I want BB in the new 210g, she wants it lightly planted...ugh

The title says it all.

I'm a long time hobbyist. But I've finally decided to try my hand at discus. I've done over two months of research on these wonderful fish and I just want to have the correct parameters as to give myself a fighting chance at keeping healthy fish.

I have read ALOT of threads and watched ALOT of videos on how discus need to be handled and all the husbandry that goes into making sure they are healthy.

I've raised many fish in many different setups but I have never been very enthusiastic to cultivate a plant tank. It always seemed like I spent the same amount of time with the plants as I did maintaining the fish. Lol.

So with all that said. The wife wants to add live plants into the new 210g tank. Mostly low tech stuff, and I really don't want to. I figure I would do what I do with each new tank I setup with new fish that I haven't raised before; take the advice from others and proceed to make the best possible informed decisions I could.

And this probably should be posted in the planted forum but I'm a novice at discus, not planted tanks.

So guys and gals, how hard is it really to enter the discus husbandry world while also re entering the planted tank world at the same time? I mean...I love an aquarium challenge. But is this too far over my head. Will I be defeated by the king of the freshwater tropical fish world?

Hi BOZ and welcome to the forum .
The problem you are facing is pretty common in discus keeping world :) .
Discus like it Bare , we discus keepers seems to be the only or should I say the lonely one that understand this need , and there is the rest of the world , that thinks that keeping a BB tank in your living room is insaine :).

If you are willing for compromise with your wife the most important advantage for you would be to start with grown or at least semi adult discus 4-5 inch mark .That will make your chances for keeping healthy discus much bigger .
Also make the sandbed as thin as possible and pot the plants in little pots for easier moving around, during maintenance .
Choose the easiest plants for maintenance such as : Amazon sword , Java fern , Cryptocorine usteriniana , Hygrophilla corymbosa , Lotus etc.

You can also try and negotiate the half way compromise with your wife and go with the BB with potted plants look . That way you can have much cleaner tank while still having some greenery in it . This is how my tank is set up right now , as I'm raising juvies in it and I need BB to be able to maintain pristine water quality.
Here is how it looks , just for an idea :

Attachment 109149

I wish you good luck with your first discus venture with whatever set up you choose.
Almost everything Is doable but the golden rules will always be the "simpler the better" and " the more stuff you put in your tank the harder it gets " .

Filip's advice is what I would suggest also. Another idea is see if you can talk your spouse into starting with the tank BB so you can get a handle on keeping the discus healthy etc. Many new discus keeper start with this but intent to plant later. They discover they end up liking the BB look so much that the tank remains BB.
Pat

Thanks for the welcome and the comments. Much appreciated. I never thought about potting the plants.
That seems like a fair compromise. I'll post an update later as the tank finishes cycling.

Welcome! Some "problem" you have! LOL at least she wants the tank and the fish! You are way ahead of the game~!!

I think you have a lot of options here and you will both be happy in the end! You already got some great advice above and I would stick with that. Bigger the fish the less water changes so you can get away with some easy plants if you desire, the potted way would be best for cleanliness. I have also seen some folks who tie and or cover a nice piece of wood with plants. This has a very nice look at it also makes things easier to clean and could be an option for you.

You could also go the fake plant look. There are some nice silk plants out there that could fool anyone and you don't have to worry about "dealing" with them like you said vs the fish. Thats always the issue. Plants require care and they dont like all the water changes and or heavy bio loads, hence the issues, discus like and need water changes and provide a larger bio load, so you are sort of fighting yourself when mixing the two, but it doesn't mean it can't be done.

I think Pat's advice to go slow and ease in may be best so you can gradually get a feel then add and balance it that way.

Best of luck, can't wait to see pics!

you could also use clay pots to place a few plants in and still have bare bottom tank. I've did this for years and grew big plants.

You can get a large DW and attach plants to the wood, will look great if you can find a nice DW.

Here is my compromise,
Island of java fern and Anubius hastifolia. Java fern is attached to wood, it still collects junk, but I can move it and clean up under it.

I'll snap a startup pic and post it soon.

I'm not a fan of BB tanks either, but that was before I developed a new approach that I like pretty well. It's all explained in the link below:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...re-bottom-tank

Normally it would require allot of maintenance to keep the tank clean as shown in the pictures, but I have also developed a filtration system that keeps it that way without any daily maintenance. Follow the link that I provide above to get a full explanation on how to accomplish this.

My approach is not for everything because it's expensive and not easy to implement innately. However, perhaps it might satisfy both of you. What I like most about my show tank is that the only thing I have to do daily is feed the fish, and then clean the filters and tank once a month. An automated water exchange system provides for daily water change.

Paul

Well...after a long talk with the wife, we are going BB at the start and then adding some potted plants later with just one nice size piece of driftwood at start. I gave her some videos to watch and it was hard for her to argue with the advice of BB. Plus I wanna raise up some younger discus and watch them grow. Having a planted tank would mean I would need adults. That just won't do. I'm not gonna let someone else raise the fish.

It's hard to comprehend just how much care Discus need until you've experienced them for a good 3-4 months. Especially if you've kept other aquarium fish for many years, like I also did. I've heard it said that Discus are not hard to keep but I'd have to say that, compared to other fish, they are work intensive and require learning/expertise not required with other aquarium fish.

I started with Discus eight months ago and really wanted to raise my fish rather than buy adults. I started with eight 3" Discus. But after all this time and learning what it truly takes to keep discus healthy & thriving I realized I wanted beautiful adult fish in my 180gal. With kids, job, and a demanding wife :), I didn't have the time for more than 2x feedings per day and the corresponding cleaning that would be required raising smaller fish.

With my first smaller fish I ended up losing some, giving some away back to LPS and friends. I currently have nine beautiful 5.5"-6" in my 180gal, which has only a 1/8" layer of sand and one large piece of driftwood. I do 40% daily WC. Still alot of work when you consider the completely necessary siphoning waste/excess food, wiping inside-tank walls, keeping filters clean.

Good luck!