Discus Tank Plan

[Matt03730]

Can someone review my stocking list for my discus tank that I plan to set up.

Definite Fish:
5x Juvenile Discus
2x Adult German Blue Rams
11x Neon Tetra (Acclimated to higher tempreture Dither Fish)
6x Cory Cats (Cleanup Crew)
3x Apple Snails

Other possibilities:
11x Black Phantom Tetra
10x Cardinal Tetra
1x Pearl Gourami
1x Elderly Flag Acara
1x Small Angel Fish
1x Small Black Ghost Knife (Temporary)

The tank is 60 gallons and has 306 gallons an hour filtration, it is 4ft long and 17 inch high. The tank is heavily planted with a sandy substrate and half and inch gravel top coat in areas. It is well aerated and runs at 86f, I do 25% twice weekly water changes and the tank has been cycled for 3 months with other fish. I have years of experience and success with tropical fish and I hope I am ready for discus.

I am open to changes but will this tank work.

[Solid]

As a fellow Matt and planted tank enthusiast I will give you some tips. From my experience raising juvenile discus in a planted community tank with substrate it is difficult, especially on your first time with discus. More times than not it ends with sick fish. It is hard to keep a planted tank clean enough for the fish to grow out properly. It is not impossible, but difficult. You wont like the tips I will give you, but if you want to give yourself the best chance at success they will help. I was an experienced planted tank veteran before I got into discus. I didn't listen. I killed fish.


KISS Keep It Simple. Start with as few other things in the tank as you can bear. Fish and clean water. Once you get the hang of your feeding, water changes, and your fish are happy and thriving you can start adding everything else. That way if you have a problem, you know what is causing it, you can remove it, and go back to what was working.
If you are not doing a bare bottom grow-out tank, buy the largest high quality discus you can reasonably afford. Larger fish are much more hardy, require less feedings, less water changes, and you wont end up with stunted football looking fish. Quality fish is also so important! If you start with sick fish, you will have a rough time. I highly recommend any of the sponsors on this site. If you are worried about shipping fish, don't. Unless you are buying from a high quality local breeder, shipped fish will arrive healthier than most local fish store discus.
The less tank mates the better. More fish means more fish waste and your tank is already on the small side for discus. Also more species of fish means more things you have to worry about, more things that can stress your discus. keep it simple. If you can start with just discus it would be best. If you must have more variety I would stick with just tetras, corys or plecos. Rams, Acaras, and the other fish you listed make fine tank mates, but add them later after your Discus are established and healthy.
Everyone will recommend a bare bottom tank with plants in pots, this is great advice. If you are hard headed like me, stick with just sand. It is much easier to clean as the poop usually sits on top rather than sinks into the spaces between gravel. Also in my experience mixed substrates ALWAYS mix.
86° is warmer than it needs to be. 82° will be fine, it will be provide more O2 for the fish and the plants will do better also.
You will probably need to do a lot more water changes. I would start with 50% daily water changes. After a few weeks/months once your fish are happy you can move to every other day. Then after a while you can try every third day. If you start to have white pimples, dark colored, or skittish hiding fish, time to move back to every day. The fish will tell you.

[John_Nicholson]

/\ solid advice right there....LOL.

-john

[DiscusRob]

+++1

[Matt03730]

Thank you very much I think I may veer away from discus for now as the tank is already established with fish and plants and I don't really want to destroy that maybe I will have discus later but I might just stick with simpler, cheaper fish until I can afford a 6ft tank and a adult discus to stock it then I can work around discus and not my current tank, sadly in my current situation my tank is all I can fit in my house :(

[DonMD]

Thank you very much I think I may veer away from discus for now as the tank is already established with fish and plants and I don't really want to destroy that maybe I will have discus later but I might just stick with simpler, cheaper fish until I can afford a 6ft tank and a adult discus to stock it then I can work around discus and not my current tank, sadly in my current situation my tank is all I can fit in my house :(

I think you have just saved yourself a lot of grief. However, I do note that you're exhibiting the early stages of discus disease (ha!). I predict that in a few years you'll be back, perhaps in better financial conditions, setting up a new tank under pristine conditions, ordering perfect discus from one of Simply's sponsors. Best of luck to you. -Don

[Matt03730]

Early symptoms may include compulsively buying discus until you run out of money, the cure buy more discus. Yeah I probobly have saved myself money sadly I cannot buy from this websites sponsors though as I am an Aussie!!! Yeah but anyway I will eventually get that dream tank, I may end selling my life to get it but will get it in the end.