Can you keep Discus fish ?

Discus fish are one of the most attractive freshwater fish out there and probably type of fish which cause biggest starter disasters for a freshwater fish. Everyday people buy these fish and expensive tank all around the world and within few days they loose all fish. If you want keep these beautiful creatures then first thing you need to do is massive amount of online research about them. Fortunately these days Internet provides you  all the information you need to know. But anyway there is a simple way to figure if you are one of those guys who can be a Discus fish keeper. Look at these facts and figure than your self.

01. Discus Fish are very expensive You won't find any high quality adult fish for else than $100. For School of 5-6 Discus fish it would cost you around $500 or more. Baby fish will be cheaper but lot more hard to raise.

02. These fish are so sensitive to everything from water to other fish. So you will need to buy expensive equipment. A Discus fish tank will cost you more even if it's not a planted tank. You will need a powerful filter system and a big tank plus other things.

03. Discus fish needs special food or you will find your self in all sort of problem. They can grow slow, become stunt or even bloated if you use cheap or wrong type of food. Most Discus fish keepers create their own food recipe to keep their fish healthy and grow fast.

04. This type of fish need frequent water changes. Specially till they reach adulthood you need to do daily water changes. Also keep the tank very clean. This is not something everyone can do. It needs commitment and devotion. Also they are very sensitive to water conditions. You must test your new water before adding it.

06.  They tolerate only fish types of fish as tankmates. Peaceful and fist fish. Preferably Cardinal Tetra, Corydora fish, German Blue Rams etc. 

So do you think can you tolerate all these facts about them ? Can you be sure you can provide everything they need ? If not don't even think about buying. Because unlike other fish they won't last long.

Seachem Discus Buffer

© Maurizio Santoloc

We all know how hard to keep Discus fish tank. Discus fish must be one of the most sensitive fresh water fish to keep in a fish tank. They are so sensitive about everything, food, water conditions, temperature, tank-mates etc. Most of these things we can control like food, tank-mates, temperature etc But keeping the right water condition is very complicated. Specially if you are new to Discus fish keeping.

There are several variables like PH value, calcium and magnesium values etc. It's not easy to control all these manually. You can get rid of chlorine in water by keeping it for 48 hours before adding to tank but not other things. That's where Seachem Discus Buffer (Here) comes to play. This can replicate the ideal Discus environment by lowering pH & lowering General Hardness. Also it softens water by precipitating calcium and magnesium. This can help you to keep your Discus fish safe. You don't want to change water and night and then in morning look at Discus graveyard feeling like a mass murderer.

But remember Discus Buffer is for lowering pH and GH but if you want to get rid of chlorine, chloramine, or ammonia then you need to use Seachem Neutral Regulator (Here) along with it. The Neutral Regulator conditions the water, rids it of chloramine & ammonia and also helps Discus Buffer to keep to pH value at 7 or low.

Another beautiful Discus Tank

Here's the Discus Fish tank of  Henning Auer @Facebook. It's a beautiful planted tank with 2 types of Discus fish. Red Turquoise Discus fish and Red Leopard Discus I think. They are beauties. Also there is a school of Cardinal Tetra which is perfect tankmate for Discus fish. There are couple of Amazon sword plants which are make Discus fish feel home like their natural habitats in Amazon river and other South American rivers. Some nice driftwood and good filter system. I'm not sure the size of that tank but it has 3 pairs of Discus fish and seems water is clear and all Discus are happy. You can't except more than this from Planted Discus fish tank.

 

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 Image Copyrights : Henning Auer @ Facebook