A Curiousity

At the store I take care of a 125gal planted tank of discus. I'm curious who as individuals around Louisville keeps or breeds discus. I have always found them to be a more difficult breed of fish to keep but I have had some people lately tell me that they keep theirs in just strait tap water with conditioner. I always like hearing other peoples methods in keeping various species. Any body have something other than RO/DI they are keeping theirs in?

Peter VE

Pete,

Our local city water is on the hard side with an abundance of dissolved Calcium salts. It is also alkaline with a pH usually exceeding 8.00. If you wish to breed fish that originate from places such as the Amazon basin I would suggest altering the water chemistry to duplicate the soft acidic waters from which they originate. I would suggest using peat in a mechanical canister filter on the aquarium in which they are housed. I would also suggest elevating the temps to the higher range of their optimum. Also, nothing conditions cichlids to breed like an abundance of live foods. You should also place black slate in vertical positions within the tank to provide spawning sites. I would also suggest having the tank heavily planted as discus need to feel secure if they are to thrive and breed.

Just a few thoughts.

Phil

hey peter when i was into the discus scene i just used straight tap here in louisville and never had a problem and i recieved the discus from kentuckiana as well, out of 6 discus i only lost one because i couldnt get it to eat, but the other 5 were fine with weekly water changes and our current water perimeters here in the metro, that was a few years ago but you raise my temptation so i might have to do a discus in the 120gal now, you are not helping my fish disorder dude, hehehe, later man your buddy fish enforcer..><}}}">

hey phil your water perimeters are execellent for african cichlids, what do you keep in your tanks..><}}}">

None currently. I have kept just about everything imaginable over the years though in the way of freshwater. My main focus was always on cichlids though. I kept both lacustrine and riverine Africans, but my favorites were the neo-tropical "guapotes".

Phil

cool, thanks dude, just curious why no fish..><}}}">

Yeah Phil...why fish! You act like you have alot of snakes to keep or something