Are discus right for my water?

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M00n3at3r

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Aug 21, 2013
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So I have gotten to the point that I think every aquarist hits where I am ready to move up to something more challenging. Discus are my aim. However, do to everything I have learned about choosing fish for the water I have, I am evaluating before I purchase any. My 75g is now moderately planted and has been established for a while, however, with the current parameters it leads me to believe my water will not be acceptable for them. The water I am currently using has a pH of 7.6, Gh of 8dkh, and a kh of 9dkh. I have not tested the tank recently, but the parameters should be very close. According to what I have read, they need 79-86° F, KH 1-3, pH 6.1-7.5. What are your thoughts? Is it just too hard for them to adjust to? I will test the water tomorrow to give you a better picture of water parameters.

Thanks,
Moon.
 

M00n3at3r

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Aug 21, 2013
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Edit: I found this on another forum which may answer my question but I still want everyones opinion.
"PH
Display – 6.5 – 7.5
Breeding – 5.5 – 6.5
Grow-Out – 6.8 – 7.5

Hardness:
Display – 10–15 GH, 5-8 KH
Breeding – 1-4 GH, 0-1 KH
Growing-Out – 8-15 GH, 5-8KH"
Also, are the necessary parameters different for different types of discus? I.e. Snakeskin vs. Blue diamond.
 

wesleydnunder

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The domestic "tank bred" strains like the blue diamond are more forgiving of total dissolved solids than their wild cousins. With that said, I've kept many wild discus and bred them in harder water than you describe yours to be. With discus, lots of clean water and stability is more important, IMO, than some absolute values of tds.

Mark
 

M00n3at3r

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The domestic "tank bred" strains like the blue diamond are more forgiving of total dissolved solids than their wild cousins. With that said, I've kept many wild discus and bred them in harder water than you describe yours to be. With discus, lots of clean water and stability is more important, IMO, than some absolute values of tds.

Mark
I do weekly 50% changes so the water should be fairly clean. I have just heard all of the horror stories about how hard they are to keep so I was a little gun shy.
 

discuspaul

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Your water params are just fine for discus. They will tolerate a wide range of GH & KH, and will be just fine with your higher pH.
In a planted tank however, you would do well to increase your wcs to more frequently than once a week to maintain good quality water conditions, say 2 or 3 X a week - and I strongly suggest you start off with reasonably good-sized discus - near adult size of 4" or more, to prevent stunting.
Otherwise, you're good to go.
 

M00n3at3r

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Aug 21, 2013
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Your water params are just fine for discus. They will tolerate a wide range of GH & KH, and will be just fine with your higher pH.
In a planted tank however, you would do well to increase your wcs to more frequently than once a week to maintain good quality water conditions, say 2 or 3 X a week - and I strongly suggest you start off with reasonably good-sized discus - near adult size of 4" or more, to prevent stunting.
Otherwise, you're good to go.
50% every week isn't good enough? What causes stunting? The ones my private LFS sells are probably 3". Some a little smaller. They do have full adult ones, but I wanted a younger one.
 

wesleydnunder

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Stunting can be caused by a few different things. Water pollution and dietary issues seem to be the main culprits.

Mark
 

discuspaul

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Generally speaking, once a week wcs for discus in a planted tank are acceptable only if you're keeping adult discus of 5" or larger.
Young fish under 3" are quite difficult to raise successfully, unless you're growing them out in a bare-bottom tank, with large daily wcs and multiple daily feedings.

Fish that size generally do not do well in a planted environment, and will not only not attain a decent adult size, many will be stunted in their growth, due to a lack of quality water conditions, particularly if wcs are infrequent - i.e. less than several times a week.

Younger, smaller fish are of course much less expensive than near adult, or adult fish because of the time, care, effort and attention needed by young fish to be grown out properly and well.

In a planted tank with few water changes, water quality & conditions are far from ideal due to the build-up of debris from lack of proper tank cleansing and lack of large amounts of fresh water, which in turn affects small discus (with underdeveloped immune systems) from developing properly, and often creates ill health.

One can't emphasize this enough - it's false economy to risk the loss or deformity of less expensive small discus by keeping them in less than ideal conditions - better to get larger fish and have much better chances of them all surviving in good health.
Apologies if I seem to be sermonizing - I just want to see discus newbies avoid frustration, disappointment, and loss of fish.

This advice is given with over 25 years of discus-keeping - just so you know.
If I may suggest, perhaps it would help you to read my Beginner's Guide to Getting Started with Discus - a Sticky located here in the Angel Fish & discus section.
Best of luck to you.
 

M00n3at3r

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Aug 21, 2013
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Generally speaking, once a week wcs for discus in a planted tank are acceptable only if you're keeping adult discus of 5" or larger.
Young fish under 3" are quite difficult to raise successfully, unless you're growing them out in a bare-bottom tank, with large daily wcs and multiple daily feedings.

Fish that size generally do not do well in a planted environment, and will not only not attain a decent adult size, many will be stunted in their growth, due to a lack of quality water conditions, particularly if wcs are infrequent - i.e. less than several times a week.

Younger, smaller fish are of course much less expensive than near adult, or adult fish because of the time, care, effort and attention needed by young fish to be grown out properly and well.

In a planted tank with few water changes, water quality & conditions are far from ideal due to the build-up of debris from lack of proper tank cleansing and lack of large amounts of fresh water, which in turn affects small discus (with underdeveloped immune systems) from developing properly, and often creates ill health.

One can't emphasize this enough - it's false economy to risk the loss or deformity of less expensive small discus by keeping them in less than ideal conditions - better to get larger fish and have much better chances of them all surviving in good health.
Apologies if I seem to be sermonizing - I just want to see discus newbies avoid frustration, disappointment, and loss of fish.

This advice is given with over 25 years of discus-keeping - just so you know.
If I may suggest, perhaps it would help you to read my Beginner's Guide to Getting Started with Discus - a Sticky located here in the Angel Fish & discus section.
Best of luck to you.
Thanks Paul. I don't mind the sermonizing. I'm trying to not waste $40 worth of fish.
In a planted tank with few water changes, water quality & conditions are far from ideal due to the build-up of debris from lack of proper tank cleansing and lack of large amounts of fresh water, which in turn affects small discus (with underdeveloped immune systems) from developing properly, and often creates ill health.
With regular WC, multiple times a week would that help? I'm doing my homework now to avoid failure later. I'm not going to tear down a perfectly good tank if that is the only way I could keep one healthy though. Let my just clarify that I only mean that after all the work I have put into this 75g, I don't want to undo it all. If bare bottom is the safest way, then I will wait until I have another tank and start them in there. Why isn't a planted tank adequate? I have seen them in planted tanks before. Once again, not arguing just questioning! If there is only minimal waste, will not most of that be absorbed by the plants or broken down into TDS that is removed by WC? i.e. poo, excess food.
 

discuspaul

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Jun 22, 2010
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Thanks Paul. I don't mind the sermonizing. I'm trying to not waste $40 worth of fish.

With regular WC, multiple times a week would that help? I'm doing my homework now to avoid failure later. I'm not going to tear down a perfectly good tank if that is the only way I could keep one healthy though. Let my just clarify that I only mean that after all the work I have put into this 75g, I don't want to undo it all. If bare bottom is the safest way, then I will wait until I have another tank and start them in there. Why isn't a planted tank adequate? I have seen them in planted tanks before. Once again, not arguing just questioning! If there is only minimal waste, will not most of that be absorbed by the plants or broken down into TDS that is removed by WC? i.e. poo, excess food.
WCS several times a week will definitely help, but one will nonetheless risk the loss or limited growth of small discus of 3" or less if kept in a planted tank.
There are a number of factors which cause planted tank conditions to be less than ideal for discus, not the least of which is the type of substrate used (easy to keep squeaky clean, or not), and the lack of a stringent, religious tank cleansing routine being a larger part of the problem.

My best advice is that if you wish to keep discus in your 75 gal planted tank, undertake to do at least 2 or 3 large wcs a week (50% or more) and get fish of no less than 4" in size.

Small young discus are in the category of being 'hard to keep" for a discus novice, particularly in a planted tank. But once you gain several months experience keeping discus and learning their traits & behaviors, then of course things get a lot 'easier'. But please do yourself a favor & start with larger, more mature, hardier discus.
After a good amount of discus experience is gained, it can be a piece of cake to keep discus in planted environments - I've kept discus in planted tanks for years.
Have a look if you care to:
http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h357/discuspaul/redrubys
 
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