How to setup your Discus Tank

The large tanks, the special foods, filters and, besides, they don't know enough about really delicate fish to attempt to keep them.While we hear that all discus come from extremely soft and acidic water, the quality of that water varies depending on the specific river system or lake. If the chosen discus is to be a colorful, commercially bred strain, such as Jack Wattley's Turquoise Discus, attempt to contact the breeder and get the temperature, pH and hardness of the water in the breeding facility.

If the outcome of your findings proves inconclusive, seek for advice from the professional or ask for help from the fellow aquarium enthusiasts online through aquarium hobby forums. Furthermore, don't buy large gravel because food might easily trapped inside the gaps and this will upset the equilibrium of your aquarium. You should have a quarantine tank handy and ready before you even purchase more new additions for your tank.

The position of the discus aquarium is very important precisely since the discus are very shy fish when they distrust the surroundings. Make sure the discus aquarium is far from any noise or direct heat and light sources. Then, the next big issue for a discus aquarium is the stratum you place on the bottom.
Rocks of the same color and texture are recommended though you may bring diversity to your discus aquarium. Discus want low pH (6.6 to 5.6), soft water that's as free of chlorine, heavy metals and everything else as you can get it. But if you live somewhere with hard water (almost everywhere "out west") you're probably going to need an RO unit.

pH can be fairly easily fixed. There are dozens of water additives that can drop pH in the pet trade. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them have phosphates. Phosphates grow algae. If you're planning on having plants in your tank, you'll also be dosing the water with quite a bit of fertilizers. Add phospates and fertilizers for plant growth to the nice warm water that discus love, and its possible to see an algae explosion happen overnight.

So you'll want to see out a water additive without phospates. Seachem also makes a complimentary product, Alkaline Buffer, that will raise pH if the water coming out of your tank is extremely base.

It is important to remember that the tank mates to be chosen are native to waters with a temperature in the 84° - 86° temperature range.
All of the above tetras are schooling fish and can be found in very soft and acidic water. 1 male + 3 female Ram Cichlids Microgeophagus (Papiliochromis) ramirezi or 1 male + 3 female Checkerboard Cichlids Dicrossus filamentosus, etc. 2 - 3 Amazon Sword Plants Echinodorus parviflorus (doesn't get too large) Discus live and breed better in deep tanks and the more water the tank holds, the more stable the water conditions tend to be.

There are advantages to keeping discus in a planted aquarium. Discus are sensitive to water quality. Plants also provide natural hiding places for discus. Plants are preferred to other tank decorations since a large discus can easily hurt itself on a piece of driftwood or large rock.
This depends on whether you want to breed your discus or you want a display tank. If you are having a display tank, you can use small gravel or sand. What Plants do I chose? In a breeding tank you can either leave them out or just have one or two potted plants in the tank.
Setting the tank up correctly is the first step to correctly caring and breeding these amazing fish.
One of the most important tips for keeping Discus fish, is to be ready to act fast when problems arise. I hope you have realized that gaining an insight into learning how Discus fish 'tick' will turn ownership of this wonderful fish into a rewarding experience. With proper knowledge, anyone can build and maintain a thriving aquarium full of Discus fish, or any other species.

The more powerful a filter you have the cleaner the water will be. Discus become big fish, and they need good levels of oxygen. This will be harder in a discus tank than in a normal fish tank because the water temperature is so much higher. The warmer water is, the less gas (oxygen) it can hold. A tank kept at 88 degrees will need much more surface agitation or air/water exchange than a goldfish tank kept at 76 degrees.

Discus Fish Secrets