discus fish

[discuspaul]

Yes, it would be beneficial for your fish to do daily wcs for a week or 2 if it's not to burdensome for you.
It will do nothing but good. After that 3 or 4 wcs a week would be excellent - you could get by with 3 a week since your fish are near adult - so don't be too concerned about it. But do it as regularly as you can, with a substrate vac each time, and I believe you'll see a change for the better in the look and behaviors of your discus.
And you could reduce the temp to 82 - that's very satisfactory for discus - I keep mine @ 82 all the time. No need for as high as 84, and a lower temp could be better for your ghost knife fish.

 

[jimv8673]

I have a breeder friend Liz, who has a fantastic setup for just water changes, storage barrels, all plumbed up to just open valves and get freshwater daily.

 

[discuspaul]

Great - what most discus-keepers would love to have !

 

[fishorama]

While I am in no way as experienced as Paul, I found a quick daily vacuum to remove waste a BIG plus in maintaining water quality (a few gallons, maybe 15-20 minutes w/Python at most). And quick tank & decor wipe downs every other day with larger WC (50% or more) helped a lot too. All that discus slime & poo is not just unsightly, it adds significantly to bioload. Of course I fed mine at least 2-3x/day when (almost) adult, so there was lots to vac & nitrate etc to remove, lol. The more you do the happier they'll be & be safer for the busy times when you just can't do all you might. Shoot for optimum not minimum & buy some leeway in water quality & discus health.

 

[discuspaul]

Well said fishorama - that's the approach to take for best results.

 

[anubis63]

Hi, I'm directing this message primarily at Paul but anyone else who has something helpful to say please do so. Paul, when you said I could PM you any time something urgent came up I took that to heart but I will try not to overload you with questions besides I don't know what PM is anyway lol. I noticed about a week ago my two Golden Dragon Discus seemed to be pairing off I've never breed Discus before so I'm not sure what that might look like but these two hang around each other very closely all of the time then two or three days ago I noticed a lot of tiny translucent spots on one of the aquarium walls I thought it was just some snail goo from unwanted snails I just managed to eradicate but the two Dragons where hanging around those spots mostly the big one was doing that then last night I put my hand in there to wipe them off and the larger Dragon attacked my hand thinking that he just might have thought I was feeding them I put my hand toward the spots again and again he attacked it he did this about 3 more times so I stopped and went back to watching TV, this morning and all day he and the other Dragon will not go far from those spots the biggest one is on guard more than the other. My question to you is are these Discus eggs? I am uploading some pictures and hopefully you can see them. If they are eggs then I have absolutely no idea what to do next your help is greatly appreciated. Seance the last time we spoke I have been dong the WC as advised and the Nitrates are steady at 5.0 and I've greatly reduces the amount of plants in the aquarium which I got the idea of how many from the picture of your aquarium you uploaded. I've thoroughly scrubbed down the tank walls and really vacuumed the substrate now I'm a little nervous about reducing the frequency of the WC. Any way I'm open for some more "Words of Wisdom" you my have. I hope I can upload these pics. ok so here they are. They kind of look like little bubbles here but that is not the case.

 

[anubis63]

I have a breeder friend Liz, who has a fantastic setup for just water changes, storage barrels, all plumbed up to just open valves and get freshwater daily.

Is there a way to get info on how to set something like this up?

 

[discuspaul]

To Anubis63:
Yes, those are discus eggs, but they're clear white, so don't appear to have been fertilized ( yet, or at all)
If/when they're fertilized, they should take on a beigy/brownish coloration.
It's possible you have 2 females going through with & tending a spawn of unfertilized eggs - happens often with discus.
So you won't get fertilization in that case.
In any event, if it is a male & a female, and the eggs get fertilized, and you eventually get wrigglers, they very likely won't last long with other discus &/or other fish in the tank, particularly as the tank is planted.

No harm done, if it is indeed a mated pair, they will keep spawning from time to time, but you won't be able to successfully raise the young in a community tank. They (the pair) would need to be isolated in say, a 20 gal bare-bottom tank for the breeding process to succeed. But perhaps you don't want that anyway, as raising young discus is a lot of work - attention to detail - maintenance of squeaky clean tank(s) - large daily water changes - multiple daily feedings, several tanks to accommodate them as they grow, more equipment, etc. - it's no picnic - and that's why discus are so expensive as they grow out larger.
So just let nature take its course & don't be concerned.

Btw, a PM is a "private message", and that can be done by clicking on the small pic of an envelope at the top right corner of the page, to start a 'conversation', then follow the prompts/directions from there.
Best of luck to you.

 

[discuspaul]

P. S.
Meantime, forgot to mention that those eggs, whether fertilized or not, will very likely get eaten each time they're laid, either by the discus who laid them, or any others in the group of discus you have, or other fish in your tank. Happens all the time.

( Further note: fertilized eggs appear beige-colored to me, but may also have an 'orangish' tinge.)

 

[fishorama]

anubias63, please don't just do PMs with Paul. As knowledgeable & helpful as he is, we ALL learn from just this kind of thread.

I agree (of course, lol) with Paul, those look to be infertile eggs. But it often takes some practice for some new cichlid parents to get the hang of laying & fertilizing eggs...let alone actually caring for eggs & (hopefully) fry. Failed attempts are not unusual or cause for alarm...& it's oh so exciting!

Make a plan if you decide to try to breed your discus & raise fry in, as Paul said, a separate tank (I'd do at least a 29g). They WILL be a lot of work but it may be a fun, if exhausting, project. Keep us aware of your progress, we love this!