# Juvenile Discus in planted tank



## akhilennium (Nov 17, 2010)

Hi All,

I lost 4 adult show discus' 2 weeks back  and now i got 4 juvenile ones in the tank. Tank's dimentions are 3 feet wide, 28" in height and 18" in width. 

I heard from lot of people that juvenile discus are not recomendable for a planted tank. Im confused now as i have purchased them already. As i do not have a seperate tank, shall I put them each in seperate plastic bucket and do the regular thing we do for them to get to adult size??

Please advice.....

Thanks,
Akhil


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## daveg (Jan 3, 2009)

I think it's all about the water quality, not the plants. I raised my discus in a Natural Planted Tank and they are doing very well. They were my first discus and I did lose two due to stupid mistakes. (Watch out for bullies). 

I got mine at quarter size and they grew out to between 5 and 7 inches. I set up the tank in Jan 09 and got the baby discus in April 09. 

Your tank dimensions won't make it real easy though. It's taller than optimal for planted, unless you have pretty intense light. And the discus won't really like the lights that bright. My tank is similar at 5 ft x 28h x 18w. I ended up using fairly low light plants on the bottom and floating plants to make the fish more comfortable. 

Good luck!


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## akhilennium (Nov 17, 2010)

Hi Daveg, thanks a lot for the suggestion....there are some bullies in the tank....so shall i place the small one into a different bare bottom tank???

Light intensity is high as i have all 'tough to grow' plants in the tank....and comming to water quality,its pH varies around 6.2 to 6.8.....temperature i maintain is around 27 to 29 degrees celcius. so shall i keep all of them in the same tank or place the some ones into a different bare bottom tank...??


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## daveg (Jan 3, 2009)

*Bullies*
Some aggression is normal to establish their pecking order, so don't over react. But if it's severe I think there are multiple ways to deal with bullies. I am sure there are others here with better advice. But essentially I would recommend separating a chronic bully from his favorite target.

In my tank, top fish status seemed to get traded around a bit, but one guy was just relentless with whatever fish was on the bottom of the hierarchy. It sounds stupid, but what I FINALLY did was put in a fence to separate them. I was able to leave that in for few weeks, then remove it. The fish could see each other through the fence, but could not attack each other. Then when I would take out the fence a whole new power struggle would ensue. But it usually calmed things down. Mind you, this was after losing two fish who were victimized by the same bully to the point of not eating.

That worked well until they started spawning. Now I fear the fence is in permanently. But fences make for good neighbors and everybody gets along fine now.

_I made the fence out of a sheet of PVC lattice work from Home Depot intended for the garden. It has 1 - 1 1/2 inch holes in the lattice that let all the other fish swim through, but keep the discus separated. _

*Water Quality : *
Well, I only have the one tank with discus, but I'll share what I have experienced. At the risk of getting slammed, I think domestic Discus are much more flexible about water parms than what we all read everywhere. I think water cleanliness and stability are the most important things. They really don't tolerate water fluctuations well at all. If your PH is moving around the fish will suffer.

My Discus, Rummeynose Tetras and Cories do great on plain old Wichita, KS tap water. I only treat it with Prime and do 20% water change every 2 weeks. I shoot for water that's good for the plants, so I even end up adding Seachem minerals periodically. The plants will really suck the minerals out of the water and and if I keep the KH and GH up the water is just much more stable. Be sure to keep the Nitrates as low as possible, for sure under 20 ppm.

Tested water in the Discus tank just now. 
PH 7.8
GH 140 ppm
KH 150 ppm
Nitrate 10 ppm
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Temp 85 degrees

I test water a minimum of once a week and hardly see any variations. I also check phosphates occasionally. If the water changes don't keep the levels down, I put some Poly-Filter in the circulation pumps for a couple of weeks and it comes right down. Really helps with controlling algae. I also highly recommend cories and snails to help keep everything clean and stable.

My Discus seem happy now and spawn all the time, but the eggs never hatch. Apparently, this water is just too hard for hatching. But the harder water allows me to keep a rock stable PH and the plants and fish do great.

Your mileage may vary. Not saying it will work for you, but it has worked for me.

Good luck


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## akhilennium (Nov 17, 2010)

WOW!!! thats a lot of information......sure I'll follow what you have suggested.....will reply more about the tank situation in future.....if possible ill post some pics of my planted discus tank. again thanks a lot for your vaulable advice.

Akhil


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## rich815 (Jun 27, 2007)

Go to www.simplydiscus.com for the best advice.


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## akhilennium (Nov 17, 2010)

[smilie=r: THANKS [smilie=r:


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

if you go to simplydiscus, they will tell you not to do it. My advice to you is do it, but up the water changes. and blow out all the mum and get rid of it.


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## fishyjoe24 (May 18, 2010)

there growth will be stunded in a planted tank.. plus they will have a hard time finding food.


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## rich815 (Jun 27, 2007)

fishyjoe24 said:


> there growth will be stunded in a planted tank.. plus they will have a hard time finding food.


Shhhhh! My Leopard Snakeskin, two Pigeon Bloods, and Tiger Checkerboard Turquoise, all of which I got at about 3.5-4" just over a year or so ago, which have been living in my densely planted tank, and all of which are now 6-7"+, do not know that! 

www.simplydiscus.com does have it's share of militant bare-bottom tank people but there are quite a few (like myself) who have very successfully raised gorgeous discus to really nice sizes in our planted tanks and you will get some excellent advice from them.


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

fishyjoe24 said:


> there growth will be stunded in a planted tank.. plus they will have a hard time finding food.


The stunted bit is hog wash. It will just take more work, as if you want your discus to be as big as they can be, you have to keep the water super clean and feed _alot_.

The finding food thing is a yes and no deal. it depends on how planted the tank is, what you feed and how you feed.

Then again. I'm perfectly happy with my 5-7" discus.

Trust me, the size of the discus that people are growing them to in bare bottum tanks would never happen in the wild.


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## akhilennium (Nov 17, 2010)

Well guys, the bullie is now sine with little big ones (2 1/2") but its chasing the small one which is around 1 1/2" so moved the small one into a big plastic tub and maintaining temp. at 27-29 degree celcius, PH around 6 to 6.5....doing daily 10% water change daily and feeding 5 times per day......just it have to behave as normal one than as the one bullied and need to see its growth rate ...


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## akhilennium (Nov 17, 2010)

Well guys, the bullie is now fine with little big ones (2 1/2") but its chasing the small one which is around 1 1/2" so moved the small one into a big plastic tub and maintaining temp. at 27-29 degree celcius, PH around 6 to 6.5....doing daily 10% water change daily and feeding 5 times per day......just it have to behave as normal one than as the one bullied and need to see its growth rate ...


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