30 replies to this topic

[Anka]

Going to Japan at the end of the year for a month and I don't trust my family to keep two thousand dollars worth of sensitive fish alive. Will probably just set up the decor and plants soon and get a few l-numbers and then the discus in the new year

[MrLeifBeaver]

Ah, true. I have entrusted a friend to house sit our place for 2 weeks with my $700 worth. But I got my brother in to the the waterchange as he knows what hes doing. My friend just fed them

Thankfully they were all fine. 

[Hooked]

Hi Anka,

 

Not sure if you know already but catties are notorious for annoying Discus by swimming up and sucking on their slime coat as a food source. My bristlenose are pretty well behaved as are my whiptails but they all get busted from time to time giving it a try. If you get a troublesome one then they just have to be removed. I find the bigger the catties are the more trouble they are at feeding on the slime coat. In general most smaller varieties are ok. 

As mentioned dither fish such as Tetras are great and I agree a large school of Rummy nose and Cardinals look awesome. They are also good at clearing the fine food from the water column. Discus are very susceptible to bacteria infection so the tank needs to be free of food deposits that are a food source for bacteria. A clean up crew is ESSENTIAL. By that I mean cory's etc, great for getting into and under things to clean out the food and help break up the poop.

Small chain loaches etc are ok but steer clear of the larger loaches that become aggressive feeders as they get older. I had some pakistani loaches in to clear out some snails. As the loaches grew they would monopolise the food at feeding time. Blue Rams and Bolivian Butterflies are ok too, small, cute and great personalities but REALLY low ph may bother them. 

I'm sure you are aware but in case anyone else is considering discus they are a soft water, acid, low ph fish best suited to around 6.5 - 6.8. Not to be mixed with hard water, high ph cichlids.

It has been recommended to me by people that have been keeping discus for 20 plus years to allow 40 litres per Discus to allow for good growth of each fish. I agree with the already previous mentioning that frequent water changes will promote growth also. Discus also prefer a low nitrate. Not always easy in a planted tank.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Cheers

Edited by Hooked, 18 August 2013 - 11:33 PM.

[Anka]

Hi Hooked,

Thanks a bunch for the info.

 

Will definitely take it all on board.

 

In my opinion Corys are pretty boring. If I can get away with L-Numbers I would much prefer that. Do L-Numbers do a similar clean up job to Corys or are they not a real subtitute?

Thanks,

 

Andrew

[Bowdy]

Have both sorted.

[Hooked]

Hi Andrew,

Mate, I don't know a great deal about the diets of different L numbers and which ones may suit. Just ones that don't get too big I'd suggest? Sorry could'nt be more help. 

I prefer the dwarf corys to the larger ones, very cute. They are exhibiting breeding behaviour at the moment. They are coming together on the bottom of the tank then sought of "flittering" up together in the water column.

I can appreciate the L's though. I'd love to get some L046 Zebras and have a crack at breeding them.

As always Bowdy full of good advice!

 

Cheers 

[Anka]

Hi Hooked,

 

Could you give me the names of some cool corys that are readily available? I'll google them!

 

Thanks again

 

Andrew

 

[Angelo]

you wont go wrong with corys, more than anything they work really well with discus and its something you will realize when you combine the two together. So def give them a try once you get the discus.

[Morley Aquariums]

couple of points on keeping discus.

 

 discus are extremely sensitive to dissolved organic waste/bacteria - this is the main reason we usually keep them at lower ph levels, perform large regular water changes & keep nitrate to a minimum (nitrates are a great indicator of overall cleanliness/organic levels in the tank which are often the problem rather than the nitrate itself).

  If you want a well panted tank & would like to reduce some of the health & cleaning issues, then adding a suitable uv sterilizer cannot be recommended highly enough as these will kill all the harmful nasties that bother discus so much. If no uv, then large water changes regularly, a suitably low ph & clean your filter more often than normal to keep organics to minimum.

 

 Secondly it can be a bit frustrating at times to keep a group of discus. Discus are simply not happy unless they are boss of the tank. When a group is kept is is common for one fish to be at the bottom of the pecking order. This fish will often stress, darken, lose weight & ultimately die unless dealt with. Once that one dies, then the next in line starts to go the same way until you just end up with a pair. solutions to this is good heavy planting or other vertical cover as this will restrict 'line of sight' & allow the fish to go into an area where it is able to avoid persecution. Alternately the removal of dominant pairs into separate tanks while breeding as this is the main time you get problems. Once spawning finished they can be put back into main tank. Larger tanks with larger numbers are certainly easier when it comes to keeping groups together as there are just too many for one to become a whipping boy.

 

 L number cats should be fine, but with these & loaches be careful of them grazing on the discus, discus slime is very tasty & when spawning the produce a 'milk' on the slime which is hard to resist.

 

 corys are usually good, but may have issues if the tank is kept up the top end of the temp scale, the best in my experience have been C. barbados & C. sterbae.

 

 Discus are the king of freshwater fish, a real challenge & very rewarding to keep. Have fun with them.

[Anka]

Hi Paul

Thanks for the info!

 

A daunting task but I look forward to the challenge!

 

Still looking at South American plants. Any ideas of what SA are available and suitable? Swords are the obvious ones. I like keeping my tanks as geographically accurate as possible

 

Regards,

 

Andrew

[MrLeifBeaver]

Morley said it all. Well done!

 

They are not as daunting as you think. The benifits of them far outweighs the negatives. Iv'e been keeping them for 2.5 years

Think of them as a normal fish, but fish that requires a little more consistancy.

 

Vallis is good, the discus like to swim in between it.

 

Something else to note, once you get 4 or 5 and one becomes the dominant fish. If you ever buy anymore, always get smaller than your biggest dominant fish, this is so you don't upset the group dynamics too much.