My first discus

[Rbishop]

It is in your sig...

15 gallons planted with 3 gouramis ,male betta and 3 corys

Is that the 15 gal with the discus?


You won't find folks giving you advice on how to keep one single one..not if they are good hobbyists.

 

[icemanx23]

yes. I move some of my fish into 10 g. I also have two 7 gallons empty tank. And i know what u mean, i also like to have 5 or more discus. Problem is i've kept cichlids and i know how meesy they are. And i want my discus to have at least 15 g of water volume for each one. most people say 10g per discus but i've seen the size they can reach. And my 15 gallons is the one where all my flowerhorns started living in before they are moved into larger tanks. I also have this tank for more than 10 years so i'm really attached to this tank. My other option is get another 5 and raise them in 50 barebottom and when they reach around 4 inch, i'll move them into 150. So i have enough time to prepare my 150 into a planted tank.

 

[wesleydnunder]

...But with discus my aim is not to max out the size...

Why would you not want discus to reach maximum size? You obviously aren't ready to "experiment" with these wonderful cichlids. Please take the discus back to the store before you wind up killing it. Like Bob said, you've received some really good advice from these folks...please heed it.

Mark

 

[bs6749]

LOL! I don't think that discus is going to get much larger. It is already stunted, but I guess this is a good thing since you don't have a large enough tank.

 

[yourchoice]

That`s far below an average rating discus.Maybe 3 out of 10.Too pointy likley never grow more than 4 inches.Should take it back do more rersearch start fresh.Go to Simply Discus>80% or more of what you see in stores are low quality.

 

[lilim10]

yes. I move some of my fish into 10 g. I also have two 7 gallons empty tank. And i know what u mean, i also like to have 5 or more discus. Problem is i've kept cichlids and i know how meesy they are. And i want my discus to have at least 15 g of water volume for each one. most people say 10g per discus but i've seen the size they can reach. And my 15 gallons is the one where all my flowerhorns started living in before they are moved into larger tanks. I also have this tank for more than 10 years so i'm really attached to this tank. My other option is get another 5 and raise them in 50 barebottom and when they reach around 4 inch, i'll move them into 150. So i have enough time to prepare my 150 into a planted tank.

I'm going to try my best not to point out the obvious, as many others already did. However, if you really are serious about the plan to get five discus and raise them in the 50 barebottom, I would start now. I would also transfer the lone discus in the 15 into the 50 along with the other five future discus. He will be a lot happier with other discus, and once you are ready and have prepared the 150, transfer them all into it. I would also strongly suggest visiting simplydiscus.com and joining the forums there, they have very helpful people and great discus sellers.

 

[lilim10]

That`s far below an average rating discus.Maybe 3 out of 10.Too pointy likley never grow more than 4 inches.Should take it back do more rersearch start fresh.Go to Simply Discus>80% or more of what you see in stores are low quality.

I hope I'm not offending you, but I have to disagree. Juveniles can change a lot depending on their care (of course it will probably never reach the same level as the discus sold at simply), but with care it could still grow to be a decent fish. It doesn't look particularly stunted to me, but I'm no expert at telling. If it's still young, it could possibly grow to a nice fish.

 

[bs6749]

The assessment by youchoice was pretty accurate. This discus is well below average and it is in fact stunted. If you look at the size of the eye you can tell that something is not right. It is common to go by what's called the "eye-to-body size raitio" when determinining if a discus is stunted. This one clearly is. Just look at the "mini" pelvic fins on the fish compared to the rest of its body. Also notice the beakiness of the fish near the mouth and how close the eye is to the outside of the forehead. There is a clear dent in the forehead area of the fish and all of these attributes make this fish well below average. It's not a juvenile and it should be 5" or more at this age. In my opinion it should be culled.

 

[pinkertd]

Gosh guys, it's a pet. Let's try to teach the OP how to properly keep the discus and not be judging the fish and saying it should be culled. If we culled every pet that didn't meet set standards, we'd have only a fraction of the dogs, cats, horses, fish and who knows what else. It looks very small in that 15 gallon tank so for the time being, it's able to swim around just fine. That fish is currently probably in the nicest tank it's ever been in since it was hatched, getting food far better than at the LFS. Some of the discus I've seen in fish stores make me turn around and leave before I get anymore upset. Let's consider that one a lucky rescued discus and help.

 

[bs6749]

Gosh guys, it's a pet. Let's try to teach the OP how to properly keep the discus and not be judging the fish and saying it should be culled. If we culled every pet that didn't meet set standards, we'd have only a fraction of the dogs, cats, horses, fish and who knows what else. It looks very small in that 15 gallon tank so for the time being, it's able to swim around just fine. That fish is currently probably in the nicest tank it's ever been in since it was hatched, getting food far better than at the LFS. Some of the discus I've seen in fish stores make me turn around and leave before I get anymore upset. Let's consider that one a lucky rescued discus and help.

And if you are going to have a pet you should care for it properly. Going out and purchasing a single discus in order to "gain experience" is not the proper way to go about the learning process. Discus are completely different when they are in groups compared to when they are isolated. Sure you can feel sorry for the fish all you want but when it comes down to it the fish will never be as healthy as it should be and it may effect the health of other fish in the tank, including future discus that the OP will go out and purchase since they are so easy to keep after owning them for a week and seeing everything there is to see. I feel this is yet another typical case of an uninformed customer going out and making a purchase not knowing all the details about what is involved and not knowing poor stock from quality stock. That's the first rule in discus keeping...start with good stock. The second rule isf requent and large volume water changes.