# What type of discus is this?



## 2ToneArmy (Feb 8, 2003)

It is currently in a planted 10 gallon that I would like to upgrade to a medium-light/heavily planted 3 or 4 foot tank, and get a nice school of discus. This is the tank so far, that I started with an extra 10gal that I had laying around:










The other inhabitants include 3 congo tetras (would like to get 2-3 more), a bolivian ram(would like to get a few more), and a butterfly loach. There are anubias barteri, java fern, java moss, and red wendtii plants that I feed with several plant foods and CO2 tablets.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

in a 10g tank, it's a soon-to-be-dead variant. Get it out of there... now. 

The variant is a blue turquoise. If you buy it a proper tank, it could make an excellent wet pet. 
I'd suggest a 55g tank with just that Discus, a few more tetras, a BN pleco.

I've never tried Bolivians in with Discus... not sure if it would work out. You might get away with it in a 55g, but I'd post that combo on the S.A. forum for a few votes from our Bolivian Ram experts like Blairo.

Hope that helps.


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## 2ToneArmy (Feb 8, 2003)

Well, they've been in there for about 4 or 5 weeks. The discus eats tremendously (blood worms and Ocean Nutrition flake) and shows no signs of illness. The plants are getting well established and growing quickly, and the ram just keeps to itself and doesn't bother anyone.

I'd say as they are, the tank is doing GREAT as of right now, but I only set it up in a 10 because it was a spare tank and I knew I was going to go larger. I am no newbie to fish keeping (kept and bred Africans for 7 years) but am new to plants and American cichlids.

Could you move this to the S.A. section so I can get some more responses on the tank?

Thanks!


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## FLGirl1977 (Jul 24, 2007)

See those black bars?? Those are 'Stress Bars'... he might look okay, but I can assure you something is not making him happy. Maybe he's lonely, or frightened, or (not sure what your nitrates are) but high nitrates can do that too.

If it were me personally, I would set up that 55 gallon and have this guy sexed. Get him/her a mate and keep only two in that 55. Get some cardinals and rummy nose tetras to make them feel at home. They make a stunning addition with discus. I would get some nice driftwood that they could hide behind or some floating driftwood. They like to have places to hide when they feel threatened, so providing a few places to hide will make him feel more at home. Good luck, he's beautiful! :thumb:

BTW, I would say by the pics he looks like a blue turk to me too.


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## Guest (Dec 2, 2008)

How often do you do your water changes? Yes, stress bar could be a cause for concern, but it could mean nothing. May be water condition may not be optimal. By the way, I have been keeping discus and bolivians for a couple of years without any problems. But I've always had them housed in a bigger tanks. If your discus is eating well, that's a good sign. Like others suggested, I would get a bigger tank for the fish sooner than later. Good luck.


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## 2ToneArmy (Feb 8, 2003)

Thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it. I did not know about the bars being bad. I thought it personally looked more attractive and thought it was comfortable haha.

The water is not the area of concern. I do frequent water changes and the plants are growing like mad so I know the water is in good shape. The discus is, again, eating like crazy and has not had any disease since I got it so I know it's physically healthy.

Perhaps it's lonely or does not have enough hiding spots because the tank is in an area where people walk by frequently. I was hoping to not have to get another 4 footer tank due to size. What about a 3 foot tank that's nice in size like 40-50 gallons?


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

a single Discus can be quite happy in a 33g long tank... the tank is 3ft long and a LFS quality Discus will not likely out grow the depth. If you are worried, a 3'by 18" tank is not that much more and suits a single Discus wonderfully.

Hope that helps.


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## Guest (Dec 3, 2008)

Not sure how often and how much you do your water changes, but just because plants grow like crazy doesn't mean water is good for the fish. It could also mean high nitrate which means not great for fish. In a 10G tank with that many fish including a discus, I would think you would have to do at least 50% daily water changes. Also, you would have to feed your juvy discus 5 to 7 times a day.


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## FLGirl1977 (Jul 24, 2007)

BTW, what you're feeding him is fine, but he's gonna need a bit more nutrition to fatten him up. Many people suggest beefheart.... but in my personal experience I've had some bad run-ins with that. I feed my guys color enhancing brine flake (only once a day), frozen bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp. They are nice & fat and always begging for more. A hungry fish is a happy fish (even though I feed 3 times a day). :lol:

Brine is 95% protein and 5% fat, so that should be really good for fattening him up. See that area near the forehead by his eyes? It should be the same width (almost) as his eyes... your guy looks a bit thin and could use some brine. Good luck with that beautiful baby! :fish:


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## 2ToneArmy (Feb 8, 2003)

I do a 25% change about every 3 days. After the change I put in a few CO2 pellets and my plant fertilizers. I feed a cube of frozen blood worms every other day, and have been feeding Spirulina flake or NLS pellets about 3 times a day to the tank. I'd say once a week I throw in some turkey heart that I have left over from my 55gal Tanganyikan tank.

The reason I mentioned that the plants are growing is because having plants keeps the water cleaner and removes nitrates. The combination of lighting (two 15watt compact 50/50 flourescents in a 10 gal), CO2 tablets, and plant fertilizers are making these plants shoot up like crazy.

I really appreciate all of the help you guys are giving me. I posted a WTB ad on Craigslist for a 3 or 4 foot tank and had a few people get back to me. Hopefully I'll have a bigger tank up and running soon


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## FLGirl1977 (Jul 24, 2007)

Here's a great 60g. tank that would be perfect for $100

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/hsh/942636237.html


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## 2ToneArmy (Feb 8, 2003)

FLGirl1977 said:


> Here's a great 60g. tank that would be perfect for $100
> 
> http://atlanta.craigslist.org/hsh/942636237.html


First of all, I want to say thanks for at least looking in my area for me and suggesting a tank - very thoughtful of you.

What's so hilarious is, I actually went and bought that tank last night and just logged on and found you suggesting it. What a coincidence  I'm going to work on setting it up during the next week and I will post pictures of it :thumb: The tank is really nice - it's the same dimensions as a 55 but the glass is much thicker than a standard 55. Very happy with it. I just need to figure out a way to rig my two compact flourescents in along with the light strip that came with it as I want to keep my quick plant growth. And I'm going to have to order a lot more CO2 tablets 

So you think I could only fit one more discus in that size?


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## FLGirl1977 (Jul 24, 2007)

I really wouldn't put more that a pair in there, otherwise you could/would start running into problems. I think you will be quite happy with a pair in there along with 20 cardinal tetras and a dozen rummynoses...

Don't forget an adult discus is quite large...If you put 3-4 in that size, you will find that two will pair up and harass the $%@% out of the other two.

Maybe a couple of rams could go in there as well... It only take a couple of discus to make a statement! :wink:


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## 2ToneArmy (Feb 8, 2003)

Sweet, I will look for another nice discus to add then. How important will sexing both fish be? I'm not concerned with breeding discus at the moment so I wouldn't mind having two females or two males if aggression won't be an issue.

I really like the congo tetras (featherfin tetras) that I have but I'm having a hard time finding more locally. I might have to order some.

I want to make a DIY styrofoam/cemented background but I can't seem to find styrofoam. I've tried Lowe's and WalMart so far. I'll try posting a dedicated question on making a background in another thread


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## FLGirl1977 (Jul 24, 2007)

This link should be helpful with sexing them, it will show you what to look for:

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7696

I've had "luck" with my discus. I have two males that are buddies and hang out. I've also had two females that liked to spawn and fan eggs together.... granted nothing came of it....but funny nonetheless! Just bring another home and (after keeping the fish in quarantene) keep an eye on them. There are no guarantees... they are all different and have thier own personality! If they don't get along, then you will need to exchange until you find a happy couple (whether opposite or same sex).

As far as backgrounds go, the ONLY background I've seen that looks appropriate with discus is this one:

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=237122

and here:

http://www.aquariumhabitats.com/rainforest.html

http://www.aquariumhabitats.com/Amazontree.html

http://www.aquariumhabitats.com/AmazonasIII.html

http://www.aquariumhabitats.com/amozonas1.html

This is just my opinion, but your typical DIY background always looks like rocks and discus natural habitat is mostly mud and driftwood. Here are a couple of beautiful nicely designed discus tanks (IMO):

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15715

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11166

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15043

Here's a DIY discus background that looks great!

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12929

*Here is my ALL TIME favorite discus tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!* :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: (looks most like thier natural habitat)

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13951

Hope these links help and give you a better idea.. :wink:


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## 2ToneArmy (Feb 8, 2003)

I tried to view the discusforums links but both a gmail and yahoo email accounts came up as being "banned" from the site and I cann't register. Beats me.

I was thinking of doing some sort of tree/root system with the background.


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## FLGirl1977 (Jul 24, 2007)

Here is the picture of my favorite tank posted on discusforums:










Not mine, but I have long admired this work. This is a true discus biotope. As you can see, there are rocks in the background, but his use of driftwood makes it appear very natural. One of the most stunning discus tanks I've ever seen!

Here is a link to his site:

http://www.discus.hobbylounge.nl/

You can see the tank above before it was filled with water. Granted it's in dutch, but you can still navigate and get the idea.


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2008)

Try simplydiscus.com for more info on discus. I used to belong to both simply and discusforum.com but I have found simply to be a much better site and forum. Plus, majority of members at discusforum are from Australia so you have time zone issues when you need quick responses.


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## 2ToneArmy (Feb 8, 2003)

FLgirl that tank is amazing. I think I might have seen that picture before actually.

I think I have a good eye for decorating a tank I'm not the type to methodically stack rocks on top of one another like lincoln logs or add mermaids and castles :lol:

I've been thinking of abandoning the DIY background because of how thin 55gal is - might be something I try in the future with a 75 or 125 though. I already have a huge gorgeous piece of driftwood and I'll be adding plants. For substrate I'm using a mixture of sand and the black rock that's in the 10 gallon I posted in the original post.


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## FLGirl1977 (Jul 24, 2007)

2tone-- I saw your malawi and it looks great! I don't doubt you will create an awesome tank... hopefully you will post some pics when it's finished!


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