Aquarium Dude Posted June 26, 2006 Report Share Posted June 26, 2006 What equipment do i need to keep discuses and how many could be kept in a 250 litre tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faran Posted June 26, 2006 Report Share Posted June 26, 2006 You need to have good filtration of 4-5 the volume of the aquarium every hour and always have a backup heater and a temp alarm (Aquaminder) but most importantly you need to do water changes of at least 20% at least twice a week. Some people do 50% water changers daily. They are truly a high maintenance fish. When small you can have half a dozen in a 100L tank but as they grow they need room until adults, where 50L per fish is recommended. So your tank is suited for 5 adults or a dozen juveniles. Keep up the water changes and go bare bottom if you're serious about growing them out as quickly as possible but they prefer a well planted tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquarium Dude Posted June 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2006 What do you mean "growing them out as quickly as possible" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faran Posted June 26, 2006 Report Share Posted June 26, 2006 Simply put, the more work you put into discus the better the results that you will see. They will grow faster and into larger fish if you keep them in optimal conditions. Quite literally, the cleaner the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquarium Dude Posted June 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2006 honestly i would prefer to have gravel and plants. apart from the growth rate are there any other effects on the discuses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faran Posted June 26, 2006 Report Share Posted June 26, 2006 Nope, they'll be happier in a planted tank just harder to keep spotless. I keep most of my discus in planted tanks. If you keep up plenty of water changes and don't let your tank get dirty there should be no diff between planted and bare bottom. Congrats and good luck. If you need any other help down the live feel free to ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquarium Dude Posted June 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2006 Thanks BlueandKim About how much do Discuses cost in NZ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faran Posted June 26, 2006 Report Share Posted June 26, 2006 Discus seem to be generally priced at $10 per cm body length. Therefore, 3.5cm juveniles will cost approx $35 and 10cm young adults $100, etc. Imported and special colour strains extra. As you're in ChCh you'll be dealing with mostly imported fish as most of the discus breeders are up in Auckland so you can expact to pay $100+ for a 5cm fish. Just a note - shipping discus during winter can be risky - specially to the South Island - even with heating pads. I drive as far as Auckland to pick up my fish to prevent any shipping at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted June 26, 2006 Report Share Posted June 26, 2006 vaires alot, i wouldnt get em from LFS, theyre overcharged and not often great quality. you really want good quality, healthy stock for your first discus. breeders like ronnie, ryden or nz discus have some good stock but are all in auckland :lol: average price for 8-9cmers up here from breeders seem to be around the 50 mark, depending on colour varient of course. i would suggest purchasing discus over 7cm at least, up until that time theres *alot* of work involved and i made the mistake of buying babies and trying to grow them up, it didnt work :-? i beleive that discus under 9cm shouldnt be put in planted tanks, they have alot of growing to do and its very very hard to maintain the water conditions that you have in BB tanks in planted tanks. the planted tanks have to be in total balance otherwise youll spend alot of time gravel siphoning etc. i love BB tanks, so easy to keep clean and thats what im doing with my ones who arent full size yet however they will stay in a BB (unless of course i go nuts with planting tanks and they can go into one of them lol). im not sure if agree with blue on the thing bout em being happier in planted tanks, many people, including breeders keep their fish in BB display tanks and theyre happy as, it really makes them the focus but some people like the more 'natural' look. i was told by a knowledgeable person off simplydiscus (great site btw) that where discus come from there arent many plants (like an averagly planted tank)!! but they do definatly look stunning in planted tanks. its really up to what you prefer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke* Posted June 26, 2006 Report Share Posted June 26, 2006 This is a must read: http://www.simplydiscus.com/forum/showt ... hp?t=28937. There, daily water changes are highly recommended, and wiping down the sides of the tank and filters daily, as well as starting with 6-10 juveniles from a reputable breeder. That website I must say scared me in to not getting discus for a while, but once you have them they're not that hard. But they do love clean conditions and lots of attention. I think they also love a natural planted environment where they know they can hide if they need to. I've compromised with my barebottom discus tanks and have excess plants from my heavily planted 4 ft community tank weighted down in them. This also helps keep the water free of toxins. It is much easier to observe and treat diseases in a BB (barebottom) tank. At SimplyDiscus.com they all pretty much say they don't use gravel in their tanks because it can harbour diseases, it reduces water quality, and can allow nitrate buildup (growth limiting). They say discus appreciate water quality over planted tanks, they might be right but who knows. In saying that the last time I tested my heavily planted tank for nitrate it was 0ppm (not registering) because the plants used it all. So i'm going to try putting some juvenile discus in and see how they grow, will be an interesting experiment. Oh and most well maintained tanks housing healthy fish won't have any problems with diseases either. I recommend at least a 50% water change per week. If you don't have a lot of plants you can just buy some planted poster paper that you stick on the back of the tank to give the illusion it is planted. Some nice planted discus tanks: http://www.simplydiscus.com/forum/showt ... hp?t=36137 A nice BB example: http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/bre ... bxrt.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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