Tank Setup Questionaire

[aravind90chan]

Hey guys,
I have been an aquarium hobbyist for a long time now.
Having worked with angels all this time, I would like to explore having discus fish.
I have an ~60g aquarium which am planning to stock with 4-5 discus and cardinal tetras.

1. I have to purchase filtration equipment (canister) and driftwood for my BB tank. Any suggestions for this in terms of websites/ tips/ used items listing will be appreciated greatly.

2. In addition, I would also like to know the approximate cost of maintaining the tank with discus per month.
Am a graduate student and I don't want to go broke trying to pursue my hobby. Please let me know.

Regards,
Aravind.

[discuspaul]

Welcome to the forum.

Suggest you start with 5 discus rather than 4 to dissipate pecking order aggression, which can potentially get testy when keeping less than 5 discus. Good to hear you'll be doing a bare-bottom tank, since if you also plan to keep some Cardinals as tank-mates - say perhaps 15 to 20 or more, your tank's bio-load will be approaching an acceptable limit.

You'd be wise to get discus of a near adult size, preferably around 4" or more, obtained from a known reputable source for supplying good quality fish. The forum's sponsor group here are all in that category.

Your filtration need simply be sufficiently adequate to provide a reasonable flow of water through the tank. A large HOB (e.g. AC 110), a supplier recommended canister for your tank size, or a couple of sponge filters would do the job satisfactorily. Craig's list might produce suitable used equipment if you wish to save some $$.

As for costs of keeping 5 discus in a 60 gal tank, that depends a good deal on the cost of water and electricity in your area, and to a lesser extent, on the types and quality of the food items you want to feed your discus.
Suffice to say that it shouldn't cost you more than you've traditionally spent keeping Angel fish, with the possible exception of a slightly higher cost of water, as you will likely need to do more frequent & larger wcs than you may have done with Angels.
Hope this helps.
Best of luck to you.

[DiscusRob]

+1

[Stickgal316]

This questionnaire may be used to either help you to describe your new tank setup for discus or
be a “food for thought” checklist while you consider what your goals are with your new discus tank setup.

1) Years ago, I had a small tank with a few tropical storm, one of which was an Oscar. He promptly ate all the other tank mates. He grew to about 7 inches and remained a pet for five years until a hurricane kept the power out for three weeks and he died. I didn't keep fish again until a year ago when I had a 100g saltwater reef tank. I researched setting up and running one for about a month before beginning my process. The tank was successful for about six months when my husband asked me to sell it as the constant upkeep of such a large tank took both of us almost full time. We agreed that when we got our new home, I would get a smaller freshwater setup so that I could handle it myself.

2) no prior Discus experience, but my saltwater experience has prepared me for what it takes to care for these beauties. I have spoken often to employees at my Lfs and have read a lot on Internet sites regarding proper care of Discus.

3) I have a 46 gallon bow-front display tank, that's approx. 36" wide and is 18" deep. It has a hob filter made for a 70g. and I recently purchased an LED light set that has 6,500k white lights and multiple colored light settings.

4) my tank has smooth black gravel substrate. I have currently 2 large pieces of driftwood, and several white rocks with holes and caves. I have three plants - a dwarf hair grass, a regular hairgrass and an Amazon Sword, along with 5 moss balls. I plan to add a couple more plants and more driftwood.

5) I have tap water in there now, but plan to do a major water change, adding RO water to the tap water. My water changes will be once a week at 25%, incorporating RO with my tap. My tank is cycling right now, so the only parameter I'm keeping an eye on is ammonia, which I check every other day. It stays between .50 and 1. I have 3 crayfish and 5 Buenos Aires tetras in the tank, so I know my cycle will take longer as I'm doing water changes to keep my fish as comfortable as I can.

6) i have an HOB oversized filter with bio media, sponge and a space for carbon, which I removed when I read carbon is harmful to Discus. I will replace it with other media when I find what is best for them. I also have a large heater and a thermometer.

7) See #5


8) I have 3 dwarf orange crayfish and 5 Buenos Aires tetras and plan to add 4-5 Discus, 3-4 Cory cats, a couple of bristle nose plecos and some snails. I'd like to add a few rainbows, but I'm afraid that would overstock the tank.

9) Right now I'm feeding a freshwater frozen mix, color flakes and pellets. However, I plan to purchase some high quality live food when I get the Discus.

10) For me, fish are pets just like my fur babies. I plan to have a beautiful tank, of which my discus' will be the focus, and in which they will be happy and healthy.
I am open to any and all comments/suggestions.

[discuspaul]

Hi Vicky, welcome to the forum.
Recommend you consider 5 discus of not less than 4" in size.
With that though, your intended livestock load is on the high side for a 46 gal bow-front, and your proposed wcs of 25% a week would likely be insufficient to keep the discus healthy & thriving.
Suggest you, at the very least, omit the Buenos Aires Tetras, and up the wcs to at least 2 or 3 X a week of 50% or more, and your chances of success are improved significantly.
And for heaven's sake, do yourself a favor, don't buy your discus from a LFS, get them from one of the sponsors here on SD.
All the best of luck to you.

[Stickgal316]

Discus Paul,
Thanks for replying! Will take and use your suggestions. Didn't mean I'd buy them from there, just got suggestions from them.

[discuspaul]

Discus Paul,
Thanks for replying! Will take and use your suggestions. Didn't mean I'd buy them from there, just got suggestions from them.

Super - glad to hear that !

[strawberryblonde]

Hi Vicky and welcome to the forums! =)

To set yourself up for success with your first discus tank I'm going to make a few suggestions. Once you have the routines down pat and you're sure everything is well under control, then you can move on to the more complicated parts of discus keeping - like plants, substrate, other tank mates, etc.

1) For now, remove the substrate and plants. Only one piece of driftwood so that cleaning the tank is easy for you. The easier it is, the more likely you'll do it.

2) No tank mates - especially the ones you currently have in the tank. Later on it will be ok to add a small school of corydoras catfish or a small school of compatible tetras.

3) For water changes, you don't need to use RO unless you have a problem with your tap water. Domestic discus don't require the low pH that wild discus prefer, so stick with plain tap water, ok?

4) A 46 gallon tank is actually quite small for a discus habitat, so plan to only have 5 of them (they need 10 gallons of water per adult discus).

5) Buy the largest discus that you can afford. I bought 4" discus for my first try and they grew nicely in a 50 gallon tank.

6) Plan to do daily water changes till your discus are adult sized (at least 6", possibly more). Discus take about 18 months to grow to full size. The daily water change should be at least 70%, more if possible. The more fresh water they get, the better their immune systems and the better they grow.

7) Make your water changes as simple as possible. I use a Python water change system and run the hose out to my garden so that my plants get the benefits of the nitrates in the tank water. For a 46 gallon tank, a 90% water change with a python changer takes about 30 minutes.

8) Discus poop a LOT when they are growing, so be sure to vacuum the bottom daily. Since you will have a bare bottom tank (no substrate) this will be very easy. Give the sides and bottom of the tank a quick wipe down with a clean cloth or scrubbie at each water change to remove any discus slime that builds up.

9) To make the tank more comfortable for the discus, paint the outside bottom of the tank with white or beige paint. That way they won't see their reflection when they head down to eat and won't frighten themselves.

10) Ignore anything you heard from a LFS about discus care! Most have no clue and are just repeating any odd bits they've heard second hand or worse, giving "general" advice that they feel works for all freshwater fish.

My last bit of advice is about foods. Discus need high quality, high protein foods and need several feedings a day while they are growing. You can use a variety of foods like Discus flakes, pellets, frozen beefheart, spirulina (flake or frozen) and freeze dried blackworms. Al, the owner of this forum, sells the blackworms - we all call them FDBW's for short and discus LOVE them!! They come in cube form and are easy to stick to the glass so that your discus can munch away and graze on them.

For 4" discus, aim for 5 - 6 small feedings per day and if you use frozen beefheart, feed it just before your daily tank cleaning so that you can vacuum up any leftover bits - it fouls the water fairly quickly.

And that's it! The simpler the better till you get the hang of raising and keeping discus. Many people on here have tried to do it "their way" in the beginning and ended up in the disease section within a month or two. I'm hoping to help you avoid that.

[Stickgal316]

Wow! I'm struggling with how plain the tank will be. I'm going to take a bit to decide if this is really something I want to do. I know my tank is small and I don't want to do anything to make any fish miserable. I may wait till I get a bigger tank. But thanks for the advice!

[tommy_rosalee]

Hi all,

I am new to the forum and Facebook page so thanks to Al and everyone for adding me. First time on a forum of any kind so will do my best. Figure this is better than filling up the Facebook page with a million questions and posts.

1. My name is Tommy. Been in hobby in some way for about 20 years. Have kept primarily african cichlids. Also kept south american cichlids, and several community tanks in the past. Currently have african cichlids.

2. Have done quite a bit of reading and interaction with other discus owners about keeping discus. Have owned a few over the years but not significant time. New to the forum so still exploring it.

3. My current tank is a standard 125 gallon 6 foot. Display only, no breeding. Tank has been running continuously for about 14 months now.

4. Tank decor is about a 50/50 mix of driftwood and creek bed rock. Substrate is Caribsea Cichlid mix sand. My goal is primarily a biotope type discus tank with some plants (anubias, sword type) but definitely biotope like in appearance.

5. Current water change practice is every 3-4 days. Typical wc is always 60-75%. Tap water.

6. Equipment currently in use and planning (hoping) to keep after transition to discus.

Filtration

Two Fluval FX6 canister filters. Each canister has identical media. Top tray: fine filter pad and polyester filter floss. Center tray: Seachem Matrix. Bottom tray: 200 mg’s Seachem Purigen, and (2) Chemipure Elite 11.74 oz all in one filter media by Boyd Enterprises.

Heating

Primary is an Eheim Jager 300 watt

Backup is a 200 watt Marineland

Lighting

4 36” Current USA Freshwater LED strips
2 36” Current USA Freshwater + LED strips

Misc

2 Aqueon 500 powerheads currently running for water movement
Water is treated with Seachem Safe

7. Today's parameters:
Temp: 82'
pH: ~7.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: ~10-15ppm
Use city water

8. Current livestock that are staying is three plecos. An L-18 gold nugget, an L-200 green phantom, and an L-191 royal. I am really hoping for approx 10-12 discus with other community tank mates like tetras etc. But the primary occupant being discus. I haven't decided on a source yet.

9. Current feeding is twice a day and exclusively New Life spectrum.

10. Goal is a discus display tank more leaning toward the biotope look with some community fish. No breeding.

Thanks for taking the time to read and offer any feedback.

[Megan111]

Hello! Im Megan,
I have kept tropical fish all my life, and currently keep African cichlids with good success. I have never kept discus, but it has always been on my bucket list. Ive been hunting the internet for the past several months and while most things appear to be law (clean water, low pH and expect them to try to die) lots of other topics get confusing, and different people have different ideas. I was hoping to keep few live plants, and some people are all for it, while others swear its a terrible idea. This is why Im here, before I start I want to learn!

I have a 115 gallon currently taking up my entire kitchen table. We built a stand, and Im getting ready to reseal it next weekend. I am in the market for a good canister filter. Once I have all my stuff, Ill set up and cycle the tank for a couple of months, Im not in a hurry.

We have hard water (pH usually over 7) so I want to decorate primarily with driftwood. I want to plant, but will probably go with simple stuff that can do well in a pot (swords). I like that plants help keep the water clean, but I think it makes it harder to keep the actual fish, and my research has leadme to believe these guys do better with less substrate. I think I will go with a very thin lay of sand on the bottom with a few potted plants. In this case if I need to treat the water with something that wont agree with my plants, I can remove the plants and put them in my quarantine tank or something. I want to make it as easy as possible, so any advice would be great! I would like to keep some loaches, and I have some fancy plecos I would like to include in the tank if possible.

I use tap water with my Africans, but they like hard water. I use prime water conditioner to manage the contaminants. Im happy to age my water. I plan to keep my 30 gallon running as a quarantine tank. It will be bare bottom, kept at the same temperature that I can put new or sick fish in. I could use this to age the water before water changes. I keep my tanks all at 84 degrees, which I realize is high, but my Africans do really well at this temp so I dont mess with it. I havent set up yet, so if I need to do it at another temperature, I can accommodate any changes suggested.

I would like to keep domestic fish since they are more likely to do well at a higher pH. For my 115, Im thinking 6-8 fish. Again, I dont want to overstock or find myself in a position where the work required is more than I can manage. I currently do 50% water changes once every 7-10 days on my very overstocked African tank. I realize with discus Ill need to do this more often, and possibly more water at each change. I was hoping to do it once every 3-5 days but some people say it needs to be done daily. I would like to avoid this. I go to conferences and would like to be able to leave for a few days without worrying about my fish dying while Im gone.
A reputable place for acquiring fish in my area is this supplier: https://www.facebook.com/kingfishimports but I havent decided if this is where I am going to get them. Again, Im here for advice. Again, I want to start with the easiest fish I can get.

Since Im new, Im not interested in showing or breeding or anything, I would like to set up a nice tank for my own viewing pleasure. I want it visually appealing and easy to manage once its setup and running. Im new and Im learning so I want to do it right without killing a bunch of fish, losing a bunch of money and getting discouraged. If its not something I can do right now with my schedule and financial situation, Im happy to hear it and do something else for now. Please be honest and patient with my ignorance!

[discuspaul]

Hi all,

I am new to the forum and Facebook page so thanks to Al and everyone for adding me. First time on a forum of any kind so will do my best. Figure this is better than filling up the Facebook page with a million questions and posts.

1. My name is Tommy. Been in hobby in some way for about 20 years. Have kept primarily african cichlids. Also kept south american cichlids, and several community tanks in the past. Currently have african cichlids.

2. Have done quite a bit of reading and interaction with other discus owners about keeping discus. Have owned a few over the years but not significant time. New to the forum so still exploring it.

3. My current tank is a standard 125 gallon 6 foot. Display only, no breeding. Tank has been running continuously for about 14 months now.

4. Tank decor is about a 50/50 mix of driftwood and creek bed rock. Substrate is Caribsea Cichlid mix sand. My goal is primarily a biotope type discus tank with some plants (anubias, sword type) but definitely biotope like in appearance.

5. Current water change practice is every 3-4 days. Typical wc is always 60-75%. Tap water.

6. Equipment currently in use and planning (hoping) to keep after transition to discus.

Filtration

Two Fluval FX6 canister filters. Each canister has identical media. Top tray: fine filter pad and polyester filter floss. Center tray: Seachem Matrix. Bottom tray: 200 mg’s Seachem Purigen, and (2) Chemipure Elite 11.74 oz all in one filter media by Boyd Enterprises.

Heating

Primary is an Eheim Jager 300 watt

Backup is a 200 watt Marineland

Lighting

4 36” Current USA Freshwater LED strips
2 36” Current USA Freshwater + LED strips

Misc

2 Aqueon 500 powerheads currently running for water movement
Water is treated with Seachem Safe

7. Today's parameters:
Temp: 82'
pH: ~7.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: ~10-15ppm
Use city water

8. Current livestock that are staying is three plecos. An L-18 gold nugget, an L-200 green phantom, and an L-191 royal. I am really hoping for approx 10-12 discus with other community tank mates like tetras etc. But the primary occupant being discus. I haven't decided on a source yet.

9. Current feeding is twice a day and exclusively New Life spectrum.

10. Goal is a discus display tank more leaning toward the biotope look with some community fish. No breeding.

Thanks for taking the time to read and offer any feedback.

Welcome to the forum, Tommy.
It's good that you've done some research into keeping discus properly.

Given your previous experience with fish-keeping, and that you intend to more or less maintain your existing tank set-up & aqua-scape along with your wc regime, I'd suggest you consider getting 8- 10 near adult discus (say 4" or larger) from a fully reputable source for supplying quality fish (any one of this forum's sponsors will meet this requirement).

It's best though, that you try to maintain nitrates @ 10 ppm or less, so you may need to up your wc quantity &/or frequency a bit.
Also, you should do a suitable quarantine and when done, keep an eye on your Plecos for a while to satisfy yourself they don't stress the discus by possibly taking a liking to the discus' slime coats as part of their diet. I hope these Plecos are currently not too large.
Best of luck to you & enjoy the forum.

[discuspaul]

Hello! Im Megan,
I have kept tropical fish all my life, and currently keep African cichlids with good success. I have never kept discus, but it has always been on my bucket list. Ive been hunting the internet for the past several months and while most things appear to be law (clean water, low pH and expect them to try to die) lots of other topics get confusing, and different people have different ideas. I was hoping to keep few live plants, and some people are all for it, while others swear its a terrible idea. This is why Im here, before I start I want to learn!

I have a 115 gallon currently taking up my entire kitchen table. We built a stand, and Im getting ready to reseal it next weekend. I am in the market for a good canister filter. Once I have all my stuff, Ill set up and cycle the tank for a couple of months, Im not in a hurry.

We have hard water (pH usually over 7) so I want to decorate primarily with driftwood. I want to plant, but will probably go with simple stuff that can do well in a pot (swords). I like that plants help keep the water clean, but I think it makes it harder to keep the actual fish, and my research has leadme to believe these guys do better with less substrate. I think I will go with a very thin lay of sand on the bottom with a few potted plants. In this case if I need to treat the water with something that wont agree with my plants, I can remove the plants and put them in my quarantine tank or something. I want to make it as easy as possible, so any advice would be great! I would like to keep some loaches, and I have some fancy plecos I would like to include in the tank if possible.

I use tap water with my Africans, but they like hard water. I use prime water conditioner to manage the contaminants. Im happy to age my water. I plan to keep my 30 gallon running as a quarantine tank. It will be bare bottom, kept at the same temperature that I can put new or sick fish in. I could use this to age the water before water changes. I keep my tanks all at 84 degrees, which I realize is high, but my Africans do really well at this temp so I dont mess with it. I havent set up yet, so if I need to do it at another temperature, I can accommodate any changes suggested.

I would like to keep domestic fish since they are more likely to do well at a higher pH. For my 115, Im thinking 6-8 fish. Again, I dont want to overstock or find myself in a position where the work required is more than I can manage. I currently do 50% water changes once every 7-10 days on my very overstocked African tank. I realize with discus Ill need to do this more often, and possibly more water at each change. I was hoping to do it once every 3-5 days but some people say it needs to be done daily. I would like to avoid this. I go to conferences and would like to be able to leave for a few days without worrying about my fish dying while Im gone.
A reputable place for acquiring fish in my area is this supplier: https://www.facebook.com/kingfishimports but I havent decided if this is where I am going to get them. Again, Im here for advice. Again, I want to start with the easiest fish I can get.

Since Im new, Im not interested in showing or breeding or anything, I would like to set up a nice tank for my own viewing pleasure. I want it visually appealing and easy to manage once its setup and running. Im new and Im learning so I want to do it right without killing a bunch of fish, losing a bunch of money and getting discouraged. If its not something I can do right now with my schedule and financial situation, Im happy to hear it and do something else for now. Please be honest and patient with my ignorance!

Hi Megan, and welcome to the forum.

Your introductory comments and intended plans were well laid out, and more or less confirmed that you have reasonable experience, you've done your homework, and you seem well prepared to keep discus successfully.

So I have similar suggestions as given to Tommy above, assuming you will maintain your tank with a light layer of sand substrate with just a few potted plants, and get 6-8 discus, namely: get your discus from a known quality source and of a decent size so you run little risk of stunting the fish - (say 4" or larger discus).
You should consider doing your wcs at least every 2nd or 3rd day regularly, in larger amounts than 50% - suggest 75% or so. (Don't leave it as long as 5 days or more).

Finally, carefully consider your discus' tank-mates - Plecos may or may not be a problem if there are not very large (think BNP's), and you may want to stay away from Clown Loaches, as they get quite large, are generally very active, and can be a source of stress for the discus.

BTW, your pH over 7.0 is just fine - no need to try playing with it - ok?
And re: your source - I'm not familiar with KingFish Imports - where are you located ? You may be near a well-known source of good quality fish - you couldn't go wrong with one of SD sponsors.

All the best of luck to you.

[Megan111]

Hi Megan, and welcome to the forum.

Your introductory comments and intended plans were well laid out, and more or less confirmed that you have reasonable experience, you've done your homework, and you seem well prepared to keep discus successfully.

So I have similar suggestions as given to Tommy above, assuming you will maintain your tank with a light layer of sand substrate with just a few potted plants, and get 6-8 discus, namely: get your discus from a known quality source and of a decent size so you run little risk of stunting the fish - (say 4" or larger discus).
You should consider doing your wcs at least every 2nd or 3rd day regularly, in larger amounts than 50% - suggest 75% or so. (Don't leave it as long as 5 days or more).

Finally, carefully consider your discus' tank-mates - Plecos may or may not be a problem if there are not very large (think BNP's), and you may want to stay away from Clown Loaches, as they get quite large, are generally very active, and can be a source of stress for the discus.

BTW, your pH over 7.0 is just fine - no need to try playing with it - ok?
And re: your source - I'm not familiar with KingFish Imports - where are you located ? You may be near a well-known source of good quality fish - you couldn't go wrong with one of SD sponsors.

All the best of luck to you.

Thank you! I was thinking yoyo loaches, and I have a royal pleco that Im really proud of. I live in Guelph Ontario Canada, close to Toronto. King Fish Imports is the one source everyone mentions around here for domestics. They are imported from I believe Germany, then acclimated to the hard Guelph water for some time before he sells them. Everyone Ive spoke with (local discus groups) indicate they have had really great success with their fish. You can usually get adults so you dont have to worry about growing up little fishes, and they often have great variety. They are brutal expensive, which is the one reason my husband and I keep debating back and forth. We are hoping to buy a place of our own and when we do we will move. Dave has agreed to set me up with a fish room with a sump and a drip system when we have our own home, so it might be better to wait until I have better equipment. Im not sure if Im ready to keep up with water changes every three days. Im a researcher, I work 10 hour days 7 days a week, I travel, I have horses, dogs and a parrot. It might not be the right time

[discuspaul]

Your thoughts of postponing your entry into discus until it better suits your circumstances is perhaps the best approach.

Sounds like King Fish Imports may be a viable source for good quality discus. Now that I think about it some more, I had heard sometime back that a buyer from that source had reported having a very satisfactory experience with them. Seems they may be an importer of Stendker discus. If so, and they import their fish directly from Stendker in Germany, then it is likely a very good source.

For what it's worth, I lived in Toronto for quite a few years and have a number of contacts there who have informed me that the best source for high quality discus near Toronto is Bob Garside of Upper Canada Discus, near Barrie, Ont. You can google for his website. I've spoken with Bob a couple of times by email over the past few years, and he seems to be a real stand-up guy.

Thank you! I was thinking yoyo loaches, and I have a royal pleco that Im really proud of. I live in Guelph Ontario Canada, close to Toronto. King Fish Imports is the one source everyone mentions around here for domestics. They are imported from I believe Germany, then acclimated to the hard Guelph water for some time before he sells them. Everyone Ive spoke with (local discus groups) indicate they have had really great success with their fish. You can usually get adults so you dont have to worry about growing up little fishes, and they often have great variety. They are brutal expensive, which is the one reason my husband and I keep debating back and forth. We are hoping to buy a place of our own and when we do we will move. Dave has agreed to set me up with a fish room with a sump and a drip system when we have our own home, so it might be better to wait until I have better equipment. Im not sure if Im ready to keep up with water changes every three days. Im a researcher, I work 10 hour days 7 days a week, I travel, I have horses, dogs and a parrot. It might not be the right time