Morpheous Posted June 7, 2008 Report Share Posted June 7, 2008 Seen some discus in LFS today, in a tank with neons and a couple plecostomus. I thought the the discus looked really cool. I was just wondering are they hard too look after ? They are quite expensive to buy and I wouldn't like to buy some and have them die on me ? As I just lost most of my fish cause both my heaters mysteriously became unplugged. (The 5 year old and 17 month old suspects in my house deny all knowledge . LOL.) Tropical fish dont survive too well in 8.6 degree water. Cheers. Glen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted June 7, 2008 Report Share Posted June 7, 2008 They're generally considered to be one of the most difficult and delicate of the freshwater fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheous Posted June 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2008 oh well that definitely puts them off my list of fish for my tank. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted June 7, 2008 Report Share Posted June 7, 2008 Id say if your asking how hard they are to look after then your probably not quite ready to be keeping them... In saying that however do your research and ask some experts about them from what ive heard they're not that hard to keep alive provided you buy them big enough and do your research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted June 7, 2008 Report Share Posted June 7, 2008 one of the key things with discus is that they like a lot of clean fresh water, so in general you need to do more water changes than you would with other species or a community tank. Also they tend to do better either with other discus or specific species, ie cardinals, etc, they are slow eaters, and prefer warmer water than a lot of other tropical fish so most aren't suitable to have as tank mates, eg, swordtails, angels, gouramis, saes etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted June 7, 2008 Report Share Posted June 7, 2008 They're not hard to keep at all. To be successful you absolutely must keep your tank water quality good is all. This means regular large waterchanges and very good filtration. Provided you start out properly and religiously keep your tank maintenance going you will have no problems. They also need a big tank - 500L minimum for 6 discus (to properly thrive). I kept discus for around 15 years. There were 15 discus in a 1200L 2.4m tank. I did weekly 50-60% water changes and the tank was heavily planted. The best thing you can do for discus is give them plenty of hiding places. If they can feel they have a safe place to hide, they'll nearly always be out the front for you to see them. When one is hiding, you know something is wrong. When two are hiding, they're probably laying eggs (if they were a pair)... They're definitely not as hard to keep as most people say. They just require better water conditions to thrive is all. They're possibly not the best fish to start out with as a beginner but if set up right from the outset and the maintenance is performed every week then there's no reason not to try. The biggest issue will be going straight to a fairly big tank. I started with a relatively small 1.5m tank of only 280L. It was only about 1 year before I came across a very good deal on the second hand 1200L tank. The change in the quality of the water with the big tank was immediate. It was much easier to keep stable and looking good. My final big tank was a 3m 3000L tank. This was awesome. Sadly, I had to move house and there was no room for it so it got sold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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