Discus Keepers

Hi,
It is very rare to see posts on Discus on the forum these days. I am based in the South East and I would be interested in knowing if there are other Discus keepers in the vicinity. I normally end up buying supplies etc off the internet and it would be nice to know if there are other Discus enthusiasts in the area. I recently upgraded my tank to a 300lt and seem to be going through all the pains endured when first keeping discus. It looks like time and water changes are the only things that work. I would love to hear from fellow enthusiasts about where they buy their discus and how they solve the problems encountered.

Rgds
Johnob

Hi John , I keep Discus and I agree there never is very many discus threads to read , probably my own fault I dont take the time to start one. But I never know what to start one about.
So here is an idea, would everyone who keeps discus please list a small hello under this topic and state what discus they have I know there is alot of discus keepers on the forum. John I'm sure you have the odd topic to start off with.

Have kept discus for a good few years. Setting up a new vision 450 discus tank soon so i will be posting about that

I keep discus, domestics and wilds, if you have anything to ask just fire away i'm sure somebody will give you an answer. The most important thing for the discus is water quality. Adrian

I find it important to talk is how to get good quality discus in Ireland? I have heard a lot of complaints that discus imported here is not the best.. What's everyone Opinion on this?

In the mean time, without boring anyone ,I can tell briefly my Discus experience as a new comer to the habit.

After 2 years of fish keeping, I decided to give it a go to keep fascinating Discus.

It all started over a year ago. I do remember when I went for a trip to Zurich, I randomly passed by an aquatic shop in the old town area. In there I saw this beautiful decorated aquarium with several discus in it. They weren't selling it and I got so amazed and fascinated. I said to myself "that's it, I have my challenge and I will bite the bullet to have it".

Since then, I made long term project, first get rid of small tank to get a bigger one. Trigon worked the best as I don't have enough space and will make any corner beautiful. Got my new internal and external filters. Lots of easy life water conditioners etc.

Once everything was ready and cycled the tank with my good old gouramis, it was time to have the first discus. First I got rid of my exisitng fish except a synodontis. Then I did a post in the form that I was looking discus stock.

First I bought Xeon's discus. 2 blue diamonds, a turqouise and a red melon. I had a bumpy start as turqouise and blue diamonds melon werent settling. They got so dark and sitting on the bottom of tank sideways. I thought they would be my first casualty.

Then I got contacted by Zoom( whom I got so much to thank for) for some discus he wanted to sell. When I explained him the situation, he advised me not to rush to buy the fish but try to get back the sick discus, given that the tank was relatively new set up. He gave me Azoo Discus Magic treater to try. After about 3 weeks the sick discus fully recovered with the treatment and lots of water changes.They also started to eat as well. I was so happy that the treatment worked.

Zoom also made me realised that I need to age the water(condition,heat and aerate) before addding into the tank (as I was adding the luke warm water into the tank and let it condition in there). I have concluded chlorine in the water made Discus quite vulnerable.

After about 2 and half months, I am quite happy with Discus I have. They're alive and eating so well(touch wood). They react to my presence in the room, they all come up to surface when i approach to tank. And most importantly water changes. Overnight, treated, heated and aerated 30% water change, twice a week.

I also got some peat in the filter, which make the tank quite brown like the amazon.

It is quite good to know that there are dedicated Discus keepers in Ireland. Especially like Zoom whom I thank so much who sold me very beautiful discus and invaluable advice and help!!

Hi,
I started keeping discus about a year ago, I had a pretty bad start, The first discus I ordered from my local shop were delayed in transport and were in bad shape
by the time they arrived. I used every medication thinkable to sort out the problems. Eventually I decided no more medications and let nature take its course. Slowly but surely the fish came around and the tank settled down. I decided to upgrade last August and I bought a Juwel Rio 300. I have spent the last few months cycling the tank and eventually put some discus in it about a month ago. I have 2 cobalt blue and 2 of a white / yellow variety. I must post a picture of them and maybe some one can tell me what strain they are.
One of the 4 is still not eating, I have tried flake, pellets (NLS), frozen blood worm and a frozen cichlid mix, any advice would be appreciated.

I am hoping to buy 2 or 4 discus more before Christmas. I am looking for maybe 2 Marlboro red and 2 of some other variety. The ones I have are about 4 inches so if any one has any for sale let me know.

Rgds
John

Hi,
The discus that I spoke about in my previous post that has not eaten in over 3 weeks has just spawned on the side of the filter. This is the first time I have had a discus spawn, Could this be the reason why she was not eating ?

What is the usual behaviour of discus before they spawn. It would be great if I had a pair as the two are really nice looking fish

Rgds
John

Hi Guys

Firstly may I say a big thank you to Tunes for the kind words
Damian you'll see the cobalt i inherited from you in this video is not quite the bully he was to a certain extent still throws his weight around though.
John , Adrian is really keen Discus keeper his wilds are fabulous seen them 2 weeks ago and from I heard the best is still to come I'm dead jealous .(makes me regret getting rid of my wilds ) He is a fountain of knowledge on discus.
Thats something I can say I never experienced with discus a lone female spawning and to be honest I haven't a clue never seen it happen , only thing I could think of is you have all females and she is doing a practice run.
Anyway cant be too much wrong with her if she is spawning. Water must by good etc.

I posted a video of my tank on you tube link below.



Cheers .

video wont show fully for me . but it the bits i can see he is bullying the be jasus out of the other fish. Is he spawning ?

ooops made a blunder of the video ? First time on you tube I'll try and fix it. Yeah Damian there is fry in that video , only protecting his end of the tank,....lol

Hi,
That's brilliant to see a video of a tank with all these healthy Discus and their babies!!!!
Haven't successfully bred them,had spawns and fry up to a 5c coin size but never had the space and time to raise them up any bigger:( ,maybe not patient enough....
Well done!
only have two at the moment which lay eggs and male eat them as soon as...
Dimitri

Hi Scubadim,

Yeah that happens quite alot they grow to that size then snuf it, what I found helps is plenty of water changes and the tank to be spotless, clean the sides down everyday with a sponge with a drop of meth blue on it, only in the growing on tank I leave the fry with the adults up to about 3-4 weeks I find that also helps what ever anti bodies etc they are getting from the secretions makes them a bit stronger. But the fry can take chunks out of the adults when the get too big. At that stage then I cull them and move others to growing on tank. I only raise about 10-15 of the biggest fry haven't space to seperate them all and raise them. Haven't raised any in awhile I'll wait till I have a wee bit more time on my hands and go at them again. They are very time consuming fish to raise properly they stunt very easy.

I actually agree, they're quite time consuming so if they breed fine, if not I am not too worried. They're very beautiful to look at and I enjoy that they respond my presence and watching them eat.

Hi

I just sent a message about my discus and it was not sent but I do keep dicus and not able to type my story again.

Just had my first batch of blue diamond dicus eggs today and delighted.I have two pairs.and waiting for next pair to breed.

Congratulations Bren.
Great video zoom.

I have kept Discus in the past and i think the best advice is keep the water clean, conditions stable and dont over crowd.

Hi,I keep blue diamonds and blue turquise and I just had my second batch of eggs,first lot eaten by all other fish,so discus on their own in tank.Should I continue to feed parents at this stage and if so whats the best food for parents and fry.

Saw this thread.....
just to say, I keep Discus. Why do I keep Discus? I like em even after years of keeping them.

In recent years, I will no longer pay high prices for Discus and I generally just go for the 'random mix of whatevers' now so long as they are 25 euro top price and are in good enough quality to warrant giving them a go.

I won't pay anything more than about 25 euro for a hybrid Discus, and actually have little interest in the latest 'trade-names' release. (oooh, I sound like a grumpy old man)

The old turquoise, however, does still get my thumbs up as a worthy hybrid....and they are easily found in bargain bins. So, double reward there.

I am, however, a fan of the wild-types. If there were good supplies of wild-type S.aequifasciata then maybe I'd be tempted to go back to my old buying routines as they are worth the effort in breeding. Brown Discus are superb, but Green are just magic.

As for quality of many Discus? ummm?

ian