed them, soft, slightly acidic water is best though, even as they're growing up. A lot of characins fishes, when raised in hard, alkaline water, lose their breeding viability. This may be similar in discus, although I've heard of discus breeding in hard, alkaline water.
All in all, you seem to be doing well with what you have. Keep it up, and you will succeed in whatever you want to achieve. A good thing is to ask many many questions before delving into the unknown.