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These are my 2 new Discus






Robby[/font][/font]

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

Robby,

The new kids look great! How are your other discus doing? The discus included in the background in the second photo looks a little stressed and gaunt.

Bob Wesolowski attached this image:


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

Hey, the new discus is doing great after 3 days they now come to the surface and it from my hands.
The one discus you saw in the 2nd picture is not doing very well
but i have other 4 discus that i think is going well in my tank

Robby

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

If you have a hospital tank. Put the skinny guy into quarantine in that tank with some hardscape that he can relate to such as a ceramic pot. Slowly boost the temperature in the tank to 90F or 32-33C.

The higher temperature will knock down many parasites and should boost his metabolism and therefore stimulate his appetite. Feed him live food or frozen food such as blood worms and beef heart taking care not to overfeed him.

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

I have a 75g tank and soon getting a 125g or a 150g.
I dont think the clown loaches grows fast,i heard they are slow growers.My clown loaches are small so i still have plenty of room for them in my 75g.

Robby

Last edited by Robby1619 at 23-Nov-2005 00:34

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

Congratulations for your 4 new Discus. They will take some days to settle & so i think that they'll be eating in 3 days time.


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Robby,

It will take a couple of days for your discus to get used to their new home. They will tend to hide and sneak out when they think no-one is watching, but they are quite nosey and will soon be swimming around.
With the food situation, keep offering them high quality food and they will start to eat when they are hungry.

Do you know what they were fed on where you bought them?? Try to feed them the same food and they will be eating in no time.

Trace

It's 4 days now and they are still hiding behind the plants but i have seen them swiming around the tank more often now
The food i give them is the excactly the same food the lfs gave them.
The water temprature is 29C/84,2F.
The 4 discus i bought i think is these:
2 Neon blue discus
2 Royal blue discus
I will try to take some pictures of them if i get the chance
Thanks,

Robby

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

Robby,

Have you got something else in the tank with them?? when I first started keeping discus I had 4 who did the same thing so I added some tetras in with them and before I knew it they were out and about and swimming around. Just a thought that they may be less intimidated with a few tank mates different from themselves.

Trace

I have 14 tetras and 3 small clown loaches with the discus.
The clown loaches was very interested to get close to the discus the first days.
I noticed one of the clowns was really close to one of the discus..Face to Face...it seemed like they was talking to each other
I hope they will soon eat though,i will go back to the lfs where i bought the discus and ask if they gave them some other kind of food.

Robby

Last edited by Robby1619 at 21-Nov-2005 05:10

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

What sort of tetras do you have in the tank? You must be careful with tankmates when it comes to discus. Some tetras can be too aggressive and the discus will hide and their colour will fade. As for food, try some brine shrimp which is one of their fav's and also helps with their colour. Are you keeping the Discus in the right type of water? Either water filtered over peat, with plenty of bogwood or Distilled water. Your temperature sounds fine though, always better to be on the warmer side.
P.S Clown loach are a great tank mate, I have 5 in my discus tank as they are great for keeping the gravel food free

I have black phantom tetras but i think the water is to warm for them so i will trade them later.
The water is fine but i might think that the PH is a little to high.
I checked it 2 months ago and the PH was around 7,0.
I will do some test later today as to see if the water is good for the Discus.

Robby

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

wot were the water conditions @ the lfs? 7.0 ph seems to high for my likin go to the lfs and ask them wot they kept the tank stats @. like PH and temp etc. the PH should be around 6.00 to 6.5

6x2x2 - Firemouth and Oscar Tank
30+ royal pythons.

Back in the game after 4 years out ..

Water quality must be spot on for discus. Really soft, if like me your tap water is very hard either add some peat to your filter, add lots of bogwood (may turn the water little brown for a while but this is fine) or buy distilled water from your local fish shop (usually expensive for the first litre and then cheap for re-fills). Discus can be tricky to keep but if you get the water right then thats half the battle. As for the tetra, small gentle tetra are fine and also make sure you have at least 6. Any less and they seem to get an inferiority complex and can get bossy with the other fish in your tank. Discus are really rewarding and with the right conditions are quite beautiful and may even breed (like mine right now!)
Hope this helps
Nicky :%)

I just checked my water and the Ph is 7,0.
I have been driving all around to find some lfs that has PH buffers but no one had them.I have ordered some PH buffers and will get them tomorrow.
I also bought sand substrate too that the lfs said is good for discus and clown loaches and for plants aswell.

Robby

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

can i just ask you wot the size of the tank you have them in? sorry if uve already stated i just cnt see it.

discus need around 15g each so a 75g is probably the best tank to use plus u have 3 clown loaches they will grow to need a 125g tank soon. just take that into consideration.

6x2x2 - Firemouth and Oscar Tank
30+ royal pythons.

Back in the game after 4 years out ..

Hi,
I bought 4 discus yesterday
They are hiding a lot and few times they are coming out from their hiding spot.
I have noticed they are not eating yet,so i would like to know how long time will it take to them to start to eat?
Thanks,

Robby

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

Robby,

Congratulations on getting your discus! I wouldn't worry about the pH of your water, most domestic discus will acclimate to the pH of your tap water. If your fish form pair(s) and you want to breed them, I would consider using soft water (low KH) and acidic water (pH under 6.8) for their breeding tank.

The key to keeping discus is clean water. Water changes are the key to great discus growth and health. If your fish are young fish, hard water (KH of 4 or more) will be beneficial as the minerals in the water will help the fish as they grow. Many hobbyists who overfeed their fish to accelerate growth will do daily water changes of 50 to 100% of the water in a bare bottom tank.

I have a planted 125G (474L) planted aquarium with 10 adult discus. Water temp is 29C, pH is 7.8, KH is 7GDH. The fish are healthy, alert and trying to spawn. Water changes are 50% every third day. I feed Tetra Crisps, Tetra Bits, frozen bloodworm (mosquito larva) and live black worms (aquatic worm known as Lumbriculus variegatus definitely not tubifex worms).

If you feed meaty foods such as beef heart, be sure to clean up any scraps as the uneaten food will quickly foul the water.

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

Now iam happy
Finally my discus are eating and i got the PH buffer aswell.
The discus are getting the colors back too.
I don't think there will be to much food (leftovers)..my clowns sees to that and my tetras too.
I will do 45-50% water change every week, you think that is ok?

Robby

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

A weekly water change of 50% would be fine but a 25% water change every three days would be better. More frequent water changes with substrate vacuuming and general maintenance will make your fish much healthier. Additionally, the more frequent water changes will maintain your tank in a much narrower range of water conditions - a good thing - that are related to your water source.

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

Ok i will try to do a 25-30% waterchange every 3 days.
Cleaning substrate...i have 80% sand substrate and 20% fine gravel.
"I have a planted 125G (474L) planted aquarium with 10 adult discus. Water temp is 29C, pH is 7.8, KH is 7GDH. The fish are healthy, alert and trying to spawn. Water changes are 50% every third day."
wow..thats a lot of water changes,to much work or do you have special methods to empty and refill the 125g Tank.

Robby

Last edited by Robby1619 at 24-Nov-2005 12:11

Last edited by Robby1619 at 24-Nov-2005 12:12

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

yes do more frequent small water changes i usued to do a 20% water change every 2 days.

6x2x2 - Firemouth and Oscar Tank
30+ royal pythons.

Back in the game after 4 years out ..

The DIscus are still hiding and hardly swims around,Can it be that i have to many Tetras?
I have 14 Black phantoms.

Robby

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

no i dnt think it is the tetra's. do a water change. u need to try an get the ph down a bit ive got feelin that the LFS kept them in a lower PH. try to get ur ph down into the 6.5 - 6.0 range.

6x2x2 - Firemouth and Oscar Tank
30+ royal pythons.

Back in the game after 4 years out ..

Iam more happy now..because now the PH is down to 6,8 and the Discus are getting their colors back.
I think they are not eating much because they look skinny.
I give them the excactly the same food the lfs gave them,is there any other food i can try out?
I have tried these,Discus pellets,Cichlid pellets,flakes,Brine shrimps and blood worms.

Robby

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

Robby,

I use a Python to do my water changes (http://www.pythonproducts.com/). Makes it very easy to vaccuum, siphon and refill the tank with 7.6 pH tap water!

Adjusting the pH of your tap water may cause stress on your fish. Lowering pH increases acidity which is extremely stressful to fish and should be done very slowly. Remember that shifting from 7.0 pH to 6.0 pH is a 10 time increase in acidity. Fish are much more tolerant of increases in pH.

I have re-read this thread and I do not see any indication of the GH or KH of your water. If your KH is high, your aquarium water will experience a pH bounce that returns the water to its original pH. The bouncing effect of returning to neutral then adding chemicals to reduce the pH will create a good amount of stress, resulting in fish that hide and do not eat.

As I said, water quality (cleanliness) must be great for discus. Clean water is essential not clean water with added chemicals.

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

I will try to do some water changes more often like 20%-25% every 2nd or 3rd day.
I also now found some food the Discus like after trying a lot of different food.
The one they like is this one,King British fish treats tablet food,they love it and so do the rest of them(clowns and phantoms)...
My KH is 6..is that bad?

Robby

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

"siphon and refill the tank with 7.6 pH tap water!"

if he refilled with 7.6 water he would go form PH 6.8 to PH 7.6 it would kill the fish for sure. if he lower the PH maybe a fraction per time it will be ok and will not kill the fish. discus lyk slightly acidic water around 6.0 some evben lik the PH lower.

6x2x2 - Firemouth and Oscar Tank
30+ royal pythons.

Back in the game after 4 years out ..