D: What's up Fish Tank People? FishTankTV.com†dustinsfishtanks bringing it to you from Steve's house on a
Species Sunday. Now using my normal camera because that freaking Codec froze on Species
Sunday low quality stuff, but I am going to bring you high quality video. †Here's what's
going on. Steve, your 55 looks amazing, bro. But we have to speak about something else,
bro. People have been asking me, they have to know - a fish that you have bred my friend.
I want to talk about Discus today. Bring it to me, dude. If you are a beginner and you
have had some experience with some tanks, you have had some good fish and you want to
get a Discus, put me in your seat, what †you would you do, talk to me about some Discus,
bro.† S: If you are a beginner, I don't recommend
Discus.† D:I haven't done them folks. I think I will
kill them, I don't even mess with them.† S: I have a few thoughts about Discus and
you can believe them. People have different opinions but here is my thoughts of it. First
thing about Discus is - Discus thrives at 84 degrees. So if you want to take the Discus,
you are committing yourself to at least 80 degrees, so you have to throw a lot of your
species through out the window because a lot of species can not even handle 80 degrees.
The other thing is - Discus are heavy eaters, especially baby Discus. So, I wouldn't recommend
doing to planted tank with a baby Discus. My advise to you - raise Discus up in a bare
bottom tank or in a tank with no plants, do a lot of water changes, get to grow to the
size you want, train it on pellets some kind of low-maintentance food. You can do a blood
worms but if you do a lot of heavy beef heart , it won't work with planted tank. You will
have a tons of algae. So, I really think Discus minimum size take absolute minimum as 55.
75 gallon work really well with Discus, 125 is even better, the better but you have to
be willing to do the water changes. I am getting ready to set up a 72 gallon.
D: That's what we are trying to pin them in the corner folks with †species Sunday. We
are committed, bro. Now you have to do, is Discus 72 gallon.
S: So, the thing is they like a lot of water change, you have to keep the temperature to
80 degrees. You †have to keep high quality. RO water is not a must, especially if you
have a decent quality city water. If you got a really high mineral water, you are going
to have to do a little RO or distilled water, it is just a must. As far as feeding them,
if they can take pellets, you are going to get a lot less waste, it is going to do a
lot better. I suggest you do like 75 - 4 adult Discus or something really like it. You don't
to overstuck your tank! You simple easy to grow plants, I think Rotella does great with
Discus D: What are some good plants for Discus?
S: Cryptocorns go great with Discus, I like Anubius. As far as some of the more fancy
stuff like the Star grass, It doesn't like the heat.
D: So the thing is here, that there is a difference because a lot of plants can handle low temperature.
A lot of people know that I don't run any heaters at all on my tanks, I keep them at
a low temp. So with Discus you are going the opposite direction to that. So that is something
to be careful of. S: I think fast growing stuff is really good,
because you typically are going to feed them heavy. So, you are going to have a lot of
waste. So if it grows fast it's going to compete against the algae better. So you really want
a heavy planted tank if you can do Discus. D: And if I were to do it, I would do a bunch
of jungle val and a bunch of Sage and just let them cruise in and out of it. Considering
tank mates since we are looking at some, what can you keep in with Discus?
S: So corecats go great with Discus. D: Corecats can handle high temps, don't mind
it. S:Cardinal tetris, shrimp...Bromino tetris
are really hard to keep too, but they work great at high temperatures. They are cool
fish. People don't keep them a lot, so I highly recommend those. You need good filtration,
you need good heater, you need good temperature control. They don't need a lot of light, you
can do a lot of light and some of them will tolerate it, but as a species, they do not
like a lot of light. So the perfect tank is probably something lower, just a couple fluorescent
bulbs, do something like Rotalla and Dwarf Sage and just let it grow with its own pace.
I had done dirted tanks with Discus. It can work, I have also used some of the Amano soil,
good filtration is the key, good water changes. D: And you bred them as well?
S: We will have an update when I get my Discus. I would also recommend getting Discus from
a good breeder. I like RockyMountainDiscus.com, I like MisterDiscus.com which is the Sunrise
Tropical place. Those are the two ones I had best experience. I also want to shout up to
my boy Rob in Hawaii with Hawaii Discus. He is a cool dude, so don't be afraid to order
from him either. D: Nice. One last question for you to let
you go right now. I know it's unfair for me to ask because I got a project hanging over
my head... S: You can't breed Discus in a planted tank.
D: When do you think you will have Discus tank, brother? People have been asking, you
are going to say when it's ready and we can leave it today.
S: September. D: September? That's far out. Hey, we'll take
September. S: Give me some time.
D: All right. Species Sunday from a different cam. I hope I can upload this sucker. Be gone.