Tropical Fish Discus Forum Questions Answered!

I would like to set up a discus tank. I have been looking into this for some time now and decided to have a 75 gal tank. Would like to keep up to 8 discus but would also like it planted. I have a Ehiem 2327 thurmo filter and an ro. unit. I’m not sure what plants to add to water at that temp. Also should I use co.2 for plants, so many questions, you are the experts! Any help you could give would
be of great help.

Reply:

Many types of plants you can plant.
I suggest you can plant Sword plant which has broad leaves.
The discus fish can lay eggs on it.

Be natural. The plant can grow without adding Co2.
Always remember your discus fish is the master in the tank.
First thing you do make your fish happy.

All my blue discus turned dark in color, all my yellow siams look like they have lots of black spots on them, almost like pigeon
blood spots. My discus are sick but my angels in the same tank are not. What can I do?

Reply:
Your fish are stressed and sick.
Change water and treat them Acriflavine solution plus salt.
Do not keep angelfish together with the dicsus fish.
You will get endless problems.

I would like to know if i can keep two small discus with my 6 inch arowana?

Reply:
Do you know what does Arowana eat?
Your discus fish will be disappear next day.

I have a ten gallon aquarium with a 10-20 filter by regent, aqua-tech. I had a population of 12 fish and the aerobic pad in the aquarium was very discolored due to the # of bacteria. Well I had to treat the water with an algaecide (which did not work by the way), and since then, 2 fish have died (one was constipated I believe and the other one was pregnant and her eggs exploded in her womb and caused her to bleed to death). The aerobic pad is now the same color it was when i purchased it w/ only a few dark spots. Could 2 fish being removed cause the bacteria to die like that, or could it be the stress zyme that I am using? or could it be the algaecide?

Reply:

Algaecide is very poisonous.
Light dosage cannot kill the algae.
Stronger dosage you will kill the fish.
Algaecide must be handling very carefully.

I have 4 discus. One has always been smaller than the others and doesn’t seem to grow as fast.. In the last two days, I have noticed he is swimming alone and is not eating. What could be wrong with him?

Reply:
She is sick and not feeling well.
Most likely she has been bullied.
Put her in special tank.
Treat her with Epsom salt for 24 hours,
Then change water, treat her the Epsom salt again for 24 hours.
On the third day feel her some live food.
She will eat.

I have 4 discus. One has always been smaller than the others and doesn’t seem to grow as fast.. In the last two days, I have noticed he is swimming alone and is not eating. What could be wrong with him?

Reply:
She is sick and not feeling well.
Most likely she has been bullied.
Put her in special tank.
Treat her with Epsom salt for 24 hours,
Then change water, treat her the Epsom salt again for 24 hours.
On the third day feel her some live food.
She will eat.

I just set up my tank for discus, every thing seems to be right, the only thing I can’t do is a lower PH, the PH in my tank water is always around 7.0 to 7.2, I have treated the water with PH down
products, but it’s hard. What do I have to do or to take in consideration to get the right PH for my tank? At same time I wonder how easy or complicate could be each water change when needed. Thanks.

Reply:
Why do you want to put the pH down?
pH around 7.0 is quite okay for discus fish.
Unless you want to breed the wild discus then you have to put it down to 5.5

I am looking into getting two/three discus fish. What kind of fish can live with them? neon tetras? Chinese butterfly pleco? I’ve heard that only some types of plecos will leave the discus alone. Is
this true?

Reply:

The discus fish is good to keep them together with their own kind.
Their habitat and behavior are quite different from other fishes.

I know about ph, and temperature, but what does it mean by the water being a certain hardness?

Reply:
Hardness is defined as the concentrations of calcium and magnesium ions expressed in terms of calcium carbonate.

Most natural water supplies contain at least some hardness due to dissolved calcium and magnesium salts. Other minerals, such as iron, may contribute to the hardness of water, but in natural water, they are generally present in insignificant quantities.

Water hardness has a major effect on pH and pH stability. It will affect the toxicity of many common substances, including some fish disease treatments.

Different species of fish have varied water hardness requirements, so it is important to find out what hardness is best for your fish.

What size of aquarium tank should we use for discus fish? What equipments should be used and should we use filters? What is the degree for “PH” of water?

Reply:
You will use glass tank: any of the size below …
1. 2 feet tank - 24″ x 18″ x 18″
2. 3 feet tank - 36″ x 18″ x 18″
3. 4 feet tank - 48″ x 24″ x 18″

Your local aquarium shop attendant will help set up the tank with the equipment that is available in your country.

The water pH will be at the range of 6.5 to 7.5.

Number of discus you can keep, for example:
3 feet tank 36″ x 18″ x 18″
Contains about 30 gallons of water.
You can keep roughly about 10 babies to adult size.

We just bought a house with a large aquarium. The aquarium has a bad case of “beard algae”. We’ve never had an aquarium and would appreciate advice on how to go about saving the two fish that are left and cleaning the tank.

Reply:
“Beard algae”.
To clear these algae and clean the tank, you follow the method below:

Remove the plants and fish.
Top up the tank with water; add in Chlorine or H2O2 for overnight.
The tank will be clean and algae disappeared the following day.

Fill up the tank again, then check Chlorine with Chlorine Test. If
everything is okay, then you can return the fish to the tank.

I have a 55 gal I started collecting discus in August 04. I now have 5 and one is extremely aggressive it is a high fin red turq. I also have a asian spotted leopard that is constantly getting pounded by the other it becomes so bad that the asian gets little hive spots on its tail fin and looks very stressed. when it gets bad I put the hifin in with my angles and everything is fine in both tanks. I want to keep them together will they ever stop? Should i get rid of one of them?

Reply:
The high fin Red Turquoise is aggressive, so remove and isolate it temporary for same time, then only return it to the original tank.
She will be tame down.
The old fellow in the tank will bully the new comer. Since she is so aggressive then make him a new comer.

Treat the Spotted Leopard with antibiotic.

I am considering keeping discus and the size of my tank is three feet high and two feet deep + two feet wide. Is this suitable?

Reply:
Your tank is 36″x24″x24″ is is okay for fish keeping.
Length: 36″
Width: 24″
height: 24″ (It’s a bit too high. 18″ is ideal.)