Inquisitive Question

[kribensis12]

Hello,
I was reading a book I recently received from a friend. It had begun to make we wonder. Now, my local pH around here is about 8.4 (I know, it's bad), and at the past local aution, some Discus were being sold. Now, I have a 30g tank (18 inches tall), and was wondering if it would be acceptable to keep 1 Discus, and some tetra's in there, maybe even some Apistogramma's (locally raised). I have excellent water quality, it usually hovers around this:

Ammonia: ALWAYS ZERO
NitrIte: ALWAYS ZERO
NittrAte: Usually at 25, but if conditions prevent me from doing a water change, up to 35 ppm.

Now, before you guys tell me it's just as easy as lowering the pH, it's #40## near impossible. I have Bog wood, Peat, Chemicals, and have used R/O before (not much success) with it. I have high protein, good quality Flake, and I do weekly 35-50 percent water changes and gravel vacums. If I can get the green light, this most likely won't happen until the fall (my Brichardi are not laying ferttile eggs, we will see if this keeps up).

Please, if for some reason you guys decide to bash me, please don't. I had my wisdom teeth taken out a few days ago, and the Vicoden I am on seems to be affecting my agression.

 

[minxfishy]

No bashing here matey, hope you feel better soon

As for the Discus, if you can get some locally bred or even that are doing well in local fish stores water, then I see no reason for you not to try, even if you cant get locally bred, then so long as you do a long acclimatisation (drip method for instance) then you should be ok. Obviously if you do try this, ensure that the other fish are ok with the temperature that discus require, I think apistos require it slightly lower, but you should be able to find a comfortably medium ground for all species.

 

[mattlee]

i have just gone down the same route as this. i was given a small discus by a friend who closed his tank down. i took him in and asked on here if i should keep or sell, i got various replies but most were if you keep on top of the water conditions and do 50% changes at least weekly then as long as they get through the acclimatising ok it should be ok! i now have 4 more and they are all so far, touch wood, doing fine. the small 1 i was given has been passed on to someone who can care for it more as the smaller they are the more feeding and water changes are required and it also started to get bullied by the bigger ones but the remaining 4 are ok and eating well.
my pH is somewhere between 7.8-8 ish its hard to tell with an API testkit as the colour is between the 2 samples..... my water is also medium/hard and so far so good. i got my discus from midland discus near Birmingham so they are good stock.
i know alot of people may curse me, you and everyone else who keeps discus in this water but if they are ok with it then why not? i was also told that where they are raised in Malaysia etc they too have harder water over there so most can be acclimatised ok. just avoid wild strains and german bred discus and fingers crossed you will be ok... im no expert on these fish and have only had mine about a month now but all is well

 

[kribensis12]

Thanks you guys. I will wait for a few more peoples answers before I start to really get obsessed with the idea.

 

[raptorrex]

Hello,
I was reading a book I recently received from a friend. It had begun to make we wonder. Now, my local pH around here is about 8.4 (I know, it's bad), and at the past local aution, some Discus were being sold. Now, I have a 30g tank (18 inches tall), and was wondering if it would be acceptable to keep 1 Discus, and some tetra's in there, maybe even some Apistogramma's (locally raised). I have excellent water quality, it usually hovers around this:

Ammonia: ALWAYS ZERO
NitrIte: ALWAYS ZERO
NittrAte: Usually at 25, but if conditions prevent me from doing a water change, up to 35 ppm.

Now, before you guys tell me it's just as easy as lowering the pH, it's #40## near impossible. I have Bog wood, Peat, Chemicals, and have used R/O before (not much success) with it. I have high protein, good quality Flake, and I do weekly 35-50 percent water changes and gravel vacums. If I can get the green light, this most likely won't happen until the fall (my Brichardi are not laying ferttile eggs, we will see if this keeps up).

Please, if for some reason you guys decide to bash me, please don't. I had my wisdom teeth taken out a few days ago, and the Vicoden I am on seems to be affecting my agression.

no bashing form me either. messin with PH, and then keeping it stable, is an art. some would say "black art".
many, captive bread, Discus are bred in PH of over 7. though i, personally, have no experience, i have read of them in 8.4!! thing, seems to be, to keep it stable. whatever the PH of your water. this to me, means, don't try to mess with what you got! (water).

tank size seems fine for 2 of three fish, so one will be fine. i do know from experience, that they are skittish, and hate loud and or unexpected noise.
apart from that. i cant wait to see your pictures. if, you go ahead.

 

[kribensis12]

Thank you! This most likely wont happen until fall, unless the next auction has one for dirt cheap (some were going for like 15 dollars last time, and yes, full grown).

 

[meguro]

i thought discus preferred to be in groups? actually i dont think ive even read/heard of anyone keeping one singularly for a prolonged period of time

there are a number of experienced discus keepers that post here though so hopefully they can shed some light

 

[kribensis12]

All cichlids like to have friends. But, some people have just one, as a center piece. Like some people do 1 angelfish, and the rest back round fish. I will wait for more answers, as there is no real hurry,

 

[snowflake311]

I also have been told it's best to keep them in groups they school. Sure you could keep one but that almost like keeping one tetra. A breeding pair would be fine. You could get away with olny 3. From what I have read and heard from others they really need to be kept in groups to be happy.

 

[kribensis12]

There would really be no point to a breeding pair, considering that their eggs would never hatch in my water. A group of three would result in one being bullied.

 

[Glenbo1981]

i kept a solo discus for around a year until i got bored of it, they dont do much except look pretty.

 

[kribensis12]

What size tank?

 

[Glenbo1981]

a old 75g that i had, he lived with a Angel, Rams, Kribs, Cardinals, Neons , Cherry Barbs.

I Bought another 1 for him to live with but he attacked it non stop, till i had to rehome it.

 

[Bebobb]

Have you tried Almmond or Oak leaves to lower your pH? I know a few of my friends use those methods to lower their pH.

 

[Glenbo1981]

Whats the point tho?