There is a lot more to water than we can test for,there are trace elements and minerals that aquatic life use,also they excrete into the water,there is widely held opinion that cichlids release pheremones into the water to inhibit the growth of other fish,also I feel it makes them feel better,just like us a breath of fresh air outdoors is better than stale indoors air.

THank you for the lesson RAY (now Im a little bit wiser about caring for discus)

as for water changes not being hard work rob ? age about 40 years have a triple heart bypass , and Ill talk to you then, lol. ps (Ill be 95 then).

Fair point lol. Some people have automatic systems to make it easier, seem like the easy and lazy way to me. I think I'd probably use it

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I love lamp

dont like new fangled things, rather do things the old way .lol.

well im some where in between !

i change about 40%-50% 2 or 3 times a week. and i know i should change more but its working for me and as grandad has pointed out my oldest pair have blessed me with babies.

i clean my canister filter only once every 2 months ....or sooner if fish looked strange!( i have a sponge stopping food/ muck from entering the canister keeping it in the tank where i do syphon this off regularly.

im not going to get big fish in what im doing as unlike ray i dont have to resell any on !however i plan to follow rays sucess with my babys as there is no way i could keep them all ( im a breeder after all LOL)


Raw tap water is said to have killed more discus than anything else ,you are taking a risk with you loved discus as there is metals and nasty stuff in tapwater that we can not see! also water providers add stuff when they work on the pipes. i would recomend that you look into getting a HMA filter !


any chance of some photos of your fish?

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rob

what do you use for your water changes i use ro/dechlorinated tap water 50/50

and buffer to 6.5 once a week

during week i do 20% water change with pure ro to stimulate breeding

albeit ive only been a disus breeder for 1 week lol but it has worked for me first time of asking

delboy

like you delboy i use 50/50 ro and declorinated tap.


If you have the larger Ro units not the slim line you can replace the carbon filter pod with a HMA filter pod .Then T off before the ro membrain this water is carbon filterd and can be mixed with ro insted of using declorinater .

by adding declorinated tap we are both still adding trace elements and heavy metals

When i have a bit of cash and need to order some more bits from mail order i am just changing my filters and getting the empty pod as my ro unit is hashed together over past year.

i had a £5 ebay bargin that was a domestic undersink pumped ro unit with new filters and 12 month garantee by the pure water company ( they sent me £12 worth of parts for electronic auto presure switches) so i was quids in!
i replaced the membrain and small inline carbon filters and added a 10 " sediment filter from the RO MAN( very helpfull people!)so all i need is a new 10 pod and hma filter so for £25 i will have a hma..........

actualy thinking about it it i would get more for my money if i bought the 2 pod hma selling for £45.......hey ho will have to get that past the wife


What are you using to buffer?.........i at the moment dont buffer i just let the added tap do the buffering as i was not convinced that added buffers were all they were made out to be? might have to ask Ray on this later!

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adding to this Ray

i have read that discus from mixed batches grow faster and mature at a younger age,brothers and sisters in the same batch will mature slower almost as though they shouldnt inbreed!
guess this is natures way! and it makes sence to me that in the wild many broods would shoal together and then pair off.

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Yes Rob,I have noticed better growth in mixed batches,than with siblings only,also larger groups do better than small ones,I think that is because larger groups are much more confident.