I got DISCUS!! Good news/bad news

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racingjason

Big Fish Tank..Small Fish Knowledge
Feb 7, 2005
354
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Well the auction came and went today and I now have 8 discus in my tank! I got 5 german turquoise and 3 wild heckels. Some of them are over 6"!! :dance

The bad news is that they were EXTREMELY stressed out during transport. (they were split into a few different bags) One of them pierced a bag with his fin and 1/4 of the water leaked out into my styrofoam transport cooler. :sad So when I got home some were really freaked out and even shed their "slime coat" in the bags. I knew the guy selling them so I was comfortable with adding them to my tank straight out of the bag, and the longer I tried to float them the more stressed they became. I couldn't stand to see them freak out anymore so I let them loose in the tank after about 10 minutes, I turned off the main light and just left the "moon" light on. One looks pretty beat up from transport and is very shy, the others seem ok and even ate some bloodworms after awhile. Hopefully everything works out, I'll know more tomorrow and camera permitting take some pics.
 

elgecko

AC Members
Apr 10, 2003
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Good luck with them.
They may take a week or so till they settle in.
 

><(((\"> JLange

Member with Gills
Dec 10, 2003
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Briggsville, WI
www.lakemason.com
Man, I wish I could afford to get that many discus, that's $400 in our neck of the woods. Please post pictures of your 270 and the new baby's.

JOhn ><>
 

racingjason

Big Fish Tank..Small Fish Knowledge
Feb 7, 2005
354
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elgecko said:
Good luck with them.
They may take a week or so till they settle in.
So I've heard. Maybe you two have a few pointers? Here is some info about my set-up:

Lights:
Approx 200w of light (bright enough for the plants anyway)
Lights on 8 am
Lights off 9pm
Moonlight comes on before lights out and stays on until 3 am (not too bright, looks like real moonlight)

Food:
I have bloodworms and discus pellets. Most of them did eat some bloodworms earlier when offered. One heckel has his mind set on hunting a neon tetra too. :laugh:

Water:
Ph 7
kh 4
gh ~5
no2 0
nh3 0
temp 82
co2 15ppm

Lots of hiding spots in that tank, a few peeked into the caves but never went in. The driftwood is huge and they are making the most of it right now trying to stay out of sight when they see me, and the smaller fish are poking around the amazon swords.

Any obvious mistakes? Let me know what you would do, I'm all ears! :troll: :D

PS- I heard plecos sometimes latch on to eat their slime coat... my pleco just got his a** kicked for getting too close to the biggest fish! :p
 

Nuriel

AC Members
Sep 6, 2004
519
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Seattle, Wa. USA
www.43things.com
tank sounds awesome, i bet the discus will settle in just fine!
hope to see some pics soon.....
 

><(((\"> JLange

Member with Gills
Dec 10, 2003
39
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Briggsville, WI
www.lakemason.com
I just seem to get lucky, but every time I do water changes, or add fish I dose the tank with Aquasafe. I haven't lost a fish for anything other than natural causes (gettn' ate) in about three years.
 

racingjason

Big Fish Tank..Small Fish Knowledge
Feb 7, 2005
354
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Well everyone seems to have settled in. They ate some bloodworms this morning and even ventured into some of the caves. They look HUGE in my tank! I will attempt pics in a bit, but don't expect much, they think I am pure evil. :)
 

WharfRat

Don't Panic / Always Carry A Towel
Jul 6, 2004
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Orlando Fl
www.aquatichabitats.com
I'd back off on the light cycle a bit till they calm down. And did you by chance ask the vendor what they were feeding the Discus so you can mimic them in thier feedings..just something to think on to lessen the stress factor
 

racingjason

Big Fish Tank..Small Fish Knowledge
Feb 7, 2005
354
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Finaddictfred said:
I'd back off on the light cycle a bit till they calm down. And did you by chance ask the vendor what they were feeding the Discus so you can mimic them in thier feedings..just something to think on to lessen the stress factor
Good idea. I will kill the lights early today. He was feeding them pellets, bloodworms, brine shimp. I can manage all that, maybe even some beefheart.
 

elgecko

AC Members
Apr 10, 2003
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PA
www.geocities.com
I do not know if you had seen http://www.simplydiscus.com/forum/ Carol does a great job helping people out.
It took me a long time till I got my discus to eat pellets. I feed my fish beefheart right before I do my water changes to make sure I do not foul the tank.
 
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