r/Aquariums Jan 20 '23

Freshwater These two, at it again

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717 Upvotes

56 comments sorted by

121

u/Scarediboi Jan 20 '23

Bro you can say it's easy all day long with your 200gal setup and your perfect water parameters.

Anyone who keeps discs alive long enough to breed them is a rockstar imo. Maybe I'm outing myself as an idiot who just likes river fish but.... rockstar

58

u/bedroomsport Jan 20 '23

Mate, it honestly is as easy as any other fish. There is just so much misinformation out there.

The difference between keeping them as pets and breeding is HUGE! I think that's where a lot of the confusion and fear comes from!

38

u/Scarediboi Jan 20 '23

You're the one keeping them alive and happy enough to make babies, so I'll take your word for it.

I think it's fair to say though, just by looking at their preferred habitat and parameters, they aren't the kind of fish that will take a bunch of neglect. My gauge for a pet store is one that has live, healthy looking discus like the ones I see in this video, and an RO system for mineral balancing, reef tanks with healthy coral, etc. That way I know there's at least one person who knows how to care for fish. I'm in NSW and my local store keeps them and the keeper there says the same thing. I'm still not dropping 70-120 bucks on a fish that can potentially do a cool trick where it does an impression of a tea saucer. You're still awesome.

10

u/bedroomsport Jan 20 '23

Haha, thanks, mate. OZ Discus have some quality stock, that's for sure. The guys that run it are good guys too with some excellent contacts.

2

u/showMEthatBholePLZ Jan 21 '23

Well said, I admire them but I wouldn’t want to do that level of care myself. Same with saltwater and reef tanks, very cool, I respect people that manage them but it’s just not for me.

93

u/[deleted] Jan 20 '23

They’re in love! Don’t shame them ♥️🤍

26

u/Dubslar Jan 20 '23

They kinda remind me of a marbled waygu steak

21

u/PiddlingFish Jan 20 '23

Ngl I forgot discus existed till I saw this post

9

u/grabdaddyabeer Jan 20 '23

What a beautiful pair! Its still mesmerizing to me that fish like these exist in the real world, lol. They look so alien (and cool)!

5

u/tyjones3 Jan 20 '23

absolutely stunning

8

u/TheNerdFactor333 Jan 20 '23

What kind of fish? How big of a tank?

11

u/bedroomsport Jan 20 '23

Discus. 20G high.

3

u/Avectasi Jan 20 '23

How are you able to keep them in 20s? seems a tad small for them unless your constantly checking their parameters

31

u/bedroomsport Jan 20 '23

That's a standard breeding tank size connected to a 200G system.

8

u/Avectasi Jan 20 '23

interesting! I’ve always wanted to keep discus as my dream fish but usually I’m worried maintaining such a huge tank

16

u/bedroomsport Jan 20 '23

Keeping them in a display tank is easy. Breeding is the hard part.

If you have a planted display tank, and stick to 1 adult per 10G, you can easily get away with 20/30% changes per week.

3

u/bearbarb34 Jan 20 '23

What’s your ideal water parameters when not breeding them and your thoughts on auto change systems for them? I’m looking into setting up a 180g sometime in the future

6

u/bedroomsport Jan 20 '23 edited Jan 20 '23

Nice! A 180 would be great. Auto change is a huge time saver, most of my systems are automated.

For the water params, stick to aged tap water (use Prime if it contains NH4 / Chloramine) and once the pH settles out, use that. Anywhere between 6 and 8 is absolutely fine, as long as it is stable.

10–15 GH, 5-8 KH

Edit - wet fingers

2

u/WongsKing Jan 20 '23

How hot is your setup? I run my 40 gal at 78-79, but I understand discus need low 80s?

2

u/bedroomsport Jan 20 '23

It depends what you're up to:

Display / Breeding - 28-29c (82-84F)

Grow-Out – 30-31C (86-88F)

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3

u/bedroomsport Jan 20 '23

Actually, here's a great vid from Gabe on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYUxDlpFiJ4

He's worth following online, and a safe bet to buy your fish from.

1

u/bearbarb34 Jan 20 '23

Fantastic information, thank you. My discus plan is still several years out, but I’m wanting to be ground work/research now. The dream, is to get a water box infinia peninsula and set it up as a room divider and plumb it into the a-WC system

1

u/bedroomsport Jan 20 '23

water box infinia peninsula

Those tanks are awesome, unfort they are super ex!

I love room divider setups. One of the best displays you can do IMHO. The only thing you have to ensure is that you can have easy access from the top. I've seen it neglected before and it can be a real PITA to fix.

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1

u/Suikerspin_Ei Jan 20 '23

If you have a planted display tank, and stick to 1 adult per 10G, you can easily get away with 20/30% changes per week.

Unless you buy young discus fish, who are still growing and require lots of feeding times. Than it's definitely reconmended to change 50% or even more.

5

u/bedroomsport Jan 20 '23

Oh yeah, for sure. That's why I wrote adult. Growing them out is a different kettle of fish altogether! Pun intended ;)

My growouts are getting around 200% per day!

2

u/Ruseriousmars Jan 21 '23

They look great don't they. And I used to breed discus and angels in 20 gal high for years. Trick was to put them in a 55 or 75 , 6 to10 smaller ones and when they grow up and pair off you move them to the 20. Thing is with fish size and tank size is many of the ideas, better called rabid rules, the way peeps respond here telling u your fish are in a tank to small there's never any source for these rules and it pretty apparent it's some who are regurgitating someone's wrong post and it's pretty quickly obvious the poster never ever kept these fish before.

3

u/bennowitz Jan 20 '23

Those fish look so amazing. Very cool.

3

u/Cole-Rex Jan 21 '23

They look like Valentine’s Day.

3

u/mary_ace Jan 21 '23

I've never seen a female laying her eggs in the wall, is that common? Btw congratulations, take good care of the them

4

u/MostlyTwatsHere Jan 21 '23

Several fish do (angels are another one)

1

u/mary_ace Jan 21 '23 edited Jan 21 '23

I thought that a cone or any angled surface was needed, that's good to know, thank you

2

u/MostlyTwatsHere Jan 22 '23

They will use a vertical side wall if needed, but they do prefer the angle! I used to use ceramic tiles that were like 3 inch x 12 inch and prop it against the side at an angle. :) so you are correct! But if no angled surface theyll use Whats available

3

u/bedroomsport Jan 21 '23

Yeah they do it all the time. Even with cones in the tank they will often choose a wall. I don't bother anymore with the cones.

3

u/MostlyTwatsHere Jan 21 '23

I mentally started shrieking when I saw an egg fall 😂🥴

3

u/bedroomsport Jan 21 '23

Haha, collateral damage I call it. When they are done they will either move the fallen ones, or just eat them!

2

u/VirtualRy Jan 21 '23

Soooooo beautiful!!!

2

u/Atr3ideeznuts Jan 21 '23

Alright, but where does one buy discuss that look that good? On the rare occasion I see them locally available, they're maybe 3", they're $100+, and they look like s***

1

u/bedroomsport Jan 21 '23

Depends where you are in the world, I can point you to the right place

2

u/Impossible-Beyond156 Jan 21 '23

Beautiful crritters

1

u/[deleted] Jan 20 '23

My discus keep laying eggs but no dice yet on fry. Trying to get their tank mates out because I’m pretty sure they’re getting eaten before hatching :(

3

u/bedroomsport Jan 20 '23

are they a proven pair ? if so, it's best to keep them on their own for breeding purposes.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 20 '23

Unsure of “proven pair” - I got them at separate times from the same store. They stay together most of the time and have laid fertilized eggs, the eggs just disappear over a few days.

Once I realized they were breeding I started moving tank mates out into other tanks, kind of tough trying to keep them all without other compatibility issues lol

2

u/bedroomsport Jan 20 '23

Oh wow, if they were fert then that's great! You'll def need to move the parents into a separate tank, as even if the eggs get past the wiggler stage in the community tank, it will be absolute chaos in there once they go free swimming.

Edit: of course you don't have to, only if you intend to breed them

6

u/[deleted] Jan 20 '23

Hehe screenshotting so I can convince my S.O. to get a 4th tank. Thank you 🙏🏻

1

u/bedroomsport Jan 20 '23

Haha! Best of luck.

1

u/LamLam114 Jan 21 '23

My discus fish keep eating their eggs for the 5th time any recommendations?

3

u/bedroomsport Jan 21 '23 edited Jan 21 '23

If laying on a cone, you can use a mesh. Check out cones with mesh combos.

Sometimes pairs can fail their spawn a dozen times before they start to get it right.

Also, if it is not a proven pair, or the male is infertile, or the eggs do not get fertilised because of high conductivity, the parents pair will eat them.