New to this forum

[Canuck]

Hi all,
I have been culling thru the forum and as I suspected there is a lot of info out there! This is great! I have a fair bit of experience w/ other fish. I had a tank going somewhere else (miserable experience in that location) that had a lot of fish and was the likes of silver dollars, bala sharks, pearl gourami, blue/white tetras and much more but that was 4+ yrs ago. That was a 50 gallon breeder tank. This was an awesome tank and I did a move there and the fish didn't survive, not a one of them more than 3 days. Before that was a 29 gal tank and tetras of all kinds and a preal gourami and more. That was 1992-1997. I got the job I have now (since '97) and let them die off naturally and opted not replace them. So now I have the current tank a 46 bow and has been goining for a few months now. I still have both tanks mentoned above, just getting them would prove difficult.

Ok, so me and discus, I was gonna set up a 46 bow tank w/ 4 discus and then there are 3 cardinal tetra, 3 hi fin serpas and a 12" plecostomus. This has been bumped 6+ months as I will likely be doing a local move and I really don't want to gamble w/ $100+ of fish. I've seen that they can be rather intolerant of moving about. The plec is one of the most interesting ones I have ever seen. Speaking of which, I have a pic of the plec and a very early pic of this setup:
http://images.fotopic.net/?id=11705450
http://images.fotopic.net/?id=11705453
I will hope to have some time to upload a few more recent pics of the tank in the next week.

I do have a question...those of us who are outside the lower 48 in the US all I have is a Petco and a few other LFS that sell discus. The cobalts go for $40 and pigeonbloods are about $30. Another thing to consider is that it was -22F this past winter so I don't know if that will play into it. I don't know if people are willing to ship up here in the winter. Plan B is to setup a 200-300 gallon tank when it is financially viable. Going that route, I can get back to the bala shark/silver dollar and of course throw the monster plec in that tank. On that one I'd really be starting from scratch. I'm leaning towards fresh water, but w/ a tank that big, a saltwater reef tank wouldn't be too hard they say; but I have never done saltwater.

[Cosmo]

Welcome to Simply Canuck :)
Jim

[April]

hi and welcome from a fellow canuck. where in this country do you reside then? read the beginner section..lots of great posts on setting up.
first off..6 minimum to start . they will be too shy with 4. one will be the small guy..then..if theres 3 left..worst number possible. so 6 if you can. and not from a petshop..or you will start out with weak , runted..or stressed or diseased fish..and get discouraged and that may be the end of your discus keeping. if you tell us where you live..we can find you someone to get you going with your first discus possibly..and know your water parameters.
i live in vancouver by the way.
I think you should try discus for sure..its an instant love affair..if you start out right.
hope you enjoy our forum..and ask as many questions as need be. thats why we are here. : )

[Canuck]

hi and welcome from a fellow canuck. where in this country do you reside then? read the beginner section..lots of great posts on setting up.
first off..6 minimum to start . they will be too shy with 4. one will be the small guy..then..if theres 3 left..worst number possible. so 6 if you can. and not from a petshop..or you will start out with weak , runted..or stressed or diseased fish..and get discouraged and that may be the end of your discus keeping. if you tell us where you live..we can find you someone to get you going with your first discus possibly..and know your water parameters.
i live in vancouver by the way.
I think you should try discus for sure..its an instant love affair..if you start out right.
hope you enjoy our forum..and ask as many questions as need be. thats why we are here. : )

April,
Thanks!
I am in South Central Alaska. The bit about Canuck was when I was in the UK for 3 yrs, the Brits thought I was Canadian. I hail from near the US Canadian border in the lower 48. I still get asked if I am a Canadian a lot of the time.

Ok, so 6 discus in a 46 bow seems like trouble to me....means I will have to get a 60 or so gallon tank for later. I was hoping to aviod that as in I'd like to go for a 200+ one and get something else going at the same time. Perhaps the 46 bow was a really bad idea? I recon it would be fine as a QT though.

Water, I measured straight outta the tap and seems to be ph 7.4-7.6 and beyond that I'd have to enquire w/ the municipality.

Like I said before, I am probably doing a local move in about 6 months so Idunno if it would be wiser to wait, or what?

[brewmaster15]

HI Canuck,
Welcome to SimplyDiscus.com!!

Theres a lot of sellers on this forum that can ship to you via fedex or airport to airport..If theres a major airport or fedex station near you that may be possible. ....many use delta dash or AA airlines.

I feel much as April does on this topic... I think if you were to use the 46 gal bow front you could get 5 adults in it with good water changes.... 4 discus would be a possibility that could work but if you do so you would be better off with 4 adults and the understanding that you may need to pull 2 out if a pair forms.


I like the 300 gal option, but I'd use it for Discus ;) :D

-al

[Howie_W]

Hi Canuck and welcome to Simply! :)

My two cents worth; You might want to consider waiting until your move is complete as it will save you some aggravation, and also give you time to read up more on the hobby, and collect all the equipment you will need.

As April mentioned, you want to start out with a half dozen or more fish. You could start with a 46 gallon, but you'll need to go up to a larger size tank...the bigger the better.

You will also find that the type of plecostamus you have shown will not do well with Discus...they are exteremely territorial and will become aggressive towards them over time.

HTH



Howie

[Discus_KC]

Jump right in Canuck !!!!!!!!

Welcome to Simply !!

Jack

[Canuck]

Thanks everyone for the info! :) I live near an airport w/ a fedex hub so that is looking good so far. I hate to get rid of the plec, I see what you say, but the option b, large tank for large plec is looking the best. He is goofy and I find him the most amusing of all the fish, mostly because he is the easily spotted. I will continue to do research and wait off on purchasing discus till after the move. What to do, what to do, other than research and wait?

I will have to get ahold of the municipality of here and see about the water quality. More to come on that when I find out. It seems to me that the water is much more alkaline than acid. This is based on a PH test I did yesterday, or the day before. Is RO a good option? I was thinking the 30 gallon trash can idea, but that seems almost like going back to buckets and that's what the python was bought for, ease and speed. Now to start pricing stuff! Here's what is seems to me....minumum 60 gallon tank for 6 discus, and then the filtering stuff I can carry over, a whisper double barrel type and perhaps the bubble stone for extra air? It is in there, just not attached to a pump, as I have a power head for that now. Man I wish I could get my hot magnum filter back, now! That one rocked! Another thought was if I can get 2 discus to pair off a 29 gal would be perfect I should think, right? The 46 can be the hospital tank/QT and I think we are good! Now the problem lies in that shipping up here can get wildly expensive. I am hoping to sort most of it in one fell swoop so as to avoid getting too wildly expensive.

Also I am getting over a nasty cold so stay tuned. Another 4-5 days and I should be good to go, I hope. This one I can only let it run its course and treat symptoms as it is a virus; bacterial ones can be killed w/ antibiotics, FYI.

[April]

check with jeff young.www.discusfarms.us .not sure how much shipping is to there..but he ships to me with alaska airlines..for quite a low price. hes in california..but still within the states hed be shipping. might be cheaper than fed-ex. if air alaska flies there. best to find out your hours your cargo is open..if airline..and which airlines fly in there on a regular basis..and what time they land. for instance..wouldnt want to get a shipment coming in on a friday..and if delays..they dont open again till a monday. so early week is better especially with a fed-ex etc. or..coming in late at night..and they close at 6. once your ready..you could email some of the sellers and see what they can do as far as shipping and getting you some discus . have a look at the photo gallery..you;ll see alot of fish.and who they got them from.
your 46 gallon tanks sounds nice. i would suggest you get a group of small guys..try your hand at growing them out..in bare bottom..then.you could put some in that nice display tank with somethin like cardinals or rummy noses etc..or german rams once their grown. your plecco may be ok for awhile..some of them find out discus have yummy slime coat and suck on them leaving crop circles. bushy nose pleccos go well with discus and their excellent cleaners. you could have your plecco in a community tank. or a backup tank if he does cause havoc.

[Canuck]

check with jeff young.www.discusfarms.us .not sure how much shipping is to there..but he ships to me with alaska airlines..for quite a low price. hes in california..but still within the states hed be shipping. might be cheaper than fed-ex. if air alaska flies there. best to find out your hours your cargo is open..if airline..and which airlines fly in there on a regular basis..and what time they land. for instance..wouldnt want to get a shipment coming in on a friday..and if delays..they dont open again till a monday. so early week is better especially with a fed-ex etc. or..coming in late at night..and they close at 6. once your ready..you could email some of the sellers and see what they can do as far as shipping and getting you some discus . have a look at the photo gallery..you;ll see alot of fish.and who they got them from.
your 46 gallon tanks sounds nice. i would suggest you get a group of small guys..try your hand at growing them out..in bare bottom..then.you could put some in that nice display tank with somethin like cardinals or rummy noses etc..or german rams once their grown. your plecco may be ok for awhile..some of them find out discus have yummy slime coat and suck on them leaving crop circles. bushy nose pleccos go well with discus and their excellent cleaners. you could have your plecco in a community tank. or a backup tank if he does cause havoc.

Yes Alaska Airlines flys here and I believe this is their main hub too (Anchorage). I have 3 each hi finned serpas and cardinal tetras already in there so that's cool. Also I will need to probably have to give the 2 goldfish I have in there away, which is fine, but they were a good starter to get the tank going and at 10 cents each, I am not out much. I can't bring myself to flush live fish, even the goldfish down the hatch. I'm thinking one of the LFS might take them, even for free. That is a ways away though. I could even do it midweek if I have those days off from work. I willl have to keep my eye on the plec for the crop circles on the discus.

I forgot to mention, I have a huge peice of driftwood in the tank too, and the plec is having a field day w/ it! I really need to get a few pics and post it. That is a project for the day, or tomorrow.

[ecrew]

Hi Canuck! Welcome to Simply!!

I had a pleco like the one you have and I had to remove it from my Discus tank. It was getting to be too aggressive and one day, I caught it sucking on my Blue Diamond.
I scooped him out and put him in another tank. We've since given him to a friend.
Certain plecos are definitely not a good idea to house with Discus!!!

Anyway, enjoy this site! It has lots of great info!!

Liz