Discus keeping question

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FishFanMan

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I've read 20% daily WC would be acceptable for a sandy, well planted, established tank.
Are the WCs needed to keep the nitrates to zero? So I have enough bio filtration and my
API tester can not detect nitrates, then I can do perhaps every other day WCs?

Thanks.
 

SnakeIce

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It really depends on stocking levels, and how much you are feeding. A planted tank should not ever be at 0 nitrates, because that puts the tank at a slightly increased risk of algae takeover.

In my opinion many of the "rules" of keeping discus like daily waterchanges are because of the high bioloads relative to the volume of water. Personally the one discus per ten gallons recomendation I see is more fish for the water volume than I'm comfortable with. If you do the work of daily waterchanges it is possible to keep them healthy and grow big discus at that level. Personally I have decided that I don't want to keep discus unless I can give them minimum twenty gallons per fish, and even that would be a heavier load than I usually like to keep in my aquariums.

There is more than just nitrates that need to be removed by waterchanges. Nitrates are an acceptable guage for those other things though. Cichlids put hormones out in the water that serve to inhibit the growth of others around them, but in an aquarium those are not carried away and build up. A fish can be stunted by lack of waterchanges because of those hormones. You can't test for those, so keeping nitrates low is one measure to go by. So for their health, especially while they are growing, waterchanges are important.
 
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discuspaul

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The necessity for larger quantity and more frequent water changes is largely dependent on the relative size of the discus. Small young discus, say 1" up to 3" or so require large daily water changes to avoid their becoming stunted, particularly in a planted tank with substrate. Near adult, or adult discus - 4" or larger, can get by with once weekly wcs in a bare-bottom or very lightly planted tank, but smaller ones in a similar environment should have fairly large wcs at least 2 or 3 X a week.
Bottom line is that younger discus do need large daily wcs if in a well-planted tank.
Water changes for discus are a necessity not just for nitrate removal, but primarily to maintain the highest water quality & conditions possible, to ensure proper growth & development, and maintenance of health.
 

FishFanMan

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Ok, thanks guys.

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FishFanMan

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I'm trying to find local breeders or lfs for discus and have found a few in my area. But I have no idea if the fish are of good quality. I'm interested in the blue snake skin or leopard discus they have.

Can a discus expert take a look at this website and see if these are in good health. They say these are real pictures of what they have.
I would like to buy a healthy pair of discus.

http://exoticdiscus.wix.com/exotic-discus#!__discus-list

Thanks
 

rufioman

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Discus "breeders" are hard to find, especially when concerning the health and longevity of the fish. You'll want to find someone to pm here who has a local breeder willing to ship; one that they know and trust. You don't want to waste $40/fish on something small and sickly.
 

discuspaul

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I'm trying to find local breeders or lfs for discus and have found a few in my area. But I have no idea if the fish are of good quality. I'm interested in the blue snake skin or leopard discus they have.

Can a discus expert take a look at this website and see if these are in good health. They say these are real pictures of what they have.
I would like to buy a healthy pair of discus.

http://exoticdiscus.wix.com/exotic-discus#!__discus-list

Thanks
I have read many excellent reviews and recommendations about Jeff's discus (Exotic Discus of Oak Forrest, Ill.) on the simplydiscus.com forum
Looks like you can't go wrong with them.
Another excellent supplier in your area, is Chicago Discus (Josie Christopher) who is a long time excellent breeder and importer of high quality discus. I've seen dozens of her fish over the years, and they are excellent specimens. She also carries Piwowarski discus from Germany - very high quality.
Check out their website: chicagodiscus.com
 

SnakeIce

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I did a little googling reviews on the site Exotic Discus. Here is a summary of what I found.

Exotic gets discus from Asia, and though as a person he reportedly is great to deal with some say quality is good but not great. So, many people are happy with fish from there, but a few have recieved fish not at top quality from there. The fish are hormoned to show adult colors on the juvenile fish, which will fade before they grow enough to have those colors naturally.

A look on a discus specific forum could give you recomended sources.
 

discuspaul

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Here's a number of reviews of Exotic Discus' fish - all very good:
The reviewers are all members of simplydiscus.com, and are experienced discus-keepers. There is not one mention of the fish being hormone-fed to artificially color them up, and these people would know if that were the case.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?115559-Exotic-Discus-in-IL&p=1116487




I'm trying to find local breeders or lfs for discus and have found a few in my area. But I have no idea if the fish are of good quality. I'm interested in the blue snake skin or leopard discus they have.

Can a discus expert take a look at this website and see if these are in good health. They say these are real pictures of what they have.
I would like to buy a healthy pair of discus.

http://exoticdiscus.wix.com/exotic-discus#!__discus-list

Thanks
 
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discuspaul

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Here's a number of reviews of Exotic Discus' fish - all very good:
The reviewers are all members of simplydiscus.com, and are experienced discus-keepers. There is not one mention of the fish being hormone-fed to artificially color them up, and these people would know if that were the case.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?115559-Exotic-Discus-in-IL&p=1116487
The above link is for page 2 of the thread - check out Page 1 too, for all the reviews.
 
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