How to care and treat your Discus fish 101 guide

The Discus care guide, beginner guide for anyone to understand.

How to become successful at taking care of your Discus fish?

The following steps or guides will hopefully help anyone that is unsure or having problems at taking care of the Discus fish.  We here at discus emporium, want to share all our knowledge over the past 10 years on Discus keeping to all you Discus lovers out there.

How to pick your discus fish from store?

Other than color, size body shape.  The two most important is:  body fat, and eye size.  With good body fat, a healthy Discus fish will come up to the glass every time for food.  Eye size is important, not only to tell if it’s a young health Discus fish vs an old, stunted Discus fish.

What is the most important question to ask before leaving with your Discus fish?

What is the PH where the fish is coming from, and what is the TDS?   So that when first introduce your Discus fish to a new tank, we try to match to that level.   Both PH and TDS can be adjusted with RO water, mix with tap water.  As long water is pre-treated with water condition, aged, water filtration system.  As your discus start to get used to your tank, water can be slowly adjusted to the most convenient level for you to manage.  Ex:  fish shop water ph 7, you want to match new tank to ph 6.8-7.2.  After 2 weeks you can slowly use treated/aged tap water up to 8.0.  Most Tap water in USA should be around 6.4-8.2.  And your Discus should be fine.

How do I treat my sick Discus fish?

Do not overdose your fish!  From our experience 95% of Discus problems are not emergency, and some simple cures go a long way.  If you don’t know what is wrong with your fish, the last thing you want to do is pure 50 medication at same time.  Most medications can’t or not suggested to be used in combination.  We will not cover the 5% fix, as it will be too long and difficult to list.  The most effective way to help your Discus fish to recover from shipping, stress, to sick is as follow:  1.  Water change, a clean 80% water change should always be the first step, match the temperature, ph.  Make sure the water you use is aged, water conditioned, RO.  Change water every day, for 3 days.  2.  Aquarium Salt helps fish recover, lower stress.  1 teaspoon dissolved aquarium salt for every 5-gallon water, change water after 24hrs and repeat process for 2-3 days.  3.  Water temperature must be increased to around 84-88 degrees.  4.  Can add a bit of either Methylene blue or green, for any fish showing hard breathing, fungal infections, or darkening colors.

How come some of my Discus fish grow large and some stay small?

Its best practice to have the similar size fish in same tank, Discus fish aggression, availability of food, and something we call Discus growth prevented hormones where large Discus release to prevent smaller Discus growth is a real thing.

What is the most Important message to help any Discus keepers?

Water, water, water!  Clean water changes, with consistent water quality is 100% a sure thing.  Adding water conditioning into your fish tank is not treated water!  If RO water is not in your reach, make sure you use water conditioning on tap water 24hrs before going into your tank.

FAQs:

Do I need to have a tank that is cycled and aged before I add in new Discus fish?

Its best practice, but no you do not need a fully cycled fish tank.  As long water changes are frequent (every day).

Is feeding live blood worms a bad idea for Discus fish?

Discus requires a mix of different type of food, such as live foods (blood worm), beef hearts, vestments rich foods.  But is not a must!  Most Discus fish love live foods but have a change to develop internal parasites.  Is feeding blood worms to Discus a bad idea?  Not really, they do love live foods long as you know how to treat / prevent internal parasites.  Which is time consuming and expensive.  Products like API general care, PP treatment (for the Pros) can help.  Some fish are stronger than others, so not all will have problems with live foods.

How do I get my Discus fish to grow faster?

Small feeding many times a day to start with.  Water changes everyday is great not only for health, but also helps fast growth.  Feeding different types of food.

Do different types of Discus breed with each other, or is it a good practice?

Yes, all types of Discus fish can breed with on another, the result is different color/patents offspring.  Sometimes you get a new type that is just amazing.  But most times you just can’t tell.  So for normal hobbyist, just have fun.  But most breeder will pick the same type with best body ship, colors to match so it’s consistent to the parents.

How do I tell if my Discus is a male or a female?

The simple answer is there is no sure way, until your Discus fish come to age at around 4.5-6” by checking their reproductive organ.

How many Discus fish can I keep in one tank?

As Discus fish will grow up to around 5-7", its one of the few fish that will look  better as it gets bigger.  Its recommended one fish per 10 gallons of water.  (ex. 4 Discus fish / 40 gallons tank).  But in realty, you can keep many more, as long is you have good filtration or do consistent water changes.  We here at Discus Emporium will all the imports we get, on average keep around 40 Discus fish in a 40 gallon tank.  

Is Discus fish only for the Pros?

Not anymore, as more breeders are bereding Discus around the world under the same conditions of your tank system.  Tank raised discus is most likely what your local fish shop carries.