Discus tank

Hi All

Not only am I new to this group, but I am also starting and researching to set up my very first planted aquarium which will eventually house Discus fish. Any advise wll be most appreciated.

I am based in Cape Town area- Northern Suburbs
Regards
Michelle

 

Hello, we are in the same boat.... I am also thinking about Discus ....

 

Hi there,

good for you! I also took on the challenge in April, when I got my first 12 discus from @Marco and his Tan import. Must say, I haven't regretted it for one day. Yes it is hard work, yes you worry a lot, but in the end, it's all worth the effort. Seeing them beauties swimming between and around the plants, is such a rewarding experience.

Couple of lessons learned and this by no means makes me the expert, as it takes years to become a Discus expert and I've only been at it for a few months. There you need to go to the other learned members on this forum.

i) When you're setting up your tank, avoid large rocks like Dragon rock and similar. When they bolt after they got a fright, they tend to "run" into these, hurting (not serious though) themselves.
ii) Leave a nice "clean" area, where you do the feeding. This way, you can easily syphen off the leftovers after dinner. You don't want to sit with uneaten food in between the plants.
iii) Avoid fine plants like moss, grass and other plants that make cleaning difficult. Go for Javas, Nannas and other stronger plants.
iv) Filtration, filtration filtration!
v) If you go for dark substrate (most probably will) you want to avoid certain strains. My Platinum Blue Angel Diamonds and Golden Leopard Snakeskins really peppered a lot. Some say it's the substrate...
vi) Buy good quality fish. That's probably the first thing I picked up, that was a common thread between all the pieces of advice from the experts.

Don't forget to enjoy them!