Please help me start right! Beginner questionnaire answered. NEED INPUT!

1) Please Introduce your self and tell us what your experience is with fishkeeping, give us as much information as possible as to how long in the hobby, what you have kept in the past and what you currently are working with.

hello, My name is Susana. I have been keeping fish for 17 yrs. I've branched into heavly planted tanks with nano communities. Resently I got a 75Gal aquarium which i've set up with just plants at the moment as it is cycling. I was considering a community with discus (3 discus, 40 nano tetras embers/neons). While doing research I watched a presentation by Al Sabeta (apologies if I miss spelled it) which was very adament about how dificult a fully planted tank would be for discus.

I am not looking for 7" discus or perfect specimens for breeding. I do not, will not, am not interested in breeding. However I would like healthy 4"+ fish with bright colors.

2) If you have no previous experience with keeping discus, have you done any research to properly prepare yourself, e.g. have you read any Stickies in this section of SimplyDiscus, or other material?

I have never kept discus. I am doing research about them before I include them in my tank as I would not like a crashed tank to be the result of adding these beauties. Just joined, so no stickies read yet. Tried to go to the community planted section but there were no discussions, not sure if it was because it was pre-sign up.

3) Describe your tank, its size and dimensions, breeding or display. Include how long it has been setup or if it is still being cycled.

75gal tank. hood, base. Display only. been cycling for a month now. Fully planted, aiming for dutch style (I am experienced in the planted part of an aquarium)

4) Describe the décor for the tank; type of substrate or bare bottom (BB), whether the tank will be planted or a biotope.

Fully planted 10+ species of plants. dutch style. clay and dirt tank small fertilizer additives. weekly water changes (% based on bioload)

5) Describe your water changes planned or practiced, percentage and how often. Include if you age your water and use of tap/RO or mix.

weekly water changes (% based on bioload). Tap water with dechlorinator (ok with leaving water to age overnight daily if needed for discus)

6) Describe the type of filtration planned/used for the tank; sponge, HOB and/or sump. Also include the other equipment you are, or will be, using in your tank, e.g. heater, lighting, etc.

Sunsun HW-304B 525 GPH 5-Stage External Canister Filter with 9-watt UV Sterilizer. Heater, LED and 5t lighting full spectrum. small submerged pump for current, CO2

7) If the tank is already setup and running, include the water parameters;

- temp 79F

- tank ph 7

- Ph of the water straight out of your tap 7.1

- ammonia reading ____

- nitrite reading ____

- nitrate reading ____

- well water ____

- municipal water ____

(I hope this doesn't get me harrased, but i'm answering hoestly) I do not do water testing on my tanks. The leaves of the plants will become damaged with the smallest change, so I base my quality on how clear the tank is, and how healthy my plants are.


8) Describe your current or planned stocking levels; number/size of discus and number/type of dither fish. Where did you get your discus from or do you have a proposed source for getting your discus?

0 fish as of right now. 3 assassin snails (plants will almost always bring snails with them) I am planning 20 embers, 20 neons and 3 discus

9) Describe your planned or existing feeding regimen. Include what and how often you are feeding on a daily basis.

No fish as of right now. I feed my other tanks 1x every day or every other day

10) What are your goals in this hobby? For example are you looking to keep discus in a planted community tank, or do you hope to become a hobby breeder of Discus? Do you want to raise Discus with the hopes of competing in shows?

Beautiul community with the load above. Display only. This tank is in my office, trafic is very minimal.






NOTES: Hope this allows for suggestions. I am aware (after hearing Al's talk) that this seems like a ridiculouly hard attempt for my first discus attempt. Please be honest, no insults... Cheers!

You will get many responses here. Most will try and steer you away from it especially for a first timer but the first thing I just wanted to point out is that most plants will not tolerate the temps the discus need. Depending on your scape already it may not even be a possibility to begin with. If the plants you have won't tolerate 82-84 degrees it won't work regardless of other advice.

Which is more important planted scape or discus?

Are you cycling the tank with ammonia?

I agree wth Ryan, and I want to steer u away from discus in your described plan. That being said, if you are adamant that you want to try discus and u raise the temp to 82F and ensure that you do regular weekly water changes you could maybe get away with adding a fully grown breeding pair of discus once your tank is fully established. They would need to be a bonded pair and get along very well. They may lay eggs but with filtration and other fish in the tank they prob wouldn't raise any babies. 3 discus isn't enough, and will lead to bullying and stress etc, but you also would have issues with adding 5 or 6 because although it would lessen aggression they prob wouldn't thrive in your set up. I feel that if u want the planted tank, a pair is your best option. The more wc the better.

Although I rarely test my water nowadays, a test kit is really a great tool for when u are starting up a tank, or making big changes to a tank etc.

Do you have a quarantine tank?

This thread shows a planted tank I always really liked, and at the end of the thread they just had the one really nice pair. If I were to start discus over again I might go this route..

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...t=#post1256139

I tried this when I got discus for the first time, three 3" fish in a planted tank with gravel bottom. I thought I was so smart and skilled I could do discus this way, even though everyone said don't do it. Well they were right. The fish barely grew and I could not keep the water clean enough. Once I went bare bottom and ditched the plants and gravel I was able to have big healthy discus.

My advice is that if you insist on this plan, buy 6+ inch discus, because it will be literally impossible to grow out smaller fish in that setup.

Hi Susana and welcome to Discus and this forum .
Im a huge plant lover my self and I can relate to your wish of having discus in a beautiful dutch scape. However , it is not something anyone would recommend , especially to a discus rookie .

Here is a plan for you :

Make special BB tank for discus only .Keep them for a year in there , until you get to know and understand them , and then and only then , if you succeed and you feel confident that you can keep them alive and thriving , you can try your hands with high tech planted discus tank .

I went the same route my self , started with discus and high tech planted , failed miserably after a year of struggle , killing 15 discus along with the experience , and now im keeping discus with potted plants to satisfy the needs on both Discus and plants .
Here is how I started



Attachment 114184

, and here is how I compromise to satisfy my plant addiction nowadays , after I've learned and understood the discus needs the hard way :

Attachment 114185

Cheers and good luck Susana .