critter_fritter79

While I am not new to fishkeeping or breeding, I am new to discus. I fell in love with them over a year ago but have not bought any yet as I am very unsure about spending a good deal of money and then doing something wrong and losing them all. I recently had a very bad experience with my angel tank. I had 8 quarter size angels in my 55 gallon tank that were healthy and happy. I bought a leopard angel from my LFS and kept him seperated for 2 weeks. Then I added him to the angel tank and disaster struck. In 2 days time all but 2 of my angels died. I am told that the leopard was a carrier of a viral infection that didn't make him sick but killed the others. The surviving 2 have been moved to a 20 gallon tank and the 55 gallon disinfected. My water is well water with no chlorine and a pH of about 7-7.2 with trace nitrates, no ammonia and no nitrites. I am used to the water changes needed since I do 25% water changes w/vac 2-3 times weekly on the 55 and the 75 gallon oscar tank. At the moment I am running an emporer filter with carbon and bio sponge but will be picking up a new HOB canister w/o carbon next week. I also have bubble rope and a bubble wand for extra o2. What else do I need before I get some discus? How much harder are they to care for than the angels? What I would like to do is buy 6-8 juvies at the same time and not add any more. I also will not be buying from the lfs but will buy from a local breeder. Also, I bleached out the tank, should that have killed any remaining bad stuff in the gravel, plants and decor or should I just completely start over and buy all new? I REALLY want some discus but I also want to do right by them. I couldn't stand it if I got them and then messed something up and they suffered because of my ignorance!! I also plan to keep the angels by themselves for 6-8 weeks since I was told that they can carry viral infections for that long. After that can they be put with discus or should I keep them isolated for good? Can I add other angels to the big tank or should the discus be kept to themselves? As you can tell, I am very nervous about messing this up! I love my fish and want them to be happy and healthy! Any advise or suggestions would be wonderful!!!!

aquarist48

Hello Critter and Welcome to Fish Lore. Here is a link you may find very helpful:
DISCUS CARE SHEET
We have quiet a few Discus keepers. Didn't have good luck with them myself but many here have.
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/slug/ this is a link to one of our members "SLUG" an avid Discus keeper and I think you'll find his blog pretty "great". Have fun!
Best of luck and hope you enjoy the site!
Keep us posted and we love pictures! I'm sure you'll get more responses soon!
Ken

Thank you Slug!

Slug

My blog will get better when i get home Its kind of empty and not finished right now.

Good reason to be nervous. I'm still nervous with new discus even though i've kept them for years now. Being nervous keeps you alert. Discus are fish that literally will let you know when something is wrong. There are so many signs they send off to you. A fish like a tetra would not send the signs.

You're plan sounds good with the existing tank, just make sure you got all of the bleach out. You're water sounds good as well as your maintenance schedule. Though maintenance goes hand in hand with feeding so it kinda depends how much and what you feed. I would not put angels with discus. Yes its possible but angels will usually out compete discus for food.

Are you planning on a planted tank or a bare bottom tank?

To me, discus keeping is very simple. The phrase Keep It Simple Stupid is true here IMO. Mine were all kept in a bare tank, with a sponge filter, daily or every other day WCs, 3 feedings per day, and i used water out of the tap straight into the tank. The most important thing i can stress here is to get healthy fish to start. If you start with healthy fish they will be much more resilient to mistakes you might make and it will make the experience so much better. Remember, you get what you pay for. Going with the local breeder instead of the LFS is a great move. I order all of my discus online and have them shipped into me because i trust the source.

Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. Or if you need some help finding/contacting a breeder/supplier. The discus world is quite small, almost to where everyone knows each other, so everyone knows when they find a good supplier and a bad suppler.

fish_newbie

LOL Matt, yes the discus world is quite small but we are spreading at PHENOMENAL speed, right? :P

Oh and critter_fritter79, I've only start with discus for about 2 months and it is by far the BEST decision I've made this year. I was first afraid to keep them and when I have them, for the first 2 week I didn't want to look at the fish tank each morning, I was scared that I would see floating fish (well, or on the bottle, or got sucked onto filter, but you've got the point). But it has been 2 months now and everything is well, I see some good growth on a few fish and some are still the same, but you really can't expect much first time. I too find discus keeping easy, as Matt (Slug), all you need is GOOD STOCK to start with and a reasonable water change schedule, the rest of the time is used to enjoy their beauty (ok, mine is juvenile so they're quite ugly, in a cute way, compare to adult ones but still ).

I would say to any one that is considering discus out there that if you want discus, read and learn as much about them as possible and GET SOME !! One day, you'll be SLUG. :P