# Discus in Hard water



## mi casa

Hi all I got 2 Discus today from my LFS chris said he as had them for 4 weeks and they are in tap water and said that that have all been bread in hard water. Will i need to go over to RO or can i stay with tap water? my co2 brings my ph down but i know the hardness stays the same what should i do in the long run.


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## krazypara3165

Ignore the ph as long as thats stable its fine. What is your gh? Kh? Tds? 

So what type of discus did you get? 

And finally where are the pictures!!!


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## roadmaster

I have kept domestic (not wild caught) Discus in moderately hard water from babies to adulthood with no issues. pH 7.4  12DGH.
They did not breed,but tried.


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## Ed Seeley

Agree with the above.  If you keep domestically bred fish (preferably tougher varieties and reared in harder water (usually German or UK bred)) and don't want to breed them then they should be fine.  I'd be wary of more inbred newer varieties and stick to older, less inbred forms and definitely stay away from any bred in the Far East and definitely, definitely not wild caught ones.


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## mi casa

Hi thank you all. As far as i know they are uk fish chris at crystal clear my lfs pick them up him self and said he as used the same guy for 15 years and and they are hard water bred. my ph is 7 all the time so i'm happy with that. Not sure what they are on pidgin blood i think and one blue with brown markings. They keep coming out form the plant every now and then and liked the blood worm i gave them. How many can i keep in my 200l thank i have 40 neons and 100+ cherry shrimp i was thinking 4 get 2 more at the end of the month?.


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## krazypara3165

Id stay clear of live bloodworm if possible. Have you got any pics of the fish? Out of curiosity what temp do you keep your tank at? And because of your bioload id say no more than two more unless their juviniles in which case 4 more. But remember, if you get juviniles they require a LOT of feeding and waterchanges to grow (i feed mine 5x a day and change 50pc of water every other day.

On a final note keep an eye on your cherries...... they can become an expensive snack for larger discus.


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## mi casa

Hi no i get frozen blood worms  they are small about 1half inch disc I'm doing 25l water change every day before i put my fertz in. I was thinking only 2 more as want to keep long term. As for the cherry shrimp i should have put 200+ i started with 15 a year ago so i think i can lose one or two. my tank is at 28.6c and drops to 26 over night as it is open topped. i will put some photos up in the next few day when i get my camera back.


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## krazypara3165

Not to sure about the temprature drop but everything else sounds spot on.


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## Ed Seeley

I'd stick at 4.  They are large fish once mature.

BTW is the fish in your avatar one of your tetras?  If so you have cardinals, not neons.

Your temperature shouldn't be dropping that much really with the lights off.  What lighting are you using?  Being open topped your lights shouldn't be having that much effect.  You can get temperature controllers that will operate some cooling fans as well as your heater and keep your temperature stable to within 0.3 degrees C.


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## mi casa

Hi it was the battery in my temp gauge got a new one and it only dropped 0.2 last night so sitting nice at 28c. No the fish is not one of mine lol.  I use all LED lighting TMC grow beams


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## mi casa

Just done water change and feed them some flake and all seam well good times will defrost some boold worm for the tea


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## mi casa

Got a snap of one of them at tea time


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## krazypara3165

mi casa said:


> Got a snap of one of them at tea time


Upload to photibucket and just copy and paste the full image code 'img code'


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## mi casa

hi got now i think. can you tell what type it is from the photo.


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## krazypara3165

It looks like a red turk crossed with a red pidgeon blood..... hence the dark spots on the front (peppering). Can you get any more photos?


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## discusdan

this thread is making me jealous! cant wait to get mine.

more pics needed


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## krazypara3165

I agree! More pictures needed!


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## mi casa

Hi just waiting for lights to come on @ 2.00pm so will take some and put them up now i know how to.


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## mi casa

got a good shot of the red one and a photo of there new home.


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## mi casa




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## mi casa

And a shot of the blue one. sorry my camera is poo


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## krazypara3165

Wonderful tank, the blue one is a blue turq, but by the looks of things he has some red in him so he will turn out lovely. One thing to note, they look a bit stunted so i cant see them growing too big.


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## mi casa

Thank you will try and get a better shot of the full tank do you think its the hard water that as made them small?. The tank sits 4ft up and divides the front room and the dining room its led by 5 35w halolite 65000k and 4 Tmc leds 65000k 8hrs a day gas c02 and El fertz ph 7. Filters 1 fluval305 and a All pond EF1400 so a good turn over for a 180l tank.


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## nayr88

That looks SIIIICK YOOOO!!!


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## krazypara3165

Looks stunning. The discus would have been stunted when you got them. Not to sound snobbish but due to high turnover of fish most lfs dont give discus the care they need and they are usually placed in centralised systems. In the future youd be better off getting fish frok a breeder directly.


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## mi casa

Don't know of any breeders in Hull or in East yorkshire so if any one out there does can you let me know plz.


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## krazypara3165

i cant think of any to hand, but...... this year they are holding the british show in doncaster which shouldnt be too far from you! there will be every type of discus available to buy all of a very high quality! im hoping to go up on sunday but its 2 hours away from me.

British Discus Show Location


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## roadmaster

Not much of an issue in my view now , but note that the fishes eye's appear large,
Several small feeding's each day ,will help the young fish to grow,develop, to point where eye's appear small rather than ;large which indicate stunted growth.
Blood worm's although enjoyed by most fishes, are largely water/moisture by content,(little nutritional value) and considering where these are gathered from,,may increase the possibility of intestinal parasites.(opinion's vary)
Would stay with good quality flake food with higher protein % like Ocean nutrition while fish are quite small, and get fish started on quality pellet' food as soon as possible.
The Discus I kept were fond on Tetra bit's,New life spectrum,spirulina pellet, Brine shrimp, Ocean nutrition flake .
Once the fish grew larger,,I used larger pellet food's, along with bit's of frozen krill,chopped earthworm's,meal worm's,Freezedried Cricket's (Fluker's).
I did not offer Beef heart,and only served the blood worm's as treat maybe once a week,  and soon ceased with the blood worm's altogether due to issues with Angel fish ,and the Discus which I admittedly speculated,, that the blood worm's were contributer's.


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## krazypara3165

As above! Spot on advice.


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## mi casa

HAPPY DISCUS.


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## mi casa

Got home tonight and my blue one is not a happy Discus. The small mark you can see in the top photo is bigger and he was on his side. So gas off Lights right down and air stone in. It's not a c02 issue but if he is feeling a bit off it's for the best and a dose of API Melafix see how he is in the morning.


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## AverageWhiteBloke

Didn't like to comment in case your fish were just a bit photo shy but in the last photo the blue discus didn't look too happy there.


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## mi casa

Going to defrost some food see if he will come out and eat. he as been swimming about so i hope it just a bit of stress from moving him from the shop - home?
the other one is fine so i'll just have to wait and see.


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## krazypara3165

hopefully he will be fine, it took my discus around a month before they started eating properly. also planted tanks usually make discus appear to look worse than they actually are.


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## mi casa

He was swimming about this morning when i came down and shot off in to the plants when i went near the tank and he came out for some food last night so fingers crossed he will be fine. going to keep lights on low and turn gas down for the next week let them settle in.


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## krazypara3165

How much were the fish if you dont mind me asking?


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## mi casa

£25 each so i know thats not a lot but it is to me i've been saving for them "get me i sound like my 12 year old son" but i have been saving. I have had my eye on them in the shop for a few week and kept going back to see how they were getting on and they were fine i think it my be the move well i hope it is. And thank you for the Discus show info Doncaster is only 45 min drive so have also joined Bidka and got more info thank you. Going to carry on with Melafix for the next few days and see hoe he/she gets on.   How do you sex them at this age?


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## mlgt

Nice and clean looking tank. Look forward to more updates. 

R


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## krazypara3165

Its a lot for tropical fish at the end of the day. Until discus i was used to 99p tetras so paying 20 odd quid a fish was a shock. Just for future reference i got my fish from steve punchard (of punchards discus) for 20 quid each and they are of superb quality. Colours are just starting to show, they are slightly larger than yours but at a guess id say there younger as the colours havnt come out as much as yours yet. Bidka is a cracking site for discus..... just take what some members say with a pinch of salt as there are a lot of "discus must be kept in r.o water in a barebottom tank with two waterchanges a day" which is simply not the case. As far as sexing goes ive never bothered to sex mine as they are too small yet and i must have got like 6months before they are of a breeding age anyway. There is a few videos on how to do it on youtube but it doesnt look that easy! 

But yeah, if you are after more fish there will be some great ones at the show, there will be some good deals too! Also if cash is a problem post on the classifieds section of bidka for juvinile discus. A lot of peoe breed on there and there might be someone near you with great juvinile fish for sale cheap.


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## mi casa

Still touch and go will the blue one one min he is swimming about the next on his side 3 days in to melafix  just have to wait and see. when the lights go out on a night he seam a lot more active and only comes out if i put some blood worm in ( defrosted ).  I was thinking of contacting the shop and see what he has to say see if he will give me an other one if he dies. i hope not i hate it when that happens.


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## AverageWhiteBloke

Yeah it's a bummer for sure. I bought some juveniles for probably over the odds from a LFS once and one by one they succumb to some internal disease. Can't remember the name of the infection but you treat it with metrodanizole which I had to get from the vets. They refused to eat and one by one they all just wasted away. My next go I bought a breeding pair of blue turqs which did ok. While I was working away my nephew who was stopping over poured some vimto into the tank. When I got back did lots of large water changes but they went on me. That was my finish with the fish. Sometimes turning up the temp a couple more degrees can help I think.


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## mi casa

Hi yeah i know but the other one is doing really well he is eating, swimming around the tank he/she ( as not sure ) looks a happy discus. Thinking of going to Doncaster Discus Show and getting some fish then. But i will keep on with the Melafix and see what happens. He is eating but only if i put some bool worm in but least he is eating some thing.


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## krazypara3165

If hes eating thats the main thing. Just keep an eye on him. Also if you can keep an eye out for him 'doing a no2' and check out what colour it is.


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## roadmaster

Might try mixing some Metronidazole with the blood worm's if the fish is still eating and perform daily water changes.
I have used 250 mg tablet's (crushed), of the metro  with equal amount of fish food, and then offered this each day as only food for three day's with daily water change or every twelve hours.Then monitor the fish for a couple day's for improvement's.(repeat if necessary)
Believe melafix to help with minor wound's but daily water changes have produced same effect's for me.
Can treat water with metro but if fish will eat,, then mixing with food is more effective.
I am no expert on illness but offering what I might try for the ailing fish.
Would definately treat sick fish in quarantine,and alway's quarantine new fish no matter where I got them.
Would be in no hurry to add new fish to existing tank until I was sure that no other fishes exhibited similar synptom's.


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## mi casa

A sad day RIP Mr Blue


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## krazypara3165

Sorry to hear that. Are you planning on going to the show in doncaster?


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## mi casa

Hi dude yeah thinking of it but on the sunday as work sat's. but have found a breeder in my area so going to have a look next week. i want to leave the tank for a few week just to keep my eye on the other one. going to do masave water change today just off to get a new uv bulb and put that in just to help get rib off any thing in the water.


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## krazypara3165

Sounds good. Im at a stag do in leeds all weekend but planning on an early dart and getting to the show for 12ish


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## mi casa

Hi all been to look at some new discus at a local breeder and WOW. Nice fish all breed in local water over the last 10 years and as he is only a few miles down the road. GOOD TIMES. So i have paid for four small 2/3 inch Red Marlboro's as he as put them in to a spare tank and is going to worm and treat for me. I told him of my last one and well not to say to much i won't be getting any more fish from that shop!!!!!. It always pays to talk to some one who knows about the fish they are selling you and by judging by this guys fish room and the Discus he as i'd say he knows best.


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## krazypara3165

Excellent! Sounds like youve found a good one there!


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## mi casa

I picked up my new fish last night and all is well. They are not shy at all when i went to have a look this morning they were up at the glass wanting to be feed . I can recommend Martin at East yorkshire Discus you can tell the fish are his life. So if any one is looking for Discus you can contact him at East Yorkshire Discus. I will pop some photos on when the lights come on .


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## krazypara3165

Excellent! Cant wait to see some pictures!!!


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## discusdan

yeah sounding good, pics pics pics


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## mi casa

Here are some picks I'd love some feed back 





i wish they would stay still long enough for me to take a photo.




I need a better camera. 
Tank looks a bit bitty as just cut and re planted some of the steam plant.


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## mi casa

All is well with my Discus it pays to get good fish to start with


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## krazypara3165

Indeed it does. Lookkng good!


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## Grumpy

Just read through another thread regarding stocking densities of discus - How many discus? | UK Aquatic Plant Society and checked it out at the Stendker site - 
	  Diskuszucht Stendker GmbH & Co. KGStocking rate & other fish 
Seems you could get some more  . Nice tank btw.


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## mi casa

All is well


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