NEW Discus TAnk HELP!

[Joetaff]

hello everyone, I've got alot of questions haha;) sorry

1) I am planning on setting up etiher a 75 gallon (standard) which is a good size for discus from what ive read. or 65 gallon (48*18*17in) 17in being the height of the tank, is the 65 gallon high enough for discus?? I want to do the 65 b/c I can get it for a much better price.:)

2) I am deffinately doing a pretty densly planted tank but will be sure to leave room for swimming, but will cleaning be a problem if I have plants such as hairgrasson covering the bottom?? (I want 3 or 4 discus along with other fish listed below)


3) Here are the fish that I want to include in my setup. (3-4) discus, (5-6)rainbowfish, (15-20)Cardinal tetras, and Anglelfish (2-3 maybe 4), a few freshwater shrip and alge eaters (suggestions? :)) Are discus compatable with those fish??

4) Filtration-is a 350gph penguin biofilter suitable?

5) how many water changes weekly and how much water (ie: 30% 25%) will I have to do with the above setup


Thankyou so much in advance for any replies, I would really love to keep discus but I dont want to unless I can be sure I am giving them a proper home.;)

Thanks again, John

[Tropical Haven]

John,
Welcome to simply discus, first of all a 65 gallon tank is fine for discus but if you plan on buying smaller discus then I wouldn't put them into a planted tank because they will not reach the size of their potential. If you want to place discus in a planted tank then I would purchase adult discus.

Cleaning will be a problem for you in a densly planted tank. Discus require a clean healthy enviroment and if you are going to have a densly planted tank then there is a lot of food or waste that your not going to be able to get to which will raise your Nitrate and Nitrite levels if left in there for any length of time.

As of water changes the best way to guage it is after you place the fish in the tank make sure your nitrates is at zero. 24 hrs later test the nitrates in your tank again and if they are still at zero you will be good to go for the next day. I never go more than 2 days without doing a water change whether there are Nitrates in my tank or not. Now if you test it the day after you placed the fish in it and show any type of Nitrate reading then you need to do a water change. Basically your Nitrate level will be you factor on how long you can go without doing a water change. When you do a water change especially with all of those fish I would do around a 75% change.

This is not etched in stone but this is how I do it.

[Polar_Bear]

Along with what Scott said, and I agree with him. Spend the extra money and get the 75 instead. If you want a planted tank you will soon discover that the 65 is too low to grow most plants properly. Also 15-20 Cardinals will be lost in that tank, you need at the very least twice that many to make any impact at all IMO.

[swinters66]

My tank is a 60 gallon...I keep 5 discus...I would say juveniles...dont ask me how big they are...I dont really know how to do that exactly..how do you measure a fish!?! I also keep 3 cory cats..a clown pleco I never see and 3 rasboras...and will add more...I lost 2. I have real wood in the tank, and gravel...but silk plants. I like the look of plants but dont have the time to really maintain a real planted tank. The silk plants look real good IMO. That might be an option for you as silk plants won't mess up any water parameters or foul the tank...or make it hard to clean.

The penguin filter is a good one...I always say you can NEVER have too much filtration. I use an eheim canister filter, plus an internal filter in the tank. Works for me. I had to add an air stone...a small one in the corner. If you can add another filter...do it. But I think the 350 gph will work, just don't rely on that alone...water changes are very important for discus. Youll get lots of percentages from everyone here. I do small water changes every other day...like 20%. That works for me...and the fish arent suffering. Some here do 50% a day...or every few days...some do 35%...etc...you get my drift ;)

You will get good advice here...hope you get your tank set up...and some pictures to show too!!

[Joetaff]

Thanks alot for the advice I really appreciate it. I am now leaning towards the 75 gallon because the 65 is very low haha. anywas Im sure that I will have more question soon enough thanks again for the advice.

-John

[mmorris]

Hi John,
Yup, the bigger the better! People on this forum have kept rainbows with discus but the max. temp. for rainbows is the min. temp. for discus. The experts here have successfully grown out juvies in a planted tank but they generally don't recommend it. Its tough to maintain the water quality discus require. You should always have nitrates in your water but the amount should be below 10. Its ammonia and nitrites that are of concern. There's a lot of material on this forum about the number of discus to buy. Generally, a minimum of five or six is recommended to avoid high stress and deadly fighting. You might want to think about getting six juvies, grow them out, and then plant the tank. A barebottom tank of discus is not a boring tank. When you're ready to buy, check out the sponsor section. I sincerely do not recommend buying discus from the lfs. The disease section is full of threads from people who did, including some from me. As you probably know there's a lot to read, and there's always someone about to answer questions. hth Martha

[ezeke1]

Hi John!

I think a planted tank with juvy discus is doable. Of course anything is doable, but the work involved increases exponentially :)

Case in point, my 65gal tank is densely planted with 5 discus. First I must say it requires more dedication to husbandry in order to make this work especially if you decide to buy juvies. All of my discus are still juvies and I feed them 3-4 times a day. As a result I do 10% water changes daily by siphoning out the area where I feed the fish. I always try to localize the feeding area so that food doesn't float to other areas of the tank (less to clean).

Here is a list of things you should consider if you decide to go with the planted route versus bb (based on my experience),

A) I would buy adult discus like everyone has stated. It's so much easier because you have to feed them less thus there is less waste and uneaten food to worry about.

B) Keep in mind that plants require substrate and this alone makes for a biohazard since food will get into crevices that the discus cannot reach. Then once the plants grow in, there will be areas that are unreachable for your siphon so once again you are left with areas that will be difficult to clean.

C) You will need alot of aged water prepared for all the water changes so make this process easy on yourself by planning ahead. I have a 35gal trashbin that houses my aged water and it only takes 15mins for me to do a wc. The less time you spend sticking your hand in the tank the better for your fish :o)

D) Just remember that depending on the discus strain some will pepper in a planted tank. My golden lss have darken somewhat since I purchased them, but I try to counter this by increasing the light and removing the black background. This helps to some degree.

E) If I had to do it all over again, I would still buy juvies but keep them in a barebottom instead. However I chose to take the middle road and I purchased a second 65gal that is bb - this way I can grow out my little ones then once they reach adulthood I will put them in the planted tank.

F) Overall I find satisfaction in keeping plants with discus, but it does require a higher level of commitment IMO. It's beautiful to watch the fish swim through the trees of plants and I literally watch my tank for hours lol.

HTH

[Greg Richardson]

David. Lot of great advice you gave. Great post!