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starting out with discus!

I want to keep discus and get a couple of pairs going breeding any advice would be welcome i am looking at purchasing 2 new 2foot tanks and hopefully will set these up for breeding discus. any advice would be welcome.
heating
filtration
tank setup
types of discus
time frames
water chemistry
????????????????

Regards
Jeremy

I have only been keeping discus for about 6 months but here goes. I started with 3 small 2-3in discus in my 29 gal, after some research I moved them to my 55gal. The main reason is water quality you have to keep the tank clean so they require some extra water changes I change about 15-20% every 5 days or so.I run two penquin 330's for filtration and two 120volt heaters to avoid fluctuating temps. They like soft acidic water Ph 5-7. I originaly tried to lower my ph to accomidate them but was causing Ph fluctuations that were doing more harm than good. My Ph is 7.2 without changing it and they are fine but Ive heard to breed them soft acidic water is a must, or the eggs cant hatch. Trace-russ is the pro on this site and although I havent seen a post from her lately Jaquie has been trying to breed them for a while they would have some great advice. Good luck and study up with proper setup and maintanence they are really not that hard to keep.

breeding is not as easy as buying two fish and plopping them in a tank. they usually must select their mate and pair up by themselves. the best way to do it is buy 15 small ones and grow them out. even if you buy a pair it still may not work

chris

15 small ones? That would cost someone a fortune.

most people don't want to shell out 1k for a measly group of fish.

Washington it can be done providing you are sure you have a pair of discus, some breeders will sell pairs but be prepared to pay the money for a proven pair.

As for the set up check out my above post about breeding that should fill you in a bit more.

Trace

1k, you should be able to buy small discus for about 20-40 dollars if you buy 10-15 at the most you would spend 600 dollars, sounds like alot but you can grow them out for a year, hopefully get your pairs and then sell off the adult ones and already have made more than your money back. At lest it sounds like a good idea.


chris

had to cut last post short, i am at work.

any way, if you don't have the many to buy a lot then just buy a half dozen to start with and wish for the best.


chris

I want to keep discus and get a couple of pairs going breeding any advice would be welcome i am looking at purchasing 2 new 2foot tanks and hopefully will set these up for breeding discus. any advice would be welcome.
heating
filtration
tank setup
types of discus
time frames
water chemistry

If this is your first foray into discus, I would:
1. Set-up a bare bottom 55 gallon tank with two AquaClear filters and two heaters (I like to duplicate equipment just in case one unit fails),
2. I would purchase 13 to 15 2 to 2.5 inch discus from a local breeder (just purchased 20 for $250 in Chicago),
3. Young discus require heavy feeding, 3-5X per day, that in turn becomes heavy feces, vacuum the tank daily to maintain water quality changing 20 to 50% of the water,
4. Females mature at 12 months, males at 18 months with some color strains taking longer to mature, your fish will begin to form pairs on their own,
5. I can only sex discus by watching them spawn, once a pair has spawned and the eggs are viable (brown after 2-3 days and possibly become wigglers, move the pair to a breeding tank and provide a breeding cone,
6. Breeding tanks are generally 20 gallon tanks with sponge filters, water in the breeders should be soft, think low in dissolved minerals not just pH. 70 to 80 microsiemens is great!
7. I like leaving the young with the parents as long as possible. Often the female becomes an egg or wiggler eater. Get her out of the tank after spawning and let the male take over parenting.
8. Young fish need minerals in their water to grow properly. Do your water changes with aged degassed tap water.

Questions? E-mail me at RAWesolowski@att.net.


__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright