thinking about discus

[Wjugolfer99]

Hi all I grow and sell very rare and high end corals about a month ago my saltwater display tank caught fire and I lost 25k in coral long story short. We had smoke damage to the whole house and the restoration company last week decided to use a a shellac based sealer without telling us so we couldn't take measures with my tanks therefore I lost all my saltwater fish and freshwater fish except for 1 gold rainbowfish. I have a 90 gallon freshwater tank that's been up for 9 years running on a eshopps wet dry sump with 50% weekly water changes. I was into big oddball fish I had a 13 inch bgk, 12 inch uaru, rainbow fish, angels and other community fish. Ive done it all except discus and african cichlids and I've always liked discus just never had the right fish stocking. So I'm thinking about turning this tank into a planted tank with discus. Thoughts?

[Johnny95132]

Sorry to hear about your losses of both your coral and your house. The resulting damage must've been a headache to deal with. I've lost fish, albeit 25k worth, and the loss always leaves me feeling numb. This is the first time I've heard of tanks catching fire though. I've heard of tanks leaking but not downright catching fire. Surely you must mean the equipment, such as lights, not the water itself? I cannot picture a scene.
As to your question regarding keeping discus, I would totally recommend it. I think you would like the diverse variety of discus available, and the intense coloration that can compete with the brightest of corals. And you have the experience keeping similar fish, given that Uaru, angels are very closely related and therefore have similar care requirements to discus. I also have to infer that you have sufficient funds to purchase high quality discus. Oftentimes, new discus keepers will try to save money by buying small, inferior quality stock, which always never ends well. The said discus are disease ridden and die quickly.
In short, my greatest recommendation is to purchase from a reputable source, which you should find on this site's sponsors.

[Shan_Evolved]

Sorry about your huge loss mate. My condolences.

Discus are their own reward man. I recently got into them and although I've ran into troubles due to local water supply and lack of knowledge, the fish themselves are so beautiful and charismatic. If you'd like to do a planted tank with discus, make sure you get them as adults!

[Wjugolfer99]

long story short I had a heavy duty power strip surge protector $70 from best buy catch fire with only 3 things plugged into it. All my expensive equipment I run from my apex if you know what that is. It happened about 2 hours before work when I was getting ready and we kept the french doors to that room closed I got to that room and opened them and it was full of thick black smoke hitting me in the face. I do want to do a planted tank as something different from my corals. I want the best highest quality and some rare strains because that's what I'm into rare stuff.

[Shan_Evolved]

Shitty best buy products man. Sorry to hear that. If you're into rare discus, this is definitely the forum to get in touch with people who breed the wildest looking fish. And what's great about discus is people breed and sell all the time! I wish you good luck on your journey man. On another note, I'd like to dabble in salt water tanks someday for sure. There's something mystical about seeing corals flourishing in a high flow tank. The shimmering lighting effect in a cool 6k color temp. Different kind of beauty

[LizStreithorst]

You will love Discus but be sure to read around on the forum before you start. Check out Al's video in the beginners section and read the section on planted tanks. I made a planted tank for Discus a while back and decided after many months that it was not the greatest environment for them, even with every day 80% WC and vacuuming the substrate every other day. I've been in Discus for 2001 and know how to watch the fish for problems carefully. Without that experience you could simply have learned symptoms fast enough to nip the problem in the bud. The only problem is that I had "Discus pimples" on various fish from time to time.

I would suggest that you at least start out with a BB tank with driftwood and plants that can be glued to it. You can make an extremely attractive display with those things alone, and it is much more similar to the condition Discus live in the wild.

As far as "rare" Discus the only truly rare ones are wilds. Good ones are hard to find and if you are lucky enough to find good ones they are terribly expensive. There are a few people breeding tank raised wilds. That would be a safer choice. Also there are strains that have the wild look but have been domestically bred for generations to get that look. Discus Hans has a domestically bred strain called Stendker Tefe. They are very attractive to my eye. Other choices include domesticallty bred Santarems and Curipera as well as some Heckle crosses.

Regardless of what you choose to do, I wish you have the love affair with Discus that most of us here share. Good lucky and if you have a question about anything, please post it. We love helping people to be successful with Discus.

[Wjugolfer99]

thanks guys