# Discus



## Guest (Sep 8, 2011)

I am sure there are better places to find answers to my questions.... but I enjoy p-fury and always get quality help. And I am in no real rush to find out everything all at once because my discus are on hold right now... (bought 6 of them the seller is keeping until I move to my new home)

Have a couple questions.

What is ideal water for Discus?? pH mainly, i know 0 trites 0 amonia and 20ppm or lower trates

I bought 6 discus putting them into a 72g bowfront.... discus are 6" + they are in a 55g right now. First off they will be ok in the 72g for life correct??? they dont get much bigger do they?? And will a single ehiem 2217 be enough filter for them?? probably have some neon tetras or rams with them..

Thanks for any help... just looking for some basic knowledge.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

Water quality is extremely important with discus -- pH shouldn't be much higher than 7 and if you don't have one already, you'll want to get yourself an RO unit, multiple weekly water changes are also recommended. They need warm water too, I kept mine around 84f, which means you need to select plants that can handle warmer temps if you are going to go that route.

Probably the most important thing with discus is starting out with healthy stock, do you have any pictures of the ones you are getting?


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## Guest (Sep 8, 2011)

feeding video of them.


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## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

Joe do you still have a discus tank setup?

The wife and I were just talking about possibly setting up a discus tank in our living room. I figured they would make a lovely show tank. Now I just need to do my research and figure out the trick to keeping these beautiful fish.


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

I really think the hype over water conditions for discus is just that nowadays. They have been captive bred for so long, like any other commonly bred aquarium fish they are able to handle a range of water params. Just keep them like you would any other tropical, good stable params (no need for RO), 6-7 pH and warm temps are fine for your common varieties. Regular waterchange routine, 20-30% a week with treated water is sufficient, assuming your filtration is up to task. Wilds are a whole different ball game, then you will need to be on point with everything.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

louisvillain2.0 said:


> I really think the hype over water conditions for discus is just that nowadays. They have been captive bred for so long, like any other commonly bred aquarium fish they are able to handle a range of water params. Just keep them like you would any other tropical, good stable params (no need for RO), 6-7 pH and warm temps are fine for your common varieties. Regular waterchange routine, 20-30% a week with treated water is sufficient, assuming your filtration is up to task. Wilds are a whole different ball game, then you will need to be on point with everything.


That really depends on where you get your stock from, most quality breeders are still using 100% RO water and performing daily water changes, and their lines have never seen anything but those conditions.

If you buy your discus from the LFS or pet shop, they are most likely coming from fish farms where they are mass produced and those lines have been bred in many different water types so I don't think it's all that important to keep such strict control over the water.


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