Discus Q

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LuciferSam

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Jun 4, 2009
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okay, I want to get discus... those are usually the famous last words of pretty much every first time discus owner. However I have a plan and have been reading for a while and have deicided to get a 29g tank, then build a custom stand that houses a 15g tank for aging water for changes. Filtered with an Eheim 2213, Bare bottom, and sides and back painted black.

I plan on starting with either 4-5 2.5" discus, then growing them out untill two pair off or they out grow their home. A store near me is a distributer of stendker discus, I have asked and they agree to ordering me some come fall when it cools off a little here... Yay 101 degree weather... not.

So the final question is this, can you think of anything that i'm missing, And which Looks and sells better in your experiance, Pidgeon bloods or Red turqoise?
 

sandman26

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May 29, 2009
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I agree with zigman 29g would be small for that amount of discus. 29g would be really small for one adult let lone a pair. I would suggest a 55g minium for a pair of adult discus. a ehiem 2126 or the 2128 would be good caister filter for the 55g. where i have ot my discus in the past they suggest putting in a school of small tetras can make them fell more comfortable.
 

bs6749

AC Members
Aug 24, 2008
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I dont think a 29 is big enough for any discus.

especially 4-5 2.5"
A 29g tank is perfectly fine for a group of 8-10 discus until they get to be 3-3.5" TL. Mind you that breeding pairs are commonly kept in 20H tanks. The recommended stocking is 10g per adult discus. I know that Hans (the American importer of Stendkers) uses 20H tanks for his breeding pairs. He's got about 100 or more tanks that size. I recommend going directly through Hans when you order the Stendkers that he imports. Don't go to the LFS unless you are wanting "wholesale Stendkers". Hans is a wholesaler to fish stores and you will get better quality if you ask him directly and if you are a member of Simply Discus. I know for the month of July he is running a free shipping special if you spend $180 or more.

I strongly suggest that you purchase at least 6 discus. As this is your first venture into discus I also suggest that you get fish that are at least 3". There is a tremendous difference in the care that 2.5" fish need when compared to 3"+ fish. You will have to do more feedings with smaller fish and this causes water quality to deteriorate more rapidly, thus requiring more frequent water changes as well. A 29g tank isn't going to last you long when growing out discus. You are looking at 3 weeks max at keeping a group of 6-8 3"ers in there. I strongly suggest that you look into a 55g tank, which is the "bare minimum" according to most experts when growing out juvies to adulthood. I have a group of 8 4-5" fish growing out in a 55g right now. I will have to move some of them soon enough to allow the rest to grow properly.

I urge you to read as much as you can before making your purchase. Sounds like you have a ways to go on your research, but the good thing is that you haven't made a purchase yet. It's recommended that discus be kept in schools of 6+ when growing them out to adulthood. Isolating mated pairs in a tank is perfectly fine because they are adults and are compatible. If you don't have enough discus in the tank you will have runts form in the best case scenario, or dead discus from being harassed in the more likely scenario.

Also think about checking out Kenny Cheung at Kenny's discus. I know he just got a shipment in and he has some nice stuff. He has some of the more common and basic (less expensive as well) strains along with more high end stuff. He is definitely highly recommended and worth looking into.
 

poconogal

AC Members
Mar 22, 2006
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Pocono Mountains of PA
Hi. I'd start with a 55 gal. tank and get 6, but no less than 5. A larger number serves to spread out aggression amongst the Discus. A 29 isn't going to be useful for very long and once they get somewhat bigger its just not big enough. bs6749 has given you good advice. As he said, if you're going to order Stendkers, it would be best to join SD and order from Hans, since he's a Simply sponsor. Otherwise, you can end up with junk. Another option would be to order from www.PopPopsfish.com, who I believe is a sponsor here. He carries Stendker Discus. Myself, if I were ordering, I'd order from Kenny on Simply though, since I prefer the Asian Discus. Kenny sells beautiful, high quality Discus and Kenny is a great guy, very helpful, and still helpful after the sale, too. The one thing I'd never recommend is buying Discus from any LFS. They are usually not very good quality and with Discus, you want to start with good quality, healthy fish.

Also, for a Discus newbie, larger fish would be better. As was already posted, 3.5-4 inch Discus would be best, since smaller Discus are more susceptible to various things. You will have a much greater chance for success if you get Discus that are a larger.

Also, black sides and back will most likely make any pigeon blood Discus pepper up. It can also make other strains turn a lot darker. The color of the bottom makes the most difference, but the sides and back will contribute to peppering and darkening. Any of the albino strains will be fine with black. It's also not necessary to cover or paint the sides unless that is your preference.

HTH and hope to see you on SD!
 
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LuciferSam

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Jun 4, 2009
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Okay I plan on growing the smaller fish out In what is now a 40g breeder, with a 15 gallon under it. The store I'm buying from is a really, really good Fish store that has been in buisness since the 70's And they get, really good stock turn over. They have agreed to get me some fish in the fall and QT them for me, Because right now my QT is occupied with 4 more Archer fish for my 55g predator tank. My goal of this is not a huge tank of discus... It is to grow out a group of discus, and if or when two pair off, selling the rest. I have planned 15g water changes every day, and have a schedule that will permit feeding 3 times a day. I Know it is chalenging to raise discus from juvies to adults. Also my fish budget has gone up from 200$ to 350$. Oh and i found a nice light blue to paint the tank, that actually looks a little better than black.
 
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poconogal

AC Members
Mar 22, 2006
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Pocono Mountains of PA
For juvies, feeding them 3 times a day is not nearly enough to grow them out well and you will end up with stunted, big-eyed misshapen fish. Figure on at least 6-8 feedings a day. A 15 gal. daily WC is not enough water being changed, you'll need it to be at least a 50% WC or more, daily, otherwise your nitrates will climb and they will get sick. And if you feed them the 6-8 recommended times daily, 50% WCs will not be enough. Discus need very clean water, as clean as you can keep it with nitrates being kept lower than 20 ppm, the lower the better. Your LFS might be a really good fish store, but Stendker does not ship their higher quality Discus to the LFS'. I know this for a fact. Just do a search and check out my Discus pics. Check out the super peppered one, with a saddle, beaky and big eyes. I call her Candy. That is my Stendker, purchased as a 6 inch Discus. Stunted, offshape and looks like a blackened supper dish. Ordered from an LFS in NJ who was a distributor for Stendker and paid for in advance, since it was special order. Its not a question of your LFS being great or not, its what they get sent from Hans.

Buying Discus from a sponsor is usually (but not always) the best way to go. Sponsors usually charge less and have much better quality Discus.

I suggest you do a lot more homework before purchasing any Discus. It will help you and your pocketbook immensely and also save Discus lives. Discus really cannot be kept the way a regular community tank would be kept.

I also strongly suggest that you join Simply Discus. They will tell you what I just told you, but there's also a vast library and many extremely experienced Discus keepers on the forum to help guide you.
 
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ksane

aka TwistedPenguin
Mar 1, 2008
468
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16
Oklahoma, USA
My 4 Discus have been no harder than any other fish to keep. They're in a 55 g with some Corys and an Angel, get a 65% water change per week and their nitrates are consistantly uner 10 ppm, usually about 7 ppm. I feed them once or twice a day and always have. I've got super hard tap water also (mine are not wild-caught Discus). I've had them a year now and they've always been healthy and grew from about 2" in diameter to 5-6"in diameter. For the record, I've never aged my well water for them either. They're actually kind of boring fish although I love them. They're real calm and just hang there in the water by my computer desk and stare at me like I'm an alien :) They're really not hard to keep, don't be scared.
Edit: Meant to tell you I got mine online at Rocky Mountain Discus
 

bs6749

AC Members
Aug 24, 2008
262
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For juvies, feeding them 3 times a day is not nearly enough to grow them out well and you will end up with stunted, big-eyed misshapen fish. Figure on at least 6-8 feedings a day. A 15 gal. daily WC is not enough water being changed, you'll need it to be at least a 50% WC or more, daily, otherwise your nitrates will climb and they will get sick. And if you feed them the 6-8 recommended times daily, 50% WCs will not be enough. Discus need very clean water, as clean as you can keep it with nitrates being kept lower than 20 ppm, the lower the better. Your LFS might be a really good fish store, but Stendker does not ship their higher quality Discus to the LFS'. I know this for a fact. Just do a search and check out my Discus pics. Check out the super peppered one, with a saddle, beaky and big eyes. I call her Candy. That is my Stendker, purchased as a 6 inch Discus. Stunted, offshape and looks like a blackened supper dish. Ordered from an LFS in NJ who was a distributor for Stendker and paid for in advance, since it was special order. Its not a question of your LFS being great or not, its what they get sent from Hans.

Buying Discus from a sponsor is usually (but not always) the best way to go. Sponsors usually charge less and have much better quality Discus.

I suggest you do a lot more homework before purchasing any Discus. It will help you and your pocketbook immensely and also save Discus lives. Discus really cannot be kept the way a regular community tank would be kept.

I also strongly suggest that you join Simply Discus. They will tell you what I just told you, but there's also a vast library and many extremely experienced Discus keepers on the forum to help guide you.
Very sound advice here. You hit it right on he head about what Hans sends to the LFS is what they will get. There is only one distributor of Stendkers in the United States and they all pass through Hans. I can support the statement that LFS will receive "LFS quality discus" if you order through them. The LFS is out to make a buck too so you have to think of that. By ordering directly through Hans you cut out the middle man and you save money and you will receive higher quality.

I also want to point out that if your goal is to have a "breeding pair", then you might want to consider purchasing a breeding pair from the start. You can pay anywhere from $150-800+ for a breeding pair, with $350-500 getting you a decent pair depending on the strain, etc. If you are going to purchase quality juvies, then you will be looking to spend about $40 per fish and ultimately you will spend nearly $300 or slightly more after shipping is figured in. You will also have to do 10+ months of water changes and lots of feedings and that takes time and costs a lot of money. You will easily spend another $150+ in that time just on fish food to grow them out to be nice breeding size fish. So you are already looking at $450 for the cost of growing out juvies, not to mention all of the water changes. My suggestion to you if you want a breeding pair would be to purchase larger fish to start with. You should be looking at the 5" SL range.

Right now Mike at Central Ohio Discus is giving 10% off his already great prices to clear out some stock. You can see the information here: http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=72251
More pictures from the same shipment can be found here: http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=70783

You might consider asking Mike if he will split up the 4 pairs that he has for sale. They should go for $250 or so each (before discount). Tack on $75+ for overnight shipping to your door. You really should check out the altum snakeskins, large altum floras, large eruption leopards, white butterflies, and even the checkerboard pigeons if you want pigeons. Great prices on these. The checkerboard pigeons are a little smaller than what I'd be shooting for, but they will grow out nicely in time. You can even ask Mike if he could send you a pair of any of the above. This guy is really good at sexing discus. You definitely won't regret checking him out. I might get one of the pairs myself.
 
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