New to discus

[steveangela1]

Hello, I have been in fish keeping for a few years now. I have mostly mbuna cichlids that I have bred, etc. I also have a planted west african tank, guppy tank, and sw. (10 tanks in all)

Im very familar with the nitrogen cycle, parameters, etc... and lets just say I am waterchange crazy. (my python copper connector is permently attached in my kitchen sink)

I have a 58g oceanic tank that I plan to turn into a planted discus tank eventually. Now here are my questions:

1. My tap water ph is 7.2, medium hardness. I am going to put driftwood in the tank, florite for the bottom layer of substrate and pea sized gravel on the upper layer. Do I need to adjust the ph or should I keep it be? I have had several tell me a stable ph is better than messing with it and having it swing constantly (which I def understand to be important).

2. I have 2 filters attached to this tank at the present, neither are using carbon filter media (I despise that stuff). I have an eheim ecco and a penguin biowheel. Is there anything I need to change with that?
Also, would the discus benifit from a UV sterilizer in line?

3. Right now the tank has crushed coral and mbuna in it. I will be moving them to another tank and throwing out the crushed coral. Im probably answering my own question here, but I will need the tank to mature "again" once I change the substrate, etc right?

4. I am wanting sterabis cory's for the tank, how many can I safely put in there?

5. Is 5-6 a good number for discus?

Thanks ahead of time, I will have lots more questions soon...

[Eddie]

1. 7.2 is fine unless you are planning on Wild Caught discus which they do prefer lower range PH.

2. Which Penguin do you have, the 200 or 350? Should be fine either way with the combination of the Eheim. If you don't already have a UV sterilizer, I wouldn't get one, save your money.

3. Oh yes, you need to cycle your filters from scratch. I think I remember reading somewhere that someone used an established filter from a salt tank and it did speed up the time needed to cycle their freshwater set-up. No experience with that, but read it.

4. 6 IMO

5. 6 is my preference.

HTH,

Eddie

[Elite Aquaria]

steveangela1,

Welcome to simply and Discus...

If I were you I would not use any substrate on in your tank just stick with a BB tank unless you plan on starting with mature discus to begin with. Young discus require a lot of food to mature to adult size and this results in a lot of fish waste.

Also I would bleach your tank and start a new cycle with pure ammonia. This will mean that you will need to wait 30-45 days for your tank to cycle. Get your discus then add your Cory's later after you QT them. This way your discus will be put into a sterile environment form the start. Much better after they are shipped if you plan on going the mail order route. Feel free to call or PM me if you have a lot of detailed questions...I used to be in the IFGA so we can also talk guppies...:D

[steveangela1]

Thank you all.

I have to ask, why would I sterilize the tank? Its only had my mbuna in it that I bred for over a year disease free, I was actually wondering if I could just use the bacteria from those filters to speed up the cycle?

Its a penguin 350, I fell for those filters and the eheims and loaded them on all my tanks. The only 150 I have is my fry tank and guppies.

I am being forced to take a 29g tank from my mother (which no matter what will be drained and bleached, filters thrown away, she buys the whisper filters that I hate).
I was wondering if I decided to grow some discus out from juvie size could I do it in a BB 29g tank, whilel my 58g is planted and cycling until they get the full size?

I do plan to do mail order, from having store bought vs mail order its a completly different class of fish IMO. I have been able to get some beautiful african cichlids and guppies that way. Not to mention healthy. I do not plan to get wild caught discus, just because its my first discus tank.

[Eddie]

My bad, for some reason I thought you had a salt tank, see number 3 in my first response. For this reason I did not recommend sterilizing the tank but if you have a current cichlid tank, yes I would definitely break it down and sterilize it.

I would start from scratch with new filter media. You can run your filters without media on the tank or a bucket filled with a mild bleach/water solution. The idea is to make sure you remove any and all left over bleach. I usually rinse the tank really well and wipe it down with fresh water and then fill the tank and I add an entire 4-8 oz bottle of dechlor, let it sit for hours or a day and then rinse again. ;)

Reason to sterilize is to remove and all risk of anything your old fish may have had but had immunity to that can and will infect your discus.

All the best,

Eddie

[calihawker]

Thank you all.

I do plan to do mail order, from having store bought vs mail order its a completly different class of fish IMO. I have been able to get some beautiful african cichlids and guppies that way. Not to mention healthy. I do not plan to get wild caught discus, just because its my first discus tank.

Welcome to simply! Go to the contest section and check out the quality of discus you can get from Kenny. He also keeps his sponsor section up to date with new arrivals. Absolutely can't go wrong!:)

[Discus-n00b]

Welcome to Simply Discus steveangela, glad you made it over. Theres a wealth of information here and loads of pro discus people. You'll soon find yourself reading threads for hours and drooling at pictures! haha

Any of the Simply sponsors are good choices for mail order.

[steveangela1]

Thank you all! I am already drooling at pics of discus! Im a fish person anyways, but those guys are so graceful!

I will defiently sterilize the tank, THANKS for the heads up on that. I didn't think about the mbuna being immune to something the discus might not be.:thumbsup: Im always willing to learn!

So what about using the 29 for a bb grow tank for juvies? I am thinking juvies because I can have a hand in raising them myself. How long does it take for them to get to 4 inches from a quarter size? I know with my mbuna it takes a good year to get a 4-5 inch cichlid.

[Eddie]

A 29 is a bit small unless your fish are super young juvenile fish, about 1-1.5 inch total length. It really depends on the amount of fish you are planning to keep and what size you are going to start with. In general, you will most likely get fish that are about 3 inches total length and I would recommend a 55 or larger. As for the amount of time it takes to get to 4", not long at all if you feed well and keep up with daily water changes. You could do like some and change water less often and feed less, your fish will grow for sure, just not as fast. So it really depends on your goal. If you are planning to make the tank a planted tank, I would recommend you buy adults or grow fish out until >5 inches to make the most out of your first experience with discus.

All the best,

Eddie