karen's discus journal

[szidlon]

Looking great, I love the wood, Karen did good . I would not advise mixing discus and altums. I tried domestic angels and discus once and the angels were too aggresive at feeding time. I wouldn't even consider mixing altums and discus, but that's my personal opinion.

[thekarens]

You're opinion is good. I'm pretty set on cardinals rams and cories with my discus

[Zulaab]

I have to agree with Szidlon.. Angels and Discus dont fare well... when Angels get aggressive they get aggressive... :(

[finfan]

are you guys decided on a color or are you planning on going with the best deal/availability?

[thekarens]

We're negotiating. I like the golden sunrise or whatever they are called and Karen likes the pigeonblood so we might go with two colors. We'll be getting them from Dan's.

[finfan]

i don't have personal experience with discus, but i have read/heard about pigeon blood "peppering" more than other types, i am sure Dan can explain in more detail, now some do like peppering on their discus so it might not be an issue, also if you guys are buying adults, it also might not be an issue

[thekarens]

I'm aware of the peppering issue but haven't seen it on Dans fish so far. Not that it couldn't happen later but the ones I've seen at his shop are gorgeous with no peppering

[jeebus]

The tank looks great! What type of substrate are you using?

[thekarens]

Leslie's pool sand, 30 bucks for 150lbs. We didn't use it all. Prob about 120lbs.

[jklntx]

Are you using Holey rock? If so, doesn't that raise alkalinity?

Didn't see anyone say so allow me. Don't add the discus and other fish together at once. Start with discus wait a couple weeks for them to acclimate then add the others.

[thekarens]

No, its not holey rock. Actually Dan (and others) have said to add the other fish first and the discus last. We'll probably start with the rams or cardinals.

[finfan]

i would also do other fish first and discus last, from my pov you can see how the entire system is doing/maturing with other fish and when you know things are going well/stable for sure you can add discus, to me it would be easier to lose a few cardinals or a ram or two because of instability in the system at the beginning (before full/stable cycling occurs) than lose a discus, so i would definitely have other fish for a couple of weeks before adding discus, i even did that for angels (which are far less sensitive and cheaper), rams are a very good indication because they are somewhat sensitive, rummynoses are another great fish to evaluate water condition, but i realize you guys don't have rummynose in the plan

forgot to mention the other big reason - this way you also don't have to add any fish that might have diseases after you add discus, you can take care of that before discus comes

[thekarens]

Along with all those reasons there's the issue that Dan brought up that the discus would consider the others food if we added them last.

We love rummy nose and would have those two if the tank were bigger.

[wesleydnunder]

There is no documented evidence of discus eating small fish.

Mark

[thekarens]

Maybe not eating but I've seen them chase them, which is normal. If the other fish are in first it will be less likely they will chase them.