How to Pick Up and Keep Your Discus Fish Smartly

So you have thought of starting your fish keeping hobby with the discus fish. You have visited your local pet shop, made some research on the Internet and you have sufficient place in your living room to keep them. Now the basic question is how to get started?

If you look at the Internet, you will find that there are many websites dedicated to discus fish. You get elaborate information on planting your aquarium for discus fish, treatment of water and its regular cleaning, feeding habits for them and so on. But you may be confused over different presentations.

If you want to find out some useful tips at one place for starting your hobby with discus fish, here are some important ones -

1. You should have a sufficiently large tank for them. The tank should be at least 60 gallons in capacity. For installing such a tank, you also need a sturdy base. You should fix a good location which does not get exposure to direct sunshine. There should be some filtration system working in your tank which will keep the water clean. There should be a heater for maintaining the temperature of the water. There should be a moderate system of lighting in place.

The tank should be covered with a hood all the time. You should also have a hose for cleaning the bottom of the tank.

2. Once you are ready we had the aquarium, you should give some time for cycling the water. This will help to form bacteria on the filters which will be useful for the fish. You should consult your pet fish shop for the type of filtration system ideal for your tank.

3. Now let us turn to the stage of buying discus fish. You will obviously prefer healthy fish. If you can find out a good breeder near your area, you will be able to get good quality fish. However, if there is none, you can still order by shipment from reputed breeders. The shipment will cost you around $100 and you may go for urgent or priority service.

4. Once you get the discus fish at home, you should quarantine them for some time before you introduce them to your main aquarium.

5. Here are some important tips for finding out healthy discus fish. The movements of the fish should be reasonably fast. If the fish is trying to hide in the dark, you should avoid it. If there is any dead fish in the tank from which you are buying your fish, you should avoid such fish. You should also see whether there are any visible injuries on the fish. The skin should be without any scratch and it should not look slimy. The eyes of the fish should be clear. If the fish has bulging eyes, it is not a good indication. You should also see whether the fish is able to eat the food easily.

6. You can buy up to 10 small discus fish for the size of 60 gallon tank. There should not be more than 2 inches in length. However once they start growing, you should keep them in the proportion of 10 gallons of water per fish. This will help you to keep the aquarium clean.

7. You can add some bigger size gravel so that the cleaning becomes easy. If it fits in your budget, you can add some ceramic decorative items which are attractive and will be easy for cleaning.

8. You should try to keep the conditions of water close to those which discus fish enjoy in their natural habitat. For this purpose, change at least 25 per cent of the water every three days. The temperature of the water should not exceed 84° F.

9. Your discus fish will have a big appetite. But remember, hungry discus fish are always healthy. You can offer them a wide variety of food including flaked food, live food, boiled vegetables and frozen foods. You should provide dry food in the morning while you can feed them live food in the afternoons and evenings.

If you have already decided that you will start your fish-keeping hobby with discus fish, it's a good decision. You will enjoy every moment of it right from buying them, their growth, their interaction with each other and their graceful swimming all around the aquarium. You will learn a lot from your hobby. Always feel free to ask questions to your pet shop staff make a research on the Internet and take advice from friends to update knowledge.

Chintamani Abhyankar is a goldfish enthusiast and has been raising and breeding goldfish for many years. He is an expert on their care and an advocate for raising healthy goldfish the natural way. His famous digital book, "Secrets on Keeping Beautiful Goldfish", offers simple, easy to follow instruction for raising healthy, long-living goldfish. Visit his website http://www.goldfishcaretips.com to learn more about expertly raising your goldfish and to receive your FREE copy of his special report, "Fish-Keeping Hobby Secrets Revealed".

3 Most Important Discus Information Tips

Having a pet fish in your home can be quite rewarding since aside from the fact that fish are adorable and easy to care for, they also help create a more vibrant and lively aura in the room.

If you are a fish enthusiast or you simply just want to have a fish for a pet, then perhaps you might wish to get a discus fish. These tropical fish are simply fascinating with their unique diamond shaped flat bodies as well as their exquisite colors that seem to glow under water. But before heading out to the pet store and get one, you must first learn discus information so that you'll have an idea on how to take care of them.

Suitable environment

You may learn by reading a guidebook that if you get a discus for a pet, you need to set up a place for it to live. Getting a simple aquarium filled with water is not enough as you need to have a more conducive environment for the discus as this will serve as its habitat.

Depending on the number of fish you wish to have as well as the allocated space in your house, it would be great if you could buy a big fish tank or aquarium so that the fish will have lots of room to swim in. Plus, you can also put other tank ornaments like water plants and pebbles. You also need to consider getting tank filters that will help keep the water clean so that the living conditions for the discus remains healthy.

Most information that you'll find will include details about the water temperature for the fish. Since these fish are used to the tropics, they survive best when the water is warm. When filling up the aquarium, use a thermometer to gauge the temperature.

Make sure that it is about 82 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit with a pH level of about 6.5. You can also place some underwater plants to help filter out the bacteria and increase the oxygen levels in the water. Likewise, the plants can also be a great place for the discus fish to hide when threatened.

Feeding requirements

Discus information also includes feeding requirements for the discus fish. Like all living things, they also need sustenance in order to survive. While, when in their natural environment, they eat tropical plants and algae, living in a controlled habitat may make it more difficult for them to fend for themselves.

You can help by placing some tropical plants that they usually chew on as some of these are available in pet stores. But the more recommended thing to do is to provide them with fish food like dried flakes. These things are easily found in pet stores and contain essential vitamins and nutrients that will help nourish the discus.

Finding companions

Perhaps one important tip is that you need to know is about finding mates or companions for your pet discus. These fish are not hostile creatures. In fact, they are able to live well with other types of tropical fish.

However, getting bigger fish than the discus might become a problem as the bright colors from discus skin may attract the attention from the bigger fish and they may end up bothering the discus. It would be better to get fish like the neon tetras and the rams.

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Discus Fish Care - Free Tips How to Keep Your Discus Fish Healthy

Discus fish care could be a boring task, however they are a selection of the most fantastic fish out there to keep and to see. One of the things you want to be certain to focus on is their habits and try to not mess with their natural habits. Discus fish, while quite entertaining and with great personalities will have a tendency to be shy till they get their confidence up.

The standard of water in your discus fish tank is of the greatest significance. They have to have pure, clean water and that needs some effort by you. You will want to do a partial water change one or more times a week if not 2 times a week. This implies that you should replace twenty-five to fifty percent of the water while being careful not to annoy the fish any more than you've got to.

With water being the most important thing that you've got to focus on when working with discus fish care, you will need to take into consideration the oxygen levels in the water and the temperature also. The temperature of the water actually has an impact on the oxygen levels of the water. You will need to make efforts to keep the water in your discus tank between 83 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Permitting your water temperature to rise above that may cut the amount of oxygen in the tank and cause stress or worse to your discus fish.

Another thing to bear in mind with reference to water is the pH level. Since the tap water that you are possibly putting into your tank has chlorine and other chemicals in it, you must add some chemicals to keep the pH level between 5.5 and seven, while the perfect pH being six. Should you get outside of this range, your discus fish can become stressed and develop sicknesses.

Discus fish have a tendency to not perform nicely in too crowded of an environment and will do miles better with lots of room to swim about. If you are going to put a substrate on the base of the tank, use rocks and ensure that they do not have heavy metals in the rocks that are not good for the discus fish.

If you are going to place some ornamentation in there, try and keep it simple with some plants for them to hide behind and perhaps a bit of driftwood as that is close to their environment. Plants in your tank are fine while they are natural, live plants. Avoid the plastic variety although they might have a prettier appearance and appear to be more low upkeep. The live plants will put oxygen into the water and make the discus more at ease in a natural environment.

Something else that you will have to think about with discus fish care is the use of nitrifying bacteria in the filter. These colonies of bacteria are important as they keep down the ammonia and nitrites in the water by eating the fish waste.

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Buying Discus Fish - 5 Tips For Getting the Best Fish

Buying Discus fish is not just a matter of picking out which fish look the prettiest or most colorful. Color and pattern are truly important for your own satisfaction, but there are more important factors to consider.

Most of the time you will be dealing with domestically bred discus instead of wild fish. There are now lots of discus breeders around the globe. You can find them locally if you or a friend knows someone who is an avid discus hobbyist, but there are numerous breeders who have very large operations. Most notably, there are some very well respected discus farms in the Far East. Places like Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore have many breeders who sell internationally.

You can also still get wild Discus right from the waters of the Amazon River. There are some very trusted sources who "harvest" Discus from their natural habitat.

But let's assume that you find a fish store, a pet store, or even a local Discus fish keeper who just happens to have some Discus for sale.

What do you look for in addition to color and pattern when buying Discus fish?

* First, the fish should be active and inquisitive. It's possible for fish to look happy. Those are the kind you want. Try slowly putting your hand over the aquarium and see if they show interest, as if looking for you to feed them. If they do, this is a good sign.

* Ask the clerk or tank owner what the water conditions are. Discus aquariums should be slightly acidic (pH of around 6.0) and warm, about 77-85F (25-29C). If the person you are working with does not know these parameters, you probably should look for another source.

* Check the physical appearance of the fish. They should have a bright, round body. Dark fish with fins drawn tight to the body are not healthy. Likewise, fish who are retreating to the corners of the tank should be avoided.

* Discus should have nice bright eyes. Red eyes are good. Cloudy eyes are a sign of trouble.

* If you decide to take some of these Discus fish home with you, make sure you introduce them into your own tank quickly, but don't just dump them in. You more than likely will have a plastic bag with the new Discus in it. Simply float the bag on the surface of your tank for about 5 minutes, not any longer than that. Then untie the bag and gently submerge it into the tank. Allow your new fish to swim into their new home. Do not dump them.

Buying Discus fish that are happy and healthy is a great way to enjoy your discus fish tank for years to come.

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Tips on Keeping Your Discus Fish Healthy and Happy

Most of fish keepers, either beginner or advanced keepers, say that discus fish are considered as the most well-liked kinds of fishes to keep. There are many fish keepers over the world to proudly keep them due to their beauty.

But this fish can be very expensive because of their attractiveness. Since this creature come with temperamental character, you should pay close attention. They will be really responsive regarding with the food you give them and the water where they live. Really different with other species, this fish need your special attention and persistence to make them happy and healthy.

However, this fact should not hinder you from keeping this type of fish. Through properly learning, you can keep and breed them successfully.

One thing that you should pay attention, they like to swim. You must prepare enough space to wander around in the tank. As a consequence of this fact, you must prepare ten gallons of water for each discus fish. You must ensure to prevent aquarium from overcrowding, in case dealing with this type of fish. Since such condition will cause them stressed, and if they go through higher stress, the more chances that they will be unhealthy.

Above fact requires you to prepare big tank for keeping them, in case you want to keep more than 2. In addition, you must keep in mind that if you want make them happy, you must keep them no less than six discus fish together in the same tank.

The two factors that you should really take into consideration are the shape and size of the fish tank. You should know that discus fish like better a tall sized tank. For that reason, you have to prepare the tank that is taller than longer. For instance, it's your decision to make a tank which is 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide. A 35 gallon tank is a proper size designed for them. However, it is advisable to try getting a larger fish tank. In addition, with larger tanks, maintaining water quality is much less difficult than smaller tanks. Also, it's important to understand that discus fish are somewhat sensitive regarding water quality.

Since discus fish will be really sensitive in term of water quality, keep the water clean and maintain the stability of water chemistry. You must replace no less than 50 % previous water with fresh water every week as well ensure that PH level is always stable.

The proper temperature for keeping this type of fish around 82 until 86 degrees F and the hardness must be about 3 and 15dH. In addition maintain PH level approximately 5 and 6.5.

Mentioned above are important stuffs you have to keep in mind if you want keep discus fish successful. By applying above tips, surely you will have experience and capability to keep healthy and happy discus fish.

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How to Take Care of Discus Fish - Simple Discus Fish Care Tips

You need to take excellent care of some discus or if you are planning to keep discus fish. The discus may die if you mistreat them accidentally. In order to avoid future accidents, I will be giving you some basic tips on how to take care of discus fish, which can grow beautiful and colorful discus.

Many have a myth that taking care of discus is suitable only for the advanced fish keepers. There is no truth in it. The discus can be taken care easily even by a common man. The following are basic simple rules, which I will share few tips regarding discus fish care.

1. Aquarium Size: Because of their sizes discus fish should be kept in deep tanks. Since they size may increase up to 6 or 7 inches, and they continue to increase the size, they prefer to wide space for their survival. The discus fish can be kept in the empty tank provided if you add plants or bog wood to the tank. If they are frightened the discus feel safe place for hiding in plants or bog wood. They hurt themselves from dashing around in the tank. They get stressed very easily if they are kept in bare tank.

2. Aquarium Water: The best way to keep discus fish healthy by keeping the aquarium water clean and avoiding chlorine and heavy metals. We have to invest in water purifying unit to keep the discus aquarium tank clean. We have to make sure that water is filtered and movement of water should be minimal. The normal temperature should be between 82-86F.

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Present Newly Bred Discus Fish to Your Guests With Pride!

Many people feel that discus fish is one of the most attractive fish in their aquariums. There are other beautiful varieties like cichlid or clown loach but if you just have a look at the pricing, you will notice the difference. Discus fish are most expensive than these varieties of fish, usually costing from $250 onwards.

So if you learn how to breed them, you can proudly present them in the aquarium and also can sell them to the local pet shop in exchange of fish food or aquarium supplies. This is the next step after keeping discus fish at home. It is not simple but it is not complicated either. Read carefully the following tips for the successful breeding of discus fish -

1. The first step is to set up an environment conducive to their breeding. There are two options. The first option is to speak to the staff of your local pet fish store to get some tips. They can also supply you a mating couple. That is an easy one. It is faster and the chances of success will be very high. Usually the prizes for such couples can range from $300 to $500.

2. You can go for another option of buying half a dozen juvenile discus fish and then breed them once they grow. It is not an easy process neither it guarantees the success but you will enjoy it thoroughly.

3. You should put all these fish into one separate tank which you can call 'breeding tank'. It should be independent of the main tank where you keep all other varieties of fish. This tank can be of the capacity of 20 gallons at least for a couple. Based on this formula, if you want to introduce more numbers, you can increase the size of this tank.

4. While filling this tank, use the water from the main tank which is already treated. If you use freshwater, the fish may develop stress. They will be comfortable with the same quality of water.

5. You should keep the bottom of the tank clear. You should not put any docs or gravel there. Discus fish may create a lot of waste which will be accumulate at the bottom of the tank. To clean it up easily, you should keep the tank filled with treated water only. The only thing which the fish will need is a vertical surface which will help them for spawning.

6. Discus fish will lay their eggs on the vertical surface. You can provide such a surface by even putting in the tank a ceramic pot upside down.

7. If you feel that your fish are stressed, you can add a couple of plants providing them a place for hiding.

8. Always use a powerful filter for maintaining the conditions of water in the tank. You should check the ph levels of the water frequently so that the quality of water is kept conducive for breeding.

9. A very important thing to remember about breeding of discus fish is cleaner conditions of water. The fish will not breed if there are spikes of ammonia in the water or the temperature is fluctuating. You should also keep a watch on the cleanliness of the water. It is recommended that you clean the tank every day so that all the dirt and waste is removed quickly.

10. After successful breeding, you should remove the adults from the tank. The fry should be kept independently in the tank. There may be some parasites on the body of the adults and they may be harmful for the new ones. You should also provide a good nutrition to keep the new ones healthy and help them grow faster.

Chintamani Abhyankar is a goldfish enthusiast and has been raising and breeding goldfish for many years. He is an expert on their care and an advocate for raising healthy goldfish the natural way. His famous digital book, "Secrets on Keeping Beautiful Goldfish", offers simple, easy to follow instruction for raising healthy, long-living goldfish. Visit his website http://www.goldfishcaretips.com to learn more about expertly raising your goldfish and to receive your FREE copy of his special report, "Fish-Keeping Hobby Secrets Revealed".