First time Discus. Please advise me on my plan

[jonyd]

Hey guys. I have recently joined here and been reading a lot. U guys r awesome.
I never kept Discus before and I want to do a final check with you guys before I go ahead with my plan. This is my first post so plz b kind :)

My background:

I got fascinated by the idea of creating a small ecosystem for fish and for past few years, I have kept mostly beginner hardy freshwater fishes e.g. angels, bristlenose, cory, guppy, tetras, various cichlids, etc etc and some shrimps. I have also tried planted tank which I eventually gave up.

My Plan

Tank: 75g - with some driftwood, rock, and possibly plants later on.

Equipment: 550 GPH filter, wool and biological only, thinking of buying UV filter before putting discus

Substrate: Thin layer White Gravel. not good but had no choice. wife would not let me go bare bottom..

Water chemistry: Recently cycled. tap pH 7.8, soft. not going to bother changing pH..Temp 84-86

Tank mates: Currently 6 cardinal tetra, 5 glowlight tetra, 1 albino BN. Going to add 6 cory soon. +/- Apisto or rams

Water changes: aiming ~50% per week. I do not think I can afford more frequent water change.. also I think as long as ammonia, nitrate, nitrite remains 0, it should be ok?

Discus: 3 x 10-15 cm Discus. I would like 6 eventually but cannot afford at this stage. its really expensive where i live... Ideally i would keep 6 now.


I am going to spend few more weeks to make sure the tank is in good shape before introducing discus. Please let me know whether this plan is good to go ahead.
Any advise will be much appreciated. Thanks guys.

[Phillydubs]

Welcome Jonyd!

Happy you came here before your started on your venture because I see a few glaring issues with your plan and you may want to re-do it or at least save up some more cash then do it...

I have no issue with yiur tank or filter set up - are you using a sump or a canister or what type? UV is debatable between discus keepers, it can't hurt but some say with frequesnt water changes it doesnt provide much. Since you plan to try and get away with weekly water changes, it could def help you.

Substrate - as long as it isnt super deep and you can siphon it and get up all the nasties I am not a subtrate hater like a lot of people here, I keep sand in my wild tanks and have used other substances. Just stay away from crazy deep beds and that crap gravel that just holds nasty crap. Make sure you get in that substrate w every WC.

Don't play w your PH at all. If thats what it is out of the tap fine, but what is it after 24 hrs in a tank? Does it drop, rise or stay steady. This is very important and you need to test it.

Tank mates are ok, where are they now. The issue you may have is mixing the two groups and I don't suggest it. Your current fish may be fine, but the discus could infect them and vice versa and you'd be sitting with a real issue on your hands. QT is big, check my recent posts, I learned the hard way.

You would be better doing at least 2 a week IMO. One a week with a light bio load, adult discus, light feeds and a good filter can be done, but not highly recommended. Can you do 2 changes? Can you do say 75% or more?

Lastly, dont buy 3 discus to start, bad number, they will fight and cause issues. Dont buy 3 then add three, see what I said aboove about disease. Save up, get all fish at once, as big as you can. In your situation get 5" fish if you can.

If not, then you should wait to begin until your funds allow... Where are you from?

[jonyd]

Hello Philly

Thank you very much for your reply. I am from Sydney and its quite expensive :(

pH remains the same after aging the water. For the Filter, I am using inbuilt that came in with Aqua grande 120 model, have about 4.5 kg somewhat high quality biological filter.
I might be able to do proper water change w siphoning once a week, and just changing water once a week.. so twice a week like that. My barrel only holds 100L so probably 30-40% .. unless
if i can get away with putting tap water in the tank first then de-chlorinate. I was planning on de-chlorinating it before putting it in.

Also if all the water parameters remain stable e.g. ammonia/nitrate/nitrite remains 0, then I thought it should be ok for the discus.

If i buy 6 at the same time, that is at least 600$ :( Quarantine is a big issue as my wife made me throw out all the tanks after I got married, so I only have one 75g and 10g tank. I bought fish from
the same LFS so was hoping that I will get lucky. I have not had any issues previuosly with there fish. I have been seeing their discus for about 2 months now and seemed healthy and disease free.

[Ash92]

Hello Philly

Thank you very much for your reply. I am from Sydney and its quite expensive :(

pH remains the same after aging the water. For the Filter, I am using inbuilt that came in with Aqua grande 120 model, have about 4.5 kg somewhat high quality biological filter.
I might be able to do proper water change w siphoning once a week, and just changing water once a week.. so twice a week like that. My barrel only holds 100L so probably 30-40% .. unless
if i can get away with putting tap water in the tank first then de-chlorinate. I was planning on de-chlorinating it before putting it in.

Also if all the water parameters remain stable e.g. ammonia/nitrate/nitrite remains 0, then I thought it should be ok for the discus.

If i buy 6 at the same time, that is at least 600$ :( Quarantine is a big issue as my wife made me throw out all the tanks after I got married, so I only have one 75g and 10g tank. I bought fish from
the same LFS so was hoping that I will get lucky. I have not had any issues previuosly with there fish. I have been seeing their discus for about 2 months now and seemed healthy and disease free.

That's abit risky mate and did you say water change once a week?

[Filip]

Hi Jony .
Your plan is sound and doable but be prepared to stretch your weekly WC routine if needed .Don't get so dead-set on 1-2-3 WCs per week but rather try to adjust them according to the discus needs . Your parameters and discus behaviour will tell you how frequent your WC routine should be , just monitor them closely for the first couple of months, and start with more first and lower WCs to less instead of doing the other way around.

About the numbers.I know that acquiring 6 grown discus in one purchase can get very pricey but be aware that only 3 of them can have aggression issues which can stress the lowest totem discus to a level of getting him off food and catching disease .
Also you risk cross -contamination if you get them separately , especially if you buy from your LFS.
So do try to get them all at once if you can pull this off.
This will secure your pricey investment and give your discus and you more chances of success .

Good luck Jony.