Fish Care Tips - Caring For Discus

Fish Care Tips - Caring For Discus

Discus are a warm water fish.

The first special characteristic of the species is its flattened body shape. It is compressed from the sides to a dish or discus shape. The coloring varies but in most species and variants include beautiful colors. The height and length of the grown fish are both about 20-25 cm (8-10 inches).

The second special characteristic of the discus is its care for the larvae. Like all cichlids, the parents care for the young but the discus has a unique way to improve the care: the parents give off a secretion through their skin, off which the larvae live during their first few days. The young can be seen grazing off their parents.

The discus are shy and peaceful aquarium inhabitants. They are sensitive to stress and disturbance or lack of protection. The best cohabitants may be angelfish and small characides like tetras. The Uaru is another preferred tank-mate of the discus. However, small fish care may be intimidated by the big discus fish or even eaten.

Temperature is a critical factor in not only keeping them alive but in maintaining a good growth rate. Optimal temperature should be between 84-90 deg. Temps. Below 82 should be avoided. We keep all of non-breeding fish at 88, and breeders at 84. The hatch rate greatly diminishes above this temp. The growth rate in younger fish raised at 88-90 as opposed to 82-84 is unmistakable. Along with the fact that many pathogenic parasites cannot survive above the 86 threshold. Ick should never be a problem for the freshwater aquarist, since 1 cup of non-iodized salt (I prefer Morton yellow bag water softener salt) per 100 gallons of water and kicking the temp to 90. This will knock the ick into oblivion. Hexamita and numerous other ciliates also cannot take these temps. Treatments of 90+ may need to occur for 2+ weeks, but if you kick the temp up when you first notice a problem (white/clear feces, loss of color/ appetite etc.) and keep the fish eating (live foods help here) they will recover with no meds needed. Keep in mind that several weeks (up to 6 or more) of quarantine for new fish care being added to your existing tanks is the best and ultimate way to keep your existing fish healthy from potential disasters

Foods should consist of bloodworms (fresh or frozen), brineshrimp, high protein sinking pellet foods (above 45% protein), beefheart mix, mytis shrimp, and high protein flake foods. Earthworms and whiteworms are another excellent food. Stay away from tubifex and as they are likely to harbor parasites and harmful bacteria since they come from duck ponds. Waterfowl are the intermediary host for numerous parasites. We currently do not feed black worms to our fish, but in recent years black worms have been pond raised and for the most part are an excellent food. Try to verify that they are farm raised to reduce the risk of picking up some nasty bacteria for your fish. Also I have heard from dozens that do feed these worms that their discus get spoiled very quickly on this food and will not touch any of there other food, so feed sparingly. Same goes for the white worms! Another great food source (especially for getting females to spawn) is live mosquito larva. Just make sure to harvest at least every couple of days unless you and your neighbor get a nice bought with West Nile! De worming your fish is as simple as going to your vet, purchase Droncit for dogs 34-mg. Tabs. Smash tablet into powder add to 4 oz of thawed bloodworms and refreeze. Feed this to all of your fish care and repeat again in 10- 14 days. Repeat every year or so as needed. I have seen studies done on Droncit (pratzequantil) and fear not it is a very non-toxic drug to your fishes.

The more often you feed your fish the faster they will grow. Consequently they will also produce more waste with more food. Feedings of 2-4 times a day are suggested with a weekly or twice weekly water change to remove all buildup of detritus from the bottom of the tank. This is a minimum for water changes unless it is a heavily planted tank or you just aren¡¯t set on having full size fish. We do water changes at least every other day of 20%+ with a daily cleaning of all profilers. Cleaning of the filter material is also very important in keeping your fish healthy. Check the filters on a regular basis and keep them as clean as possible. Filtration may be achieved though numerous methods. On a community aquarium of 55 gal. Or more, I would recommend the Marineland Emperor 400 filter. They are very easy to clean and they do a great job for their cost. Check your filter inserts on a weekly basis at first and ascertain a cleaning schedule once your tank has settled in on exactly how often to clean them. Remember that the more debris on the filter the more dissolved solids. We like to maintain the TDS at >100 ppm. For breeding tank a sponge filter will do just fine. With a good rinse in non-chlorinated water as needed.

The pH should be maintained between 6.0-7.0. The most important thing to remember about pH is that more Discus fish care have been killed by rapid pH changes than by most other causes. Discus can tolerate a range of pHs from 4.5-7.8. What they can¡¯t tolerate is a rapid change in pH in a short amount of time. So if you are going to adjust your water pH do so very slowly and preferably adjust the water you are adding to the tank after a water change by no more than .3 of a degree per day. Keep in mind if it¡¯s not broke don¡¯t fix it! If your fish are already in their tank and eating and behaving normally, leave their pH alone. If you want to adjust it for breeding do so accordingly. Hardness is another factor that discus can adapt to a range of variances. Ideal hardness is between 50-75 PPM. Hardness is mainly a concern if you are attempting to breed your fish other wise just keep it at a consistent reasonable level (@ 70-100 PPM) For breeding conditions, a pH of 5.5-6.0, temp of 84-86, and softness around 40-75 ppm is desirable.

More info about fish care, please visit RFI Discus.