A question to experienced discus owners?

Question

Is discus a really difficult fish to keep. I heard from many owners, that their maintenence is exaggerated . I have seen people keeping them without checking ph, testing water. There is a person who has 2 of the heckel's discus in green waters,high ammonia value < 60gallons at variable temperatures, being fed with dirty blackworms, along with angels, plecos, danios, I asked him, how his angels survive that conditions? He says the tank bred angels are tough can survive anything except bullies. Surprisingly he has them for over a year.

Answer 1

Discus have certainly become much more resilient then they used to be, back when they first started breeding them - through so many generations of line breeding they have certainly adapted quite well to aquarium life.

While the PH is still best very acid and soft, they seem to do just fine up to neutral in these respects - although the breeding still seems to be affected in water too hard or alkaline. It's usually best to leave the water parameters alone rather then mess with them and cause instabilities, and if your water is above neutral in either respect you are better off choosing a more appropriate type of fish. For temperature, all fish can handle temperature change and sometimes people get overly paranoid with this - it's when a fish is transfered from one temp to a rather different temp instantly that problems arise. Even in nature temperatures of the waters tend to fluctuate.

I find it hard to believe this person actually has high ammonia values - ammonia will kill all fish equally. Green water doesn't necessarily mean dirty water - green is just suspended algae. He might have high nitrates though. Fish can adapt to higher nitrates, even Discus, if the decline in quality is gradual. This doesn't mean it's good for the fish, and it doesn't mean it isn't shortening their overall lifespan or causing other problems you can't see - it means they're still 'surviving'. Over a year isn't exactly enough time to base it on given how long they are capable of living. The fact is the 60 gallon tank could fit his livestock, depending how many of each he has. In addition we don't know how big they are or how old they are, nor how big they should be given their age. And of course, just because someone else walks off the edge of a cliff, it doesn't mean the rest of us have to follow.

They are very easy fish to keep, because maintaining a tank so that it is kept pristine is easy if you go about it the right way. I don't care how hardy the species of fish I keep are, excellent is the only condition I'll keep my tanks in.

Answer 2

Ditto to much of what Ghapy oindicated, Discus have become tougher over the years. I too would be surprized if any of the fish lived long in a high ammonia environment, that's not something very many fish can be bred to tolerate and certainly not discus.

I would add this observation. Would you want you fish to simply survive, or to truly thrive? That's the difference in puching the line like the person you know, or really providing for their needs.

I can see not testing pH, once the fish are accustomed to a particular value and you know the replacement water meets that value, there is no need to test further. Once I had my system for water changes down for mine I rarely tested Ph either.

Luck me be playing a big roll in your friends ability to keep Discus.

MM

Answer 3

I would have to say that Discus-keeping is a bit over-exaggerated as far as difficulty. I have a healthy Discus tank and I pay little attention to the pH. The pH level of my tap water is around 7.5 and I do nothing to lower it. Discus prefer their pH a bit lower than that, but it's easier to simply get them used to the pH level of your tap water rather than worrying about lowering the pH every time you change the water. They'll tolerate a higher pH than recommended much better than a fluctuating pH level you might get by adding water that is of a higher pH level than what is in the tank.

The only special care I give my Discus tank is a higher temperature (I keep mine at around 86 degrees) and frequent water changes (40-50% water change every week).

Also keep in mind that although Discus might survive in adverse conditions, that doesn't mean that they are happy and healthy.

Answer 4

your tanks over populated get your self a good 200 gallon for that many fish !!!!