First attempt at discus

[jacobm3]

Hi,

I kept freshwater tanks from elementary school through high school, mostly cichlids and have always wanted discus but never had the resources or knowledge to make a solid attempt.

I've got a 65 gallon tank in my office now (footprint of a 55g but taller) and am considering taking the plunge but I want to do it right and would rather house something else if I'm just going to end up giving discus a long slow death with my current constraints... The tank will be in my office and I don't feel comfortable committing to doing water changes more than once a week.

I've been doing a bit of reading and talked to a local breeder about what works for him with our Houston tap water. Here's my setup/plan:

65 gallon show tank (bought used)
90W of fluorescent light with cheap/ineffective reflectors
Eheim Pro-II 2026 canister filter (bought used)
DIY open cell sponge/pvc filter, driven by an airpump
250W Jager heater
25 gallon aging barrel
5 discus, probably around 3" at first
possibly a few small bottom feeders to clean up any uneaten food

The Eheim will be loaded from the bottom up with ceramic noodles, a coarse open cell filter pad, fine polyester pad cut to fit, and the rest filled with a bag of SeaChem Matrix bio media. I'm already working on making a foam prefilter for it using a big block I've bought for making sponge filters for other tanks).

In the tank I'm going to put some tall driftwood, lay down a layer of flourite topped off with dark gravel, then start running the filters and do a fishless cycle with pure ammonia. I've already got an AP freshwater master test kit for my other tanks.

At the same time the cycle is starting I'll plant it heavily, probably vallisnaria, java moss, cabomba and something that floats and grows fast, maybe water sprite or pennywort. I've got a 54W Odessea strip light and another 40W T12 strip light.

Once the cycle is complete and the plants are soaking up the nitrate I am going to add some sort of algae-eating or bottom feeding fish, maybe some Oto's or Cories?

Water change plans....

I am trying to come up with a plan where I will only have to change the water once a week because this tank is going to be at my office and I don't have as much free time as I do at home (but I do have a lot more space - there's no way this tank will fit in my house).

My plan is to keep a 25 gallon rubbermade type container next to the tank filled with aging water (dechlorinated, heated and aged for a couple days prior to being used). I'll have a small submersible/utility pump to move aged water from the storage container into the tank after I've siphoned out old water and cleaned the top layer of gravel every Friday.

Is a 25 gallon WC (~38%) in a heavily planted 65 gallon tank done once a week good enough for 5 discus?

Is there anything about my plan that sounds out of place or are there any obvious problems? What is a typical water testing schedule? Every day at first and then before/after water changes once everyone is settled in?

Thanks!!!

Jacob

[rick.c]

good luck

[Apistomaster]

I have already covered most of your questions in two other similar entry level discus keepers questions that you may wish to look at.
.
Your plan should be to raise juveniles in bare or light sprinkling of sand tanks, with a few potted and floating plants. Some drift wood is appreciated added cover. Discus tend to be more out going if they know they have safe places to hide. This is common to most shy fish species.

Plan on at least two 50 to 75% water changes/week minimum. It is safe to use your tap water directly. Just add the correct amount of Prime premixed in a pint or so of water to help it disperse throughout the tank as it is being filled from the faucet.(Add before beginning to refill.)

[Seastep]

Is a 25 gallon WC (~38%) in a heavily planted 65 gallon tank done once a week good enough for 5 discus?


As for your waterchange plan, I think it would work. A couple of things to consider, though. I would try and change as much of the water as humanly possible each week. The other critical part of a succesful weekly water change plan is how carefully you feed. Weekly changes work as long as you're careful not to overfeed during the week. I think a weekly change is fine for reducing dissolved contaminants and siphoning up fish poop, but your water quality will really head downhill if there's a bunch of excess food in the tank too!

I'm probably a bit of a water change heretic. :o I'm relatively new to Discus myself, though I've been keeping other types of fish for the last twenty years or so. I have two discus tanks (a 55G and a 75G) and I do weekly 75% WC's on both of them. I shoot for stability over ultra-perfect water and so far have had really nice results. My first group of Red Melons is just now starting to pair off. We'll see how my "philosophy" works with this next phase of raising discus!:)

Good Luck!

[jacobm3]

Has anyone done a bare bottom tank with plants in clay pots? I'm wondering if that might be the best of both worlds... nitrate absorbing plants and a (mostly) bare bottom for easy cleaning.

[Elite Aquaria]

Has anyone done a bare bottom tank with plants in clay pots? I'm wondering if that might be the best of both worlds... nitrate absorbing plants and a (mostly) bare bottom for easy cleaning.

Jacob,

Yes...there was a post here of someone doing just that...I can not remember who just do some searches for planted tanks and you should be able to find it...Welcome to Simply and good luck

[BSW]

This is an excelent example thread of BB Planted.
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=61526
Not clay pots like what you were looking for, but extreamly nice.
I was just going over this tank myself this morning, It's my future plan for my BB Planted.
B

[jacobm3]

Cool... getting great ideas from these too:

http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/enlarge.php/284

http://www.nycichlids.com/viewtopic.php?t=6180&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/photo-album/48716-38-gallon-bare-bottom-part-planted.html


I really like the idea of having a BB and planted at the same time. Thanks for all your help and patience!

[Apistomaster]

I use Gladware containers of various sizes to pot my plants in and use Red Sea Florabase in the pots. I fertilize with Nutrifin PlantGro Sticks.
I often sprinkle just enough sand to barely conceal the bare bottom; still easy to keep clean, discus like it and I think it is more aesthetic.

I also use a "cross over" design. Similar to above, including to continue potting larger plants but I construct a planter box that holds substrate in the back half and the front half is bare except for a sprinkling of sand to conceal the bare glass. Here is an example:
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/P8210045.jpg

[jacobm3]

That looks nice.

I've been thinking about it for a few days and trying to be as honest with myself as I can. I don't think I am going to be able to keep up with an aggressive WC schedule at the office for a few reasons... distance from the tank to running water, available space for aging/heating 30 gallons of water at a time, importance of not deviating from the schedule...

I'm probably going to just get some other medium-sized cichlids that don't have the same WC requirements as discus. I can do 10-20% week or two here no problem. 30 gallons twice a week with my current constraints... no.

It makes me a little sad because I was getting really excited about finally having a discus tank, but it's much less upsetting than getting them anyway and watching them succumb to infection because of poor water quality.

I appreciate all the info and help you guys have provided and hopefully I'll be back at some point in the future when I can get another decent sized tank at home, with lots of space and close to warm running water!

Thanks!!!

-Jacob

[White Worm]

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=59817&highlight=stone

This is what I did.

[Don Trinko]

If you buy near adult discus and a light bioload. ( maybe 5 fish?) You may be able to do one wc/wk and keep the fish healthy but 2 wc would be better. Don T.