I'm not aiming this at any of the people responding in this thread, but I wonder how many responses to Discus threads have come from people that actually successfully keep discus? I hear things mentioned as if they are hard facts all the time- "You can't keep discus in anything but a bare bottom tank" "You MUST do a 90% water change daily" "You can't keep other fish with Discus" "You MUST keep Discus at 86*-90*". I've had Discus on and off for 40 years. My tanks have never been above 84* and for years I ran them at 78* but I have a community tank so I used to run it a little lower than I would if it was just Discus. Even at 78* my fish have been FAR from sickly or frail. Wild caught strains might need more time to slowly adapt to lower temps but it can be done. My Staendkers were happy at 78* or above as they're many generations of tap water breeding away from their wild predecessors. About a year ago I had one fish that was getting picky about food, so I SLOWLY moved it up to 84*. Now I would consider 78* the very bottom of the scale, so 82*or above is fine. I see no need to go above 88* unless you have a wild caught fish with specific needs. They're naturally a semi timid schooling fish, so don't keep just one. 4 or 5 to start in a 75 gallon.
Acclimating new Discus you should lower the tank to about 78*-80* as the shipping water will be cooler and then after they're in SLOWLY go up to your desired temp. Don't try to feed them for at least the first day and you may even want to leave the lights off for a day.
Here's some of my guys a few years ago (at 78*):
Tommy
Acclimating new Discus you should lower the tank to about 78*-80* as the shipping water will be cooler and then after they're in SLOWLY go up to your desired temp. Don't try to feed them for at least the first day and you may even want to leave the lights off for a day.
Here's some of my guys a few years ago (at 78*):
Tommy