Discus Care
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When buying your fish from us they will be put into clean water in a double plastic bag and oxygen will be added and the bag sealed. If buying a number of fish they will then be placed into a polystyrene box so as to retain the heat for the journey, particularly if it’s a long one or an overnight delivery.
When unpacking your fish what we recommend is not floating the fish in the bags in the new tank. We feel this is stressful on the fish and much prefer the method given us by our supplier, Shaifullah Yeng.
Place the bags either in a bucket (used exclusively for fish) or the polystyrene box and cut the tops off the bags. Invert these bags, fish and water, into the container. Then use airline tubing to drain water from your tank into the container (a knot can always be tied in the tube to reduce the flow of water) and leave the fish to acclimate to your water parameters for around a half an hour. After the given time either gently lift the fish out with your hands, being careful not to drop them should they wriggle, or use a net to transfer them one by one to the tank. NEVER tip the water they have been travelling in into the tank. It doesn’t matter how clean water looks there is a danger of transferring pathogens from one tank to another.
It is also advisable if adding new discus to a tank already housing discus to quarantine them for 2 weeks to ensure they are healthy and eating well. When the fish are in the intended tank, leave them quiet for a while and don’t worry about feeding them for the rest of that day. If, the next day, they’re looking for food then try them with some frozen bloodworms.
Our fish are fed beefheart, Tetra Prima, frozen cultivated bloodworms and frozen cultivated brine shrimp so they should feed reasonably quickly and certainly within 3 days. Never overfeed them to the point their bellies are bulging or there is left over food on the tank bottom – little but often is a good rule.
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There is a general rule to go by which states that each adult discus should have around 10 gallons (45 litres) each. i.e. 10 adult discus to a 100 gallon tank. Of course, if large daily water changes are to be carried out then this limit can be sensibly exceeded.
Small tanks can be used for rearing fish but again large daily water changes should be carried out.
Planted tanks are OK but bear in mind the temperatures required for keeping discus are high, typically 82ºf - 95ºf or 28ºC - 33ºC. Planted tanks can also be difficult if the need for medication arises. Most discus medications spell danger to plants but medication is another totally separate issue! It is better to keep adult discus in planted tanks.
Most breeders tend to use bare tanks for ease of keeping clean and hygienic conditions. This also reduces the risk of any disease outbreaks.
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There are no hard and fast rules about keeping discus in soft or hard water. However, they thrive in water which has a PH range of 6.5 to 7.5, a GH (general hardness) in the range 3º - 10º and a KH (carbonate hardness) of between 1º and 6º.
Water changes are the key to success.
Water with the same parameters & temperature as the tank water should be used to avoid stressing the fish. Water should also be stored for 24 hours prior to being used and be treated with a de-chlorinator. Water changes really are the key to keeping healthy discus.
Asian breeders change up to 95% at any one time (but their water is near perfect!!)
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A variety of foods should be fed. A good beefheart mix, flake foods, frozen brine shrimp, daphnia, krill, Bloodworms will all be accepted by these fish.
A word of caution here - Bloodworms should not be fed too often. It's said they can induce problems of the intestines (hexamita/spironucleus). LiveTubifex are a definite NO. These carry parasites and should be avoided.
Earthworms are used by many breeders and are relished by the fish. These should be small and perhaps purged by keeping in shredded newspaper for 24 hours prior to feeding. There's a train of thought amongst some breeders that they keep the fishes intestines functioning properly and reduce the risks of infections developing. White worms are a favourite food also. They're said to be easily cultured but I must confess we've never had much success in breeding (keeping) them.
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Is usually done successfully with one pair of fish to a tank of 18 gallons upwards although in larger tanks the fry may have trouble locating their parents. They will breed in a planted or community tank but success will vary.
One sure thing about breeding discus - NOBODY DOES IT THE SAME WAY!!.
What works for one breeder may not work for another. General guidelines for a breeding tank are 18" (45cm) x 18" (45cm) x 18"(45cm) tanks with a heater, an air driven biological sponge filter and a spawning substrate (cone, piping, brick etc). Soft water with a PH of 5 to 7, a KH of around 2-3º and a GH of around 2-5º. Temperatures around 84º to 88º are needed. When the pair are ready to spawn they will start bowing to each other, quivering and doing some 'tail slapping' which is fun to watch! They will also start to c lean off the site where they will eventually lay the eggs. This may not be where YOU want them to lay. They often lay eggs on the glass or the heater. In this case patience is what is required. They will eventually lay on the correct substrate all they need is a little practice.
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Spawning takes place usually late in the day.
The pair will clean the site and the female will make "dummy runs" with the male looking on and waiting anxiously for his time to perform. She can lay anything from 50 to 300 eggs at any one time, turbo spawns of 500 are rare but possible, the norm is around 150.
They will take it in turns to guard and fan the eggs which will hatch in 48 to 60 hours if they have been fertilised. It is usual for one of them to go very dark in anticipation of the fry hatching. Through all this the parents are still fed daily. The parents might move the wrigglers to another site, so don't panic too much if they look as though they've disappeared.!! It's thought they do this to fool any predators.
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After a further 72 hours the fry should become free-swimming.
We usually turn the air down even more during this time so that the fry don't get too battered around by the current. It makes it easier for them to find the parents who, by this time, are dark so as to attract the fry to them in order to feed off the mucus they are producing.
If all goes well, you'll see all the fry over the backs of the parents. This is a wonderful sight to experience. It is also a crucial period for the fry. When you are changing water, it is necessary to replace with aged water which has the same parameters and temperature as the tank. Fry at this stage are very delicate and susceptible to changes.
Once they are free swimming it is advisable to leave a light on over the tank all night so the fry can continue to feed. They will feed off their parents for as long as they can, if allowed to. On about the 6th day of free swimming we usually offer baby brine shrimp (nauplii) to supplement their diet and to also start to wean them off the parents.
After 10 days or so the fry can be removed to another tank, if desired, with exactly the same parameters . They can be left in with the parents as long as the adults do not get too stressed or have 'holes' eaten in their skin. Discus fry have extremely sharp teeth and when feeding can, and often do, make grazes in the skin. If you watch them carefully you will see them tearing into the mucus lining of the adults.
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After a short settling in period, you will be able to see how your fish are doing.
They should be bright; feeding eagerly and coming to the top of the tanks when you put your hand there or when feeding them. You will have been doing 2 or 3 water changes a week and the fish should be growing well.
The bigger the waterchange with small fish, the better as far as we’re concerned. Asian discus breeders change up to 98% at a time and sometimes twice daily!
It is also worth remembering that if you can manage it feed small fish a varied diet and as often as you can up to 6 times a day. It’s also worth remembering that the more you feed, the more they will pollute the water so the more water you will have to change to obtain optimum growth.
You will have been practising good husbandry by cleaning the bottom of the tank off and wiping down the glass once a week to keep bacteria down and checking PH, GH, KH, nitrite and nitrate levels to ensure the parameters are suitable for the fish and that the filter is coping with the new load placed upon it by the introduction of the fish.
A routine must be established in order to keep the discus happy. I happen to maintain that we are water keepers and not fish keepers as it really is the water that is the key to keeping healthy discus.
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Firstly, don’t panic!!
Battery operated air pumps are available for the single tank discus keeper and it may be worth having one in the cupboard. If you have a gas cooker, it might be worth warming up some water to put into plastic lemonade bottles or similar plastic containers to keep the temperature up. Just do not pour very hot water into these bottles – they melt!
The fish will not worry about the lights being off so all that really leaves is the filter. Switch this off at the mains if the electricity has been off for any length of time. When the electricity is restored, strip the filter down and dispose of the water in the container but don’t necessarily clean the media unless it has been sometime since it was carried out. It is this water that can harm the fish by dumping ammonia from dead bacteria back into the tank when the filter starts back up again. The filter bacteria can survive for a very long time fortunately – 6 to 7 hours will still see live, viable bacteria able to keep the biological side stable. If using an up and over trickle filter we recommend syphoning off all the water in the compartments and then refilling with clean, fresh water before switching the pump back on – it’s worked for us on occasion and may well just save your fish.
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Firstly, don’t panic!!
Discus are hardy fish despite what some people would have us believe.
Check ALL parameters are OK and note them down for reference. Check faeces on the tank floor are brown and ‘ratlike’. Check heaters are working correctly.
DO NOT go throwing medications unnecessarily into the tank until you have spoken to the person you bought them from to obtain their opinion as to what may be wrong. If you bought your fish from me then telephone me and at any time within reason.
Seek help from the BIDKA forum, the DPH forum or the UKDA forum – they have many ‘hobbyists’ who are all too willing to impart good advice and it would help them if you post your parameters.
It is extremely hard to sit and watch your expensive fish which you have lovingly nurtured and fed and watered, looking ill or even dying but remaining calm is a must. Sometimes just a good sized water change or an increase in temperature is all that is needed to get them over an initial problem; other times a medication may have to be used but there is a protocol to be observed when diagnosing and using medications so ask before dumping them into the tank. If seeking the advice of a vet, adhere to what he prescribes or proposes to the letter; he should know what he is talking about!!
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