New to Plants and Discus

I havent had a planted tank before....... well I have had just a few plants here and there.
At what size would be best before moving young Discus into a planted?
Best starter plants?
I like the following, Cork Screw, African Spear Head Anubias, Red African Tiger Lotus, Echinodorus Tenellus, Anubias Barteri, Sagittaria Subulata, Marsilea Quadrifolia and Riccia Fluitan.
Do these work well with Discus?
What needs more light, and what needs little light?
Tank wont be really heavily planted more along the line of this
http://www.aquahobby.net/tanks/img/branq1.jpg but alot bigger. Tank is turned over almost 9 times an hour, I want the plants to be spaced so I can vacum fairly easily.

[ChloroPhil]

That's a good mix of plants for a beginner as well as for discus. You shouldn't have much trouble growing them, even under "low tech" conditions. The only species that may not like it too much would be the Riccia fluitans, it requires a lot of light and high nutrients if used in the lower parts of the tank. I would recommend Vesicularia dubyana, Java Moss, as a substitute for Riccia.

One thing you will want to take care not to do would be to clean the gravel well in an area 2" around your plants. They're going to need the mulm to accumulate in that area for good root development.

Enjoy! Make sure you take pictures right after you've set it up to show us.

Alrighty

[ronrca]

I would like to welcome another Canadian to Simplydiscus! Welcome Candy to the planted discus tanks!

The size of discus I would recommend moving into a planted tank should be at least 4" if not bigger! Young discus will not receive the care needed for them to grow quickly because planted tanks do not receive daily 100% water change necessary for good growth! While it is possible for discus to fully grow in a planted tank, it is usually slow and most often the discus will become stunted.

Other than that, sounds like you are on the rigth track!

I was thinking moving them in at 5" at that size I should be able to tell what ones I wanna keep, but how badly stunted?

[ronrca]

5" is a good size! You will notice their growth slow a little when compared to a growout tank. The important thing is to feed high quality foods and provide steady conditions. They should be fine! ;D

[RAWesolowski]

Candy,

I would check out the Tropica website. Although the Danish company cannot ship plants to the states, their website is very good when researching plants. You may enjoy their discus plant suggestions. I picked up their book at a very nomibnal cost, it is excellent.

[ronrca]

Ah! Yes, the tropica book! It is a very nice book with lots of info on plants plus incredible pictures. Definitely try to get one! Also has some good info on planting and the works!

I'll look for that book thankz
I have a pair of Leopard Angels that needs a bigger tank, they are in a 20 for breeding but its to small for even that now. Would it be ok to move them in with Discus that are 3"-4", the male Angel is probley nearly 7" tall 5" wide, female is a veil and is 7" by 7". My other tanks have fish that can't go with Angels. I feel bad having them in a tank thats not even twice thier size, and once in a while the male gets mad and the female cant escape him . I also don't really have the room for another tank, but I can get one if yous think the mixing the angels with the discus isnt going to work.
So what do you think ???

[RAWesolowski]

Interesting question and you will get a variety of answers.

Many discus hobbyists have both angels and discus but keep them separately as they fear transmission of diseases from angels to discus. Another thread contends that angels are much more competitive for food than discus and during breeding may intimidate discus.

Just some thoughts.

[ChloroPhil]

This is a perfect excuse to _get another tank_ Our favorite three words here..

Ya I'll just get another tank and Im going to look into getting a stand to hold four 20g I have spread out everywere make some room for another 60plus... lol
With the number of tank I already have people think im a little crazy! :

[ronrca]

Dont worry about people thinking you are crazy! I think I can speak on behalf of everyone here at simplydiscus. People think we all are crazy! Just have to ask our spouses, kids, parents, friends, etc! So we know exactly how you feel! You become immune to it and just accept it! The reward is more discus! ;D ;D ;D