Ready to order Discus

Hey! I am new to this forum! I have found some groups but not sure how to post in those specific groups Just wanted to introduce myself and say hello!

I have a 75 gallon lightly planted tank. I currently have approx 40 cardinals that I adore. 2 Serpae Tetras. 2 Black Tetras. 1 Pleco. 4 Danios. I inherited the mix of tetras from a tank I saved from an office building. That is why I have the odd hand full of small fish. I run the tank with Eco-complete substrate, Marineland Emperor 350, Marineland Maginum 360 canister filter, Temp is around 85. I am ready to add 6 Discus as this tank was built for Discus. I am trying to decide between young discus or investing in the older ones. So extremely excited to start this journey!! So many decisions to make...should I get all the same breed of Discus and hope for pairs or all 6 different. Or maybe 2, 2, 2. Who is the best to order from? Thanks for your opinions!

I also have a pair of Koi Angels in a 29 tall tank. Momma is currently a few short hours from laying her 2 batch of eggs. The first batch made it a long way until the final end was the parents eating the free swimming babies. Maybe they will do better this time, maybe not, but I am letting nature do it her way.

I am sharing a couple pics of my tanks.
Thanks for reading! I look forward to reading some of your replies!

 

Welcome to FL. I don't have discus but A 150g+ discus tank is my dream. For now A201 can help.

I don't see cardinals in the picture. Also, The discus might be peppered with that dark soil. Blue cobalt discus would look really cool!

I forgot to mention nice tanks. Once you get 50 posts you can respond to the b/s/t/f section and sell your angels when hey get big enough to sell.

 

I suggest buying juvenile Discus. Much cheaper, and will likely allow the natural pairing off of a breeding couple. Choosing a color morph is all a matter of personal taste.
There is a good sized group of Discus Keepers on FL, I believe the thread used by many is "Discus Gang".
Welcome to FL.

 

Saltandheat welcome to fishlore. Nice looking tank and if those fish are ok at 85 your good. A201 is right about smaller discus but I’m going to say get the biggest you can afford. Reason is your tank is a lot like mine with plants and gravel. You even have a deep gravel. Young fish need lots of cleaning. Most will go with a bare bottom tank. Much easier to clean. Young fish need lots of food and clean water. I fed as much as 10x a day and cleaned 50% every other day for the first 7 months. Now I change the water every 3 days and feed maybe 3 times a day.
Bigger fish are already grown. Most of the breeders 4.5-6” fish are only around 8months old. So young fish just grown out by professionals. They will need to to be 2-3 times a day and will be like most other fish. For best results you’ll still need the water changes. These fish need clean water, and your plants will also benefit.
As to what to get that’s up to you. They look great in a group of the same color or a mixed group. Mine are mixed.
For large discus I just bought from Uncle Sams Discus. I bought 2 to add to the 11 I had so I wanted fish just a little bigger than what I had. These 2 discus are great and no problems with the others. My other came 6 from local pet store (lost one) and 6 from Hans Discus. All of these fish I bought at the 2” size a grew them out. The store bought are all a little smaller than the Hans. Hans has great Discus and great shipping. Only thing I didn’t like is I didn’t get what I ordered. Was told after I got them by Hans they would grow into there colors. None really have. Again great fish.
Ask lots of questions . The thread is Discus Gang Updates started by BarbaraLocke. Lots of great people there willing to answer questions. New people joining weekly so stop by and introduce yourself .

 

Welcome to FL. I don't have discus but A 150 gallon+ discus tank is my dream. For now A201 can help.

I don't see cardinals in the picture. Also, The discus might be peppered with that dark soil. Blue cobalt discus would look really cool!

Thank you for the referral! Cardinals are in the bottom left of tank in that pic kinda inbetween the two short plants.

Saltandheat welcome to fishlore. Nice looking tank and if those fish are ok at 85 your good. A201 is right about smaller discus but I’m going to say get the biggest you can afford. Reason is your tank is a lot like mine with plants and gravel. You even have a deep gravel. Young fish need lots of cleaning. Most will go with a bare bottom tank. Much easier to clean. Young fish need lots of food and clean water. I fed as much as 10x a day and cleaned 50% every other day for the first 7 months. Now I change the water every 3 days and feed maybe 3 times a day.
Bigger fish are already grown. Most of the breeders 4.5-6” fish are only around 8months old. So young fish just grown out by professionals. They will need to to be 2-3 times a day and will be like most other fish. For best results you’ll still need the water changes. These fish need clean water, and your plants will also benefit.
As to what to get that’s up to you. They look great in a group of the same color or a mixed group. Mine are mixed.
For large discus I just bought from Uncle Sams Discus. I bought 2 to add to the 11 I had so I wanted fish just a little bigger than what I had. These 2 discus are great and no problems with the others. My other came 6 from local pet store (lost one) and 6 from Hans Discus. All of these fish I bought at the 2” size a grew them out. The store bought are all a little smaller than the Hans. Hans has great Discus and great shipping. Only thing I didn’t like is I didn’t get what I ordered. Was told after I got them by Hans they would grow into there colors. None really have. Again great fish.
Ask lots of questions . The thread is Discus Gang Updates started by BarbaraLocke. Lots of great people there willing to answer questions. New people joining weekly so stop by and introduce yourself .

Wow! Great read! Thank you for taking time to give such terrific info! If I am “watching” that group does that mean I “joined”? Can a person ask questions directly to that group?

 

Wow! Great read! Thank you for taking time to give such terrific info! If I am “watching” that group does that mean I “joined”? Can a person ask questions directly to that group?

Feel free to ask away on that thread ..
Nice tank ,I had to look twice to see the cards also !
Welcome .

 

Wow! Great read! Thank you for taking time to give such terrific info! If I am “watching” that group does that mean I “joined”? Can a person ask questions directly to that group?

Yes that’s what it’s there for. Most everyone there has just started Discus within the year. It’s a long thread but there’s tons of great info there. All from this past year.

 

While smaller discus need clean water. And that means frequent water changes, fully grown discus don't need that attention. Once a week 50-75% PWC's is enough. Of course check your parameters and do an extra water change if needed. I'm sorry to disagree with you on that 86 ssinit. I was going to get disucs and did a lot, and I mean a LOT, of research to come to that conclusion.

 

Welcome onboard. Regarding what size of discus to buy here is my 2 cents...

Buy small (2 - 4"):
Everything mentioned by 86 ssinit apply in my experience. I bought small'ish (3") but didn't have the time to do several weekly WC's, feed more than 2 times a day and also went the planted tank route. Here you will have to expect to lose a number of fish along the way. Some because you likely will make some mistakes being new to discus, some due to genes, some to illness or withering away due to bullying and some that can't be explained. I didn't do enough WC's, enough feeding, sometimes treated too late, got some fish with poor genes (stunted growth) and made some other mistakes like e.g. overfeeding. During 18 months lost about 50% of the 3" fish I started out with. I expected to lose a good number of fish but it was more than it should have been..... So if you buy 6 small fish you will likely end up with 4 or so, hence you may want to consider buying 8 instead.

Buy large (5 - 6"):
You know what the full grown fish will look like and can avoid any stunted fish. You are unlikely to lose any fish if doing at least weekly WC's etc. but of course much more expensive, however also a lot less work.....

Should I redo I would consider:
1) Go bare bottom with small fish
2) Buy fully grown fish

As my schedule don't allow multiple feeds a day and WC's every 2 - 3 days I would have have gone with option 2 and bought fully grown fish. This despite that the cost for 42 of 3" size fish was app. the same as for 4 of 6" size but then of course one also have consider the cost of food to grow them out etc.

Finally a personal experience on blue strains of discus. I find them to be less attractive in a planted tank as they tend to stand out less between the plants compared to the red and yellow strains.

Good luck!

 

You

Saltandheat welcome to fishlore. Nice looking tank and if those fish are ok at 85 your good. A201 is right about smaller discus but I’m going to say get the biggest you can afford. Reason is your tank is a lot like mine with plants and gravel. You even have a deep gravel. Young fish need lots of cleaning. Most will go with a bare bottom tank. Much easier to clean. Young fish need lots of food and clean water. I fed as much as 10x a day and cleaned 50% every other day for the first 7 months. Now I change the water every 3 days and feed maybe 3 times a day.
Bigger fish are already grown. Most of the breeders 4.5-6” fish are only around 8months old. So young fish just grown out by professionals. They will need to to be 2-3 times a day and will be like most other fish. For best results you’ll still need the water changes. These fish need clean water, and your plants will also benefit.
As to what to get that’s up to you. They look great in a group of the same color or a mixed group. Mine are mixed.
For large discus I just bought from Uncle Sams Discus. I bought 2 to add to the 11 I had so I wanted fish just a little bigger than what I had. These 2 discus are great and no problems with the others. My other came 6 from local pet store (lost one) and 6 from Hans Discus. All of these fish I bought at the 2” size a grew them out. The store bought are all a little smaller than the Hans. Hans has great Discus and great shipping. Only thing I didn’t like is I didn’t get what I ordered. Was told after I got them by Hans they would grow into there colors. None really have. Again great fish.
Ask lots of questions . The thread is Discus Gang Updates started by BarbaraLocke. Lots of great people there willing to answer questions. New people joining weekly so stop by and introduce yourself .

Beautiful tank!

Welcome onboard. Regarding what size of discus to buy here is my 2 cents...

Buy small (2 - 4"):
Everything mentioned by 86 ssinit apply in my experience. I bought small'ish (3") but didn't have the time to do several weekly WC's, feed more than 2 times a day and also went the planted tank route. Here you will have to expect to lose a number of fish along the way. Some because you likely will make some mistakes being new to discus, some due to genes, some to illness or withering away due to bullying and some that can't be explained. I didn't do enough WC's, enough feeding, sometimes treated too late, got some fish with poor genes (stunted growth) and made some other mistakes like e.g. overfeeding. During 18 months lost about 50% of the 3" fish I started out with. I expected to lose a good number of fish but it was more than it should have been..... So if you buy 6 small fish you will likely end up with 4 or so, hence you may want to consider buying 8 instead.

Buy large (5 - 6"):
You know what the full grown fish will look like and can avoid any stunted fish. You are unlikely to lose any fish if doing at least weekly WC's etc. but of course much more expensive, however also a lot less work.....

Should I redo I would consider:
1) Go bare bottom with small fish
2) Buy fully grown fish

As my schedule don't allow multiple feeds a day and WC's every 2 - 3 days I would have have gone with option 2 and bought fully grown fish. This despite that the cost for 42 of 3" size fish was app. the same as for 4 of 6" size but then of course one also have consider the cost of food to grow them out etc.

Finally a personal experience on blue strains of discus. I find them to be less attractive in a planted tank as they tend to stand out less between the plants compared to the red and yellow strains.

Good luck!

Thank you! Great info! Excited to have this forum and all the amazing feedback!

I am leaning towards going with larger Discus. Still deciding if I want to have one breed for all of them. I do love the Red Pigeon. Would the Red Pigeon look good with my black substrate? I thought having the same breed swimming together in the tank would be solid. I know that is a matter of opinion. I see everyone’s tanks with 8 different breeds and it’s beautiful as well. Thoughts or pros and cons? I also have some questions about transferring the larger discus from the shipping bag to the tank. Do you really just hold them in your hand to transfer like all the breeders on YouTube do lol?

 

That is pretty close to what I did. I spilled the water and fish into a bucket than right away moved them into a bucket of tank water let them sit for about 10min and picked them up and placed in tank. Lights out for the day. Next day lights on all good.

 

I am leaning towards going with larger Discus. Still deciding if I want to have one breed for all of them. I do love the Red Pigeon. Would the Red Pigeon look good with my black substrate? I thought having the same breed swimming together in the tank would be solid. I know that is a matter of opinion. I see everyone’s tanks with 8 different breeds and it’s beautiful as well. Thoughts or pros and cons? I also have some questions about transferring the larger discus from the shipping bag to the tank. Do you really just hold them in your hand to transfer like all the breeders on YouTube do lol?

One or more strains I think comes down to personal preference. One thing to keep in mind if you eventually wants to breed them - discus are "color blind" when it comes to choosing a partner. As an example I had a yellow and a blue paring up (I think blue is dominant in domestic discus so would probably all have been blue...). Never bred them and don't plan to, so not something I am concerned about but you might be? On the other hand 6 - 8 discus from the same strain and size bought at the same supplier are most likely sisters and brothers and I do believe that some of the issues we see start to see in some cases probably can be related back to heavy inbreeding by less professional breeders.

Regarding pigeon blood discus there is the issue of peppering. So if this bothers you they may not be the best choice, or you will have to find a breeders with a strain where it has been bred and culled out over time. Here it will definitely be an advantage to buy grown out discus so you know how much peppering is likely up front. It bothers me and I wouldn't have got them again should I start over....

 

I have a black background in my tank so I do have peppering.

but not all get it
and these are 2 I got from USD

 

I don’t have anything to add to what’s been said, but I will be following your adventure with the discus. Best of luck to you

 

86 ssinit Your orange one on picture 3 is a good example of a strain where it has almost been bred / culled out by breeders whereas the ones on picture 1 look like all my pigeon blood strains... See the little stunted fellow at the bottom left in the picture.



Except for being stunted there is nothing wrong with the fish, I am just not a fan of the peppering.....and it was not there when it was 3 inch or at least it was far less. Here is a picture taken 18 month earlier...might not be the exact same fish but at least one of his/hers 5 sisters/brothers if not.

 

And to continue with why it’s better to get full grown Discus. Here are pics of the discus in the first picture at 2”

the Orange one


Also notice how the first 2 peppered and that’s in a tank with no background. The orange one is suppose to be a red pigeon blood snake skin.