Community Tank

[fuzzy]

Hi all,
I have a question regarding Discus in a limited community tank tak.
I have purchased a 125 gallon setup used and would like to have discus.
My water parameters are:
Carbonate Hardness 5
General Hardness 7
Ph 6.4 to 6.5
I did not do a nitrate test because the store was out of kits.
The water comes from my private well.

My question is:
Can a tank be setup w/ gravel and plants(to consume fish waste and nitrates) and a school of cory cats(to consume the left over food) and other peaceful fish and reduce the number of water changeswithout adversely effecting the discus?
I have no intention of breeding at this time and like the appearence of a planted tank.
Thanks for reading.

[Carol_Roberts]

Nope.

Discus are different than other tropical freshwater fish. Plants, gravel, corys and other peaceful fish all negatively impact the water quality so necessary to grow out discus. Nothing replaces water changes.

[Discus_Forever]

I agree with Carol that nothing will take the place of regular partial water changes, but there are a number of factors to consider.

First, you're lucky to have water from your own well with low hardness and a mildly acidic pH. Our water in San Diego is exactly the opposite!

Second, you didn't indicate the age of the discus you want to put in this set-up. Healthy adults should do fine in this tank, but please do not put juvenile discus in there. Chances are that if they survive at all, they will be stunted and never achieve their full size or beauty. You have their 1st year only to grow them out, so stack the cards in your and their favor and raise them in a separate bare-bottom tank with daily 25% water changes. If you do more, say 50% once or twice a week, so much the better.

Many of us have kept discus for years and have tried at one time or another to raise small discus in planted tanks, but it just doesn't work.

Now while you're growing out your new discus, set up the 125 to get the plants started. You will probably find that during the first 3 months that you'll have an initial algae bloom, loose some plants, find out what works in your particular tank. If you plant heavily with fast growing plants (vals, hygro species, water sprite, etc), you probably won't have too much of a problem with ammonia (although ammonia should be present in relatively non-toxic ammonium with your pH) & nitrites. Put say 2 bristlenose plecs (great for algae control) and 3 corys in initially and test for nitrites in particular weeks 2-4. If you have no nitrite readings after week 4, you can gradually build up schools of tetra or add some dwarf cichlids.

By the time you have the 125 up & running & stable with your permanent arrangement of plants, put your discus in when they are 4" or more. Then you should be able to have 5-6 adult discus, schools of 1 or 2 tetras and your cats. You'll still want to do at least one 25% water change per week.

Hope this helps--and sorry it's so long!