oh the options of a 55 gallon.... well for the first time ive decided to try something new. Discus!!!!

i have a few questions to start, how many can i keep? i plan on buying them all at 3in

how should i aquascape the tank?

some basics for care?

and breeding? is it hard?




also i want to start looking at what type ill want so please post your images of discuss here as well

Discus, from my own research and from just going to hang out with a guy that breeds them is you should keep them in a school of at least 5 (Yes, Mike D that's why he sent you 5, I saw your order on the wall too btw.) otherwise they get wiggy and stressed. They get a decent size too, actually bigger than I expected. When I was looking at one of his breeding pairs he had just the two and the babies in a 55.

I don't know any other fish that would work in a school with them. Angels might, but I just recently rescued a batch of angels and they're alot meaner than I expected something so delicate looking to be. I tried them in with some random tropicals, and they picked at everything except the pleco in with them.

So long as the decorations aren't sharp or pointy you could get away with mostly whatever. Some places to hide are good and I prefer real plants over fake.

I don't know much about breeding but, I'm sure it's similar to most other larger Cichlids. If they breed like Convicts, they wouldn't go for as much money as they sell for now.

I have 8 discus now! I hope they breed!

Discus need very clean water and at that size they will need to be fed 4-5 times a day. I do 50% water changes everyday. I think I wrote a profile on the discus here check out the species profile section.

The thing with discus is that everyone makes keeping discus out to be hard when in all actuality its rather easy. Just keep up with the wc's, make sure your ammonia level is 0 and feed them with a good quality discus food and you should be fine.

As for aquascaping I do plants and driftwood. Plants arnt hard to keep as well. all you need is a good light and if you want to use co2 and ferts you can.
Like saint_felony said nothing pointy or sharp.

My angels are fine with with my discus infact the female angel adopted all of the discus as her own babies. I was worried about My larger discus picking on the little ones, but they have taken a shine to the juveniles and my alpha discus actually guards them.

Discus breed just like angel do. If you are going to breed them I would do a little reasearch, talk to local breeders, read a few papers about breeding discus online, talk to people online about breeding them.

John is a very knowledgeable person and he helped me out when I was getting my tank ready for my 5. Once I get my 72g set up I'm going to move the discus into there new home.

ive come up with what i seem is a decent stock, remember the tank is a 55 gallon

6 Discus ill let them pair up, because im buying them all as juveniles, ill keep hopefully 3 pairs but mostly likely only 2, im going to keep the tank at 83-84F and then 3 water changes a week each being 20%

Sounds like a good Plan!

Where are you getting them from?

Poppops im a good friend of his.... and let me tell you the angels and discus he has are healthy, strong and beautiful

I was just up at his house tonite, and he got some new ones in and they were awesome looking. Ask him about the wild caught one he has too. It's gorgeous.

Just don't mention the 3 water changes a week to him. He thought I was nuts for only considering doing once a day.

haha hes a good guy.... just wish i lived closer to him

He's a good guy and all but I totally don't want to live any closer. Reading is scary.

id love to live right next door to him hahaha how far do you live from pops?

Totally depends on 422. Going out to his place today took me over an hour, getting home was 25-30ish. Westbound 422 has some crazy construction going on out by 662.

We have two seasons around here, Winter and Construction. Maybe it will be better in the winter.

Haha I just got 5 in from john last week and they are eating like pigs! John is a great guy!

Mine have only been in the tank a few hours now and are still in the "oh crap it's different here" stage. I think I'm going to have to move the snails in the tank with them. One of the bigger apple snails just did it's usual I'm to lazy to walk to the bottom of the tank so I'll just fall routine, and the 3 discus near that side of the tank all crapped their collective pants.

saint_felony wrote:

One of the bigger apple snails just did it's usual I'm to lazy to walk to the bottom of the tank so I'll just fall routine, and the 3 discus near that side of the tank all crapped their collective pants.

well ive made the decision to go with discus so my plan is to take my current 55 gallon cichlid community and move them to a 100 gallon (there out growing the tank sooner then i thought) the the empty 55 will become my discus tank. im working with pops on his site. hopefully it will be successful but i dont see why it wouldn't

If you get 2-3 inchers you could even start them in a 30 and then move them to the 55. Give you some time to move your Cichlid party.

well i normally would be thrilled to get another tank. but i dont have the money at the moment and id like to save up for the 100 gallon

Ya. I more meant if you have an extra one. I wasn't recommending you go buy another one. Really. We don't need more tanks.

Speaking of tempting. My local petsmart had a 75g for 35% off since one of the hoods had a crack in it. I'm going to see how long it sits and pester the manager about getting it cheaper to use as a potential home for the discus when they're full grown..

Nano pops discus grow fast! Mine have grown from 2.5" to 3" in a month. It might not seem like alot but I can tell the difference and they are eating like pigs!

I don't know about yours, but mine have started to beg. They're in a tank right by where we hang out, and whenever I come near they all get out in front with a "yay! time to eat" look on their face.

I could feed them, get up leave the room and come back in 5 minutes and they'd go beg again. I'm tempted to see how many times they'd beg for food doing that, but I don't think I have enough food.

Nano Cichlids wrote:

oh the options of a 55 gallon.... well for the first time ive decided to try something new. Discus!!!!

i have a few questions to start, how many can i keep? i plan on buying them all at 3in

how should i aquascape the tank?

some basics for care?

and breeding? is it hard?

Whats up Nano?

Long time no talk, this site has come a long way I will be here and will tell all my Discus and Angel People to come over so we can make some changes in the way people perscieve Discus and Angels.

As most of you all know Pops is the Master of Angels and soon to be Discus Guru. I have been at this a long time and I am working with the top breeders in the world. (Isaid breeders not keepers or re salers) all the information we have has come from personal experiences not what you read in a book or hear say . I have a problem with some of the people in this hobby who portray themselves experts in Discus and Angels just because they have had a sucessful FEW hatches. JUst Luck IMO. People who just repeat what someone else told them without an ounce of reasearch to confirm what way said.

Please do not take offence here I am just venting , I am fed up with people trying to give others info on keeping and breeding these fish, after all I guess I could just let it be and let them figure out on their own. But NO I want to share what I have learned;or all the $$$$ I have spent and the knowldge I have 'aquired will be worthless when I am gone.

If anyone want any help with Discus or Angels feel free to PM me and I will help.

Please forgive the spelling ! Lol.

Have a Great Day

Pops

The discus God has finally arrived! Pops just to let you know I'm like a sponge waiting to soak up all of the knowledge you are willing to share! The discus I bought from you are getting BIG! I'm hoping to get at least 1 pair out of the 8.

Mostlycichlids just launched another site called the cichlid project. We would love it if you shaired your angel and discus wisdom on that forum too.

Yay! Hi Pops!

All the discus I have are doing just fine. I'm not sure why they have such a rep for being so difficult. Maybe just the challenges with the wild caught guys?

Nano Cichlids wrote:

ive come up with what i seem is a decent stock, remember the tank is a 55 gallon

6 Discus ill let them pair up, because im buying them all as juveniles, ill keep hopefully 3 pairs but mostly likely only 2, im going to keep the tank at 83-84F and then 3 water changes a week each being 20%

Nano,

Doing a 3 / 20% Wc's a week is possible with larger Discus or with a super filtration system. Keep in mind that juvies need lots of high protien food which will spoil your water fast. I would highly recommend that if you are going to get 2.5"-3" Discus to start that you have a Bare bottom tank and you do 20% Wc's per day . This will allow you to feed the necessary amount of food so that you do not stunt thes fish. If you put a fluval 405 and an
AC 70 on that 55 you will have enough filtration to get away with just vacumming the bottom daily and replacing 5% water.

You all may want to consider a holding tank weather it be a small barrel or a tupperware container to hold aged water if you want to start breeding Discus or Angels . If you get a lot of rain or lack of rain in your area your local Water Co. may add extra chemicals with out you being aware of it hence putting your stock in danger. We use 35 gallon trash cans with a powerhead and an air stone running after we treat the water to keep it fresh.

I hope you will take what I am telling you into consideration as I have learned the hard way and have lost thousands of $ worth of fish in the past 12 years.

I wish you well ,

Pops