Need Advice

[Zeph]

Ok, I finally think im ready for the crown jewel fish in freshwater. I have kept fw tanks all my life and a couple months ago i setup my first reef tank. Im 19, so 55 is the biggest i can go our my parents will kick me out.
I want to put the discus in my 55, since its only one i have besides my reef.
I have a planted 55 gallon with the following fish:
3 Geophagus Tapajo
5 denison barbs
5 clownloachs
3 bn plecos
1 royal pleco
(all are currently under 3 inchs)

The plants i CURRENTLY have are:
Jungle vals
rotala indica
java ferns
anubias barteri nana
Dwarf hair grass
java moss
sagitarria

These plants will be coming in on the 17th of this month:
3 Barclaya longifolia bulbs
A portion of flame moss 10 g
2 Cryptocoryne balansae
2 5 stems of hippuroides
2 Cryptocoryne wendtii
2 Cryptocoryne petchii
1 Echinodorus barthii-submerged
1 Echinodorus vesuvius-submerged
1 Aponogeton capuroni bulb


I have 2 penn-plax canister filters running
and i have 2 48" aqueon LED lights with 3 LED light tubes in each. So thats a ton of light.

Tank has been running for years, First had African malawi's, then victorian, and now S. American fish.

So will i be able to comfortably keep maybe 6 juvies in there with what i have? Of course i will start getting rid of fish once they get bigger though.

My last question is this, can anyone help me find a breeder in the milwaukee area? I dont buy fish from stores unless no one breeds them.

[discuspaul]

You have quite a few plants coming in, and you already seem to have a lot of plants in there already - are the new plants all intended for the 55 gal ?
Discus do need a certain amount of swimming space, and a 55 gal is about the smallest recommended size for keeping a half dozen discus (even for smaller juvies if the tank is heavily planted). And smaller Juvies really should be best grown out in a bare-bottom tank.

You could have 6 in there, WITHOUT having any of the other fish that are in there now, or else your tank will be seriously overcrowded. Besides that, some of those fish are not good discus tankmates as a general rule in the first place - e.g. the denison barbs and the clown loaches in particular.

Sorry to say this, but it's unlikely you would succeed to keep discus properly in your set-up as it stands now.
Please do some more research - check out all the Stickies here in the discus basics section.

[Crystalwaters]

New to discus I tried them in a planted 55 gallon community. Big mistake! They were very stressed, it was impossible to keep clean with the other tankmates and plants. I had much better success when i grew out the 6 discus in a 20 gallon. They seemed less stressed, cleaning was a breeze. Hope you have a tank that you can use until they get bigger and eat less frequently.

[camuth8]

I have my juvies in a 55 gallon tank with only 6 Cryptocorne Spiralis, 2 small Anubias Barteri, and 2 small Ruffled Swords. I also have 4 Tetras, and the Discus have plenty of swimming room, and still a few hiding spots. For you, I would take a few plants and fish out, and then you can put 6 Discus in there.

The closest breeder to you is probably Mike Beals in Ohio.

[Zeph]

Hey thanks everyone for the advice, but please understand im not going to let my tank be overrun with plants, i of course will be trimming them and im taking quite a few out that i currently have before the new ones arrive. most of the plants will be on the far sides of the tank and in the back. Im copying the layout from many people on you tube who have planted discus tanks in this size tank, with my own selection of plants of course. So the there will more than enough room for swimming. Plus im following the directions of several articles in my amazonas discus magazine.

Honestly i really am stuck because i have seen with my own eyes, discus with incompatible tank mates like oscars, green terrors, full grown bala sharks. That are fully colored up, Dont get me wrong i went straight to the store manager to state my concerns for the fish.

But its so puzzling, im hearing different things on each side of spectrum from my society(Milwaukee aquarium society) Ive talked to so many people there saying they were a pain in the *** to keep because they needed special water parameters, high temps, will only eat special foods to just use well water, normal temp of 76 degree's, feed them just flake food or pellets. But the strange thing is I have seen this with my own eyes, so there not bullsh***ing. Ive heard this many times "remember there just cichlids so there semi-hardy fish" to "THERE THE MOST SENSITIVE FISH EVER!!!!" Is this because of different strains, where some are more sensitive than others?
In all honesty my reef tank was easier to setup and care for than hearing all these probs with these fish, but yet there something about them that allures me.

If theres any equipment that I need i can easily get since i work at central aquatics in the research & development dept. . if you dont know who that is, we make all the aqueon, coralife, kentmarine, oceanic, zilla & other products. I get all my stuff for free cause once were done testing it we either put it in storage or throw it out. ive got literally over 100 heaters mostly 300, 250 & 100 watts. lol, i cant let them throw it out its such a waste so i take it home :P

[discuspaul]

Some of what you heard is likely correct and accurate, Zeph, but a lot of it probably isn't - just like a lot of views or opinions you get from any number of people about any subject. Yes, it is confusing, and takes some sorting out - deciding for yourself if the info comes from an experienced, reliable source or not, and most of that comes from having done diligent research into discus.

Some of the facts are that discus are actually quite hardy fish, but they are generally much more intolerant of poor water quality & conditions than most other fish, and therefore need a touch more care and attention in raising and keeping them than many other species.

If you have done all the neccessary research, gotten a good handle on what you should, or should not do, and you acquire good quality stock from an experienced, reputable, reliable supplier, then you'd be off to an excellent start, with very good chances of success keeping discus.
And remember, the larger, older the discus are that you get, the easier they are, generally speaking, to look after. If your wallet doesn't favor you buying larger, more cosly fish, then get smaller juvies.... keeping well in mind that they have lesser developed immune systems, and need more attention - preferably large, daily wcs, and frequent feedings, usually in a bare-bottom tank, to grow out properly & remain healthy.

The rest is easy - keep things simple - no special equipment needed - just the right-sized tank, a good heater and filtration, and a good tank cleansing routine, with due attention to proper water parameters. No rocket science here.
Best of luck to you.

[moon_knight1971]

Olo. Here's my advice based on the dozen years or so that I've kept discus, what I've read and based on the conditions you're thinking of using. Go with fully grown blue strained discus. That can be expensive so if you must get intermediates, try to stay away from white, yellow, gold, albino or red colored discus and make sure they are at least 4 inches in length. Why? Because you rarely see 6 inch plus discus that are those colors and when you do they are usually some blue strain. Second, discus at the 4 inch mark will already have most of the "work" done for you. You will see their shape and most of their color potential. At this size they are almost fully developed so the daily water change requirements can be relaxed quite a bit based on how much you feed them and your filiteration. You're young so remember the bigger the discus the less work you have to put into them. Third, check out Kenny's Discus in the Sponsors section. He's located in California but has the best quality discus and prices that you are ever likely to see and all his customers, including me, will swear by him. Trust me, you won't regret it.

Joey!

[Zeph]

Awesome, I hope when you say blue strain you mean the really cool ones that are blue with red stripes? or the flachen ones? Sorry i dont know the names or anything for discus.
Ok, found out what there called. Leopard snakeskin.

[moon_knight1971]

Here's the link to Kenny's Discus: http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?101549-PREVIEW-of-Dec-2012-Forrest-shipment-(Price-list-included)

He has a bunch of cool blue ones right now. The Altum Flora and Tiger Carnations have red stripes. I've had VERY good results with Kenny's Tiger Carnation Snakeskins. They are cheap and grow HUGE. You'll find that discus names are a dime a dozen if you continue in this hobby. The same fish can have a dozen names lol....

Joey!

[Zeph]

Nothing crushes your dreams more when you find an awesome fish and then........you look at the price and one is more than all my marine fish combined.
As awesome as these look, I may order from segrest farms, where i can get a couple adults for about $30 for all. I got all my marine fish from them and they were in tip top condition and well fed and for extremely super cheap. would of costed over $200 at the store only spent $80. I dont have a deep wallet so I have to find the cheapest price but balance the quality too.

But yet, i may order those carnations.

[camuth8]

Try ordering from one of the sponsors. They have great quality discus, and they are a reasonable amount of money.

[Zeph]

Thanks for all the help everyone, i greatly appreciate but a person in my area who is well known in the aquaria world is going to help me. Not sure if any of you have heard of Ted judy. But he's going to help me get the discus.