New to Discus with Questions

[paulfromero]

Hi there,

I am beginning a Discus tank of 125 gallons 72"x18"x12" apprx, With one fluval canister filter, and two heaters. I have been able to keep a 4", 3", and 2" discus for several months now. I hope to create a very nice tank in the near future, as the current one is kinda"dry". I am hoping to acquire at least 6 Discus of one or two strains. I am hoping to create a splash of color, too. Could you let me know what you think about these items?

1) What should be the number, size, and strain(s) for a colorful livestock set, bearing in mind #4 below?
2) What kind of background and brand of background I should use, if any?
3) Should I get a planted tank?
4) What should I do to ensure a "reasonable" chance of a breeding pair, and if I get a breeding pair going, what livestock should I choose initially to enable them to reproduce without harassing or getting harassed/babies killed.


Thanks,

Paul

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Paul and welcome to Simplydiscus :wave:

1) What should be the number, size, and strain(s) for a colorful livestock set, bearing in mind #4 below?
2) What kind of background and brand of background I should use, if any?
3) Should I get a planted tank?
4) What should I do to ensure a "reasonable" chance of a breeding pair, and if I get a breeding pair going, what livestock should I choose initially to enable them to reproduce without harassing or getting harassed/babies killed.
1. I'd get 8 - 12 three or four inch discus. Pick your favorite types and we'll tell you if they go nicely together.
2. I don't use backgrounds and can see through to the wall. Use one if you want to.
3. Juvenile discus grow best in bare bottom tanks.
4. Discus only - no other livestock.

[Anonapersona]

I'll suggest insulation as the background, you may be able to find a large 4'x8' sheet of insulation in the hardware store that can be cut to fit. You may even find a nice shade of blue. Adding insulation on that large back pane of glass will conserve heat in your tank. You may want to add one below the tank also to insulate it on the bottom also.

[paulfromero]

Thanks for the replys!,

I would be interested in Melons (aka Tangerines?), Blue Diamonds, Red Spiders (white background). The Red Rose Discus sure is pretty, too! My current temperature is 82F and PH is 7.0. I purposely keep it low for the Tetras in the tank; I was thinking about adding a dozen or so Rummy Nose Tetras to get the schooling effect and give a interesting background to the big boys. Will this hurt the Discus? Will going to 84-=85F make life unbearable for the Tetras

This winter, insulation would be great thanks for the tip!

Paul

[RyanH]

Paul,

Your going to want to find some other fish that will be able to tolerate the heat that Discus require. Rummynose and neons will not do well in a Discus tank. Cardinal Tetras do much better in higher temps. You really want to keep your Discus at temperatures of at least 84 degrees.

Also, if you intend to buy juveniles then you will be better off without a substrate and a ton of decorations. I would strongly suggest growing your baby Discus out bare bottom and then think about a show tank. I wanted to do the same thing when I first got into Discus and I was only setting my self up for failure and heartache. :( Trust me on this. I've been there.

hth!

[paulfromero]

Hi there,

I am really getting some good sage advice here. I probably will get young adults about a year old.

Thanks,

Paul

P.S. Do you know where I can read up on proper fishmates for Discus?

[Willie]

This is a pretty standard list:

1. Cardinal or rummy nose tetras
2. German blue or gold rams
3. Bushynose plecos
4. Heat tolerant Corydoras sp., e.g. sterbai, aeneus, robineii, arcuatus...

Willie

[Wolf_Mek]

Glowlight tetras and chocolate gourami also go well with discus. Chocolate gourami are a good indicator specie as they start showing signs of distress from tank conditions much sooner than the discus... so you can try to correct the problem before it affects them.

[tony1313]

Hi Paul,

I am beginning a Discus tank of 125 gallons 72"x18"x12" apprx, With one fluval canister filter, and two heaters.

I would get rid of the fluval and pick up a good wet/dry or 2 AC500's for a tank thats size. Canisters are nothing but trouble IME.

Best of luck,
Tony

[tgomearajr]

I am beginning a Discus tank of 125 gallons 72"x18"x12" apprx, With one fluval canister filter, and two heaters.


Er, first off, if your tank dimensions are *really* those listed, you do not have a 125 gal. aquarium, you have a 67 gal. aquarium. Big difference.

I say this not to be pedantic, but to warn you against overloading your tank with fish. There is a large difference in the number of fish you can reasonably keep in a 67 gallon tank vs. a 125 gallon tank.

Tom

[paulfromero]

Hi and thanks for your concientious read of my post.

The tank is 125; just guessed at the dimensions, so probably one value should be bigger.
If I get the discus, is there some hormone enhanced food on the market that will enhance their color, or should I just be patient and let growth/maturity bring out the colors? I plan on feeding straight frozen bloodworms and tetra-flakes.

Thanks,
Paul

[hexed]

I believe paul ment 72x18x22 which is 125 gallons ;)

I had great success with rummynose tetras, they live in the same water as discus. My problem was I sucked them into the vaccum and didn't know it so they ended up dying :( The good thing about them was, if you had a problem with your water they would loose the red on their heads and it would return when you fixed the problem :D
I had to remove my placo and algea eater because they would attack the discus' sides. I have currently an apple snail in my bare bottom tank to eat the algea. If it gets close to the cone my pair bump it off and push it away.
I have 6 rams in one of my 55 gallon tanks with 9 large discus with no problems. I had a cory catfish but gave it to my local aquarium because I very rarely feed flakes because my discus won't eat it. Mine only eat hikari pellets, tetrabits and live CBW. They just leave the flakes and beefheart so why bother wasting it. I got tired of vaccuming it out. I currently have gravel but I'm switching slowly to bare bottom because it's less time cleaning it :o
But I do have a dinosaur (bichir) eel in the other tank with the discus and they have been living together for over a year now, he eats shrimp pellets ;D Those discus are my bar ones and they are not spooked by him at all. He is about 8 inches long and breathes air (has to come to the surface like a catfish). You need to make sure that the entire top of the tank is covered because they will jump out of the tank. I also had a spotted puffer - yes a puffer in with my discus, Carol was shocked at that LOL. I had him in there to eat the snails that unfortunately came along with the plants. That little guy was placed in all my tanks to eat the snails. He never ate any fins and again the discus were not afraid of him for the 10 months he was in there. I lost him when I took him out of the tank and gave him his own 10 gallon, the heater broke and didn't shut off, it heated the 10 gallon to over 100 degrees :(
If you want to breed discus, then a bare bottom tank is best, a good 30 gallon. 125 gallon with other discus just means the eggs and/or fry will be eaten.

[hexed]

Paul,
Live california black worms are better then frozen bloodworms IMO.
Hikari pellets (sinking sticks) enhance the red in red discus and I believe tetraBits (pellets) enhance the blue. All I know is my discus love them and eat every last one. Like I said above, mine don't eat the flakes :(

[rjaso]

You are asking questions that could start an all-out war on the forum! :)
I started a 225 planted gallon discus tank about a year ago. Some advice from one who stumbled a bit...

Planted tanks are really gorgeous, but take alot more work than bare-bottom. I'm glad I did it, but there are alot more factors to consider and monitor. If you go planted, get a Co2 Unit, set up the tank, overload it with plants, and give it a good long time to get adjusted and balance itself out. If you start too fast with fish while getting the plants balanced, all #$%# will break out and you won't be able to manage your variables. Also, wet-dry AND cannister filtration is a must.
Once you get the plants going, add your accessory fish (I have 50 cardinals, 10 cory cats, a small pleco, and @ 20 otto cats)...slowly. Let them take the tank through it's cycle (they're cheap). Here's an interesting dilemma with discus...the more of them in a tank, the happier they are. So, it's hard to add 1 at a time. I'd probably add 4 at a time a good 8-10 weeks after your tank was started (I didn't wait that long, bought 4 discus for $125/ ea, gone in a week! It is amazing, but if you do alot of water changes, your water is good, you feed a variety of foods (I do earth worms, black worms, frozen blood worms, frozen and live brine shrimp, and tetra bits)and you don't instill alot of change in the tank (adding more fish, sticking your hands in and rearranging the tank, etc), the fish begin to pair off naturally and one day you'll wake up and find 2 guarding a section of the tank!

As to types, I think it's totally up to choice. I have Red turqs, blue diamonds, gold melons, San Merahs, red dragons, blue snakeskins...they all do great. The red turq male is the dominant one...don't know if that's a species thing or the fact that he got more food and is bigger!

If you want a real natural, peaceful and beautiful setting, go with the planted tank. If you really want to focus on breeding and spawning, go BB...it's alot easier.

Have fun...don't get discouraged...they become your best buddies in a couple of months!