Discus

[PaulineMi]

Just finished reading the posts in a previous "Discus" topic on here from awhile back.  There is some information in the thread that I thought I could clarify.  (Love the reason that thread was started. Lol.)
 
Discus can be kept in hard water, just don't expect to breed them in that water.
They require clean, clean, clean water for growing them out to a good size.
Ideally keep them in a bare bottom tank to grow them out to their full potential. (Easier to keep clean)
Water temperature of 80-82 or even 84 degrees is best.

I have well water, pH 7.6, TDS over 300, high KH and GH (forgot the numbers) and have discus. I confirmed their water and care requirements with people who breed, import and show discus. They are a high maintenance fish for sure!  I syphon the tank out a few times per day and do daily, aged water, water changes. Once they're fully grown out they'll likely get a twice a week big water change and a tank with sand and driftwood.

Here are mine:

[GrizzlysDad]

They look very nice Pauline, please keep us updated.

[PaulineMi]

Thanks.  Will do.

[Stan M.]

nice looking Discus.

[mandalawi]

Very Nice.

[PaulineMi]

Thank you both.

[jkeeler]

Awesome, very clean with no black spots.  What do you feed?

I am in the process of setting up some tanks and trying Discus.

[PaulineMi]

Thank you. The White Butterfly is pigeon blood based and I was lucky that it has no peppering...even when stressed. 

I feed a variety of foods. Freeze dried blood worms with beef heart, plain FDBW, a meat lovers concoction from Angels Plus, earthworm flakes, also I blend a mix of beef heart flakes with shrimp flakes and veggie flakes soaked in garlic juice. They came hooked on bloodworms and wouldn't eat anything else for a week.  We had a stand off. I won. Now they'll eat just about anything.

Where are you getting yours from?  I got mine from Mike Beal, Central Ohio Discus.

Be sure to post pictures and info when you get yours. We need to get this discus section active.  Lol.

[PaulineMi]

Here's an update on the discus.  They're still doing well and I've added two more so there are six of them now. I put a couple fake plants in the tank for "security purposes".  Slight aggression from a couple of the originals fish towards the newcomers.

[VWalker]

Very nice discus. They look like they're from Hans!

[PaulineMi]

Thank you.

[GrizzlysDad]

I've never been interested in keeping discus, especially the man made strains, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate nice quality healthy fish...which is what you have there Pauline.

[PaulineMi]

Thanks Tony. I'm up for a challenge and these guys were it. The next addition (in a separate tank) is tank bred wild scalare angels with a dream of some day moving to Pterophyllum altums. If I can make a go of the discus without burning out on their care the altums may be next in line.

[four_by_ken]

Very nice. 

Stories I have heard have always scared me off from discus.