Need advice on turning existing tank into discus tank

[bcourtright]

Hi, this is my first post.

I'm a long time killifish, angelfish, chiclid breeder but am turning my sights onto Discus.

I have a current 125 gallon community planted tank with CO2 and T5/MH lighting, Fluval G6 filter currently housing 30 cardinal tetras, 10 rummynose tetras, less than a dozen A. splendoplure Ekondo titi killifish, 8 panda cories, 2 SAE, 2 otos, 1 ancistrus pleco, about 50 nerites, 6 boseman rainbows, and 5 red rainbows. I used to have many breeding kribs in there but have since removed them.

2 large pieces of drifwood with 2 types of Java fern, several types of large swordplants, crypts, large onion plants, some hygrophilla are in the tank and prospering.

The tank gets a 70% water change weekly. My water parameters are 150 to 180 ppm, hardness of 120 ppm, ph 7.0 -7.2, temp 81, conductivity 480, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates less than 50 and dropping (fluval G6 nitrate chemical filter is working).

I'm considering buying 8 4 to5 inch mixed color discus from discus hans in the near future.

My questions are this:
Should I remove the rainbowfish?
Are mixed color strains ok from the same source?
Since I will be buying relatively adult fish, is my water changing schedule ok?
Best ways to acclimatize new discus fish to my current water? (I've always done the drip method in a bucket with all my previous fish and done ok).
Recommended temperature for discus in planted tanks?

Thanks
Brian

[Spardas]

I'd remove the SAEs. Also, what kind of otos do you have?

Adult or sub adults will do fine in 82 F water so if your rainbows/etc are already acclimated to 81 F, then 82 wouldn't be much of a difference to them.

It's best to get all your fishes from one place. Hans would be a good choice and he does have a very nice selection of adults on sale right now. Hopefully, he'll still have some around for the rest of May so you can pick up the larger ones.

Do you have a QT tank?

Your water change schedule should be okay as long as your keen on siphoning out the leftover food if there are any. Adults don't require as much as younger fishes either so it's not so bad.

If your water is significantly different from Hans's water, then you can drip. If it's about the same, just equalize the temp and flop them in. Just make sure you don't put any bag water into the tank.

82F would be fine.

[Harriett]

Just another opinion here, but I think I would go about this in a slightly different way. My thought is that you have what sounds like a well functioning happy tank [with a new bells and whistles filter, to boot!] and that is great. I assume the fish are all happy in there and it is running well.
If I were bringing in a load of discus [of any size], I would want to go a bit slower. I would QT the discus for a while in their own tank and give them a chance to adapt to the water parameters and make sure they don't come down with anything from the shipping stress [it happens to even robust healthy fish occasionally], etc; I would for one thing want them to be in the best possible condition when putting them into the habitat with higher levels of microbes/etc that any planted tank will have--no matter how good your maintanence in it is...I speak as a planted tank fan myself.
After I sat on them in QT for a while, I would want to do the 'canary in the coal mine' approach and introduce a reasonably sized fish from your established tank into the QT tank for at least a week. This way, if there is a problem, it is in a controlled situation for the new guys and also for the established community.
Any reputable seller or breeder will tell you that even though they believe their fish to be clean and go through great lengths to keep it that way, no experienced person would suggest you forgo QT procedures. Stuff happens.
That's my take on it. It sounds like it will be a wonderful project and I wish you every success.
Best regards,
Harriett

PS: I have kept SAEs in my planted discus tank for the past 8 years [the same ones!] and there is no problem--have yet to see even one instance of an SAE going after the mucous coat on any discus...IME, not an issue. I'd leave them in there and see how it goes for starters.
Established older SAes are lazy louts and don't want to do any work--they just eat the food that gets to the substrate in my tank, it's the no-work diet! LOL

[calihawker]

I agree with Harriet with a strong emphasis on qt!! I also have kept my SAE's with no problems, can't say the same for oto's.

[bcourtright]

Thanks for your responses.

My show tank has been up and running for over 2 years, and all of the current residents have been breeding and sharing it together for 18 months or more.

Yes I have two 29 gal high tanks that are empty with extra mature sponge filters bubbling away in my fry and killie tanks. I quarantine all new fish and plants for 2 to 3 weeks before introducing them to the show/community tanks. Great for eliminating pests and MTS. I use Flubendazole to kill off unwanted MTS on plants & to deworm/velvet/ich wild tetras - a great hint for planted tank owners who want to keep these pests out of your show tank. I used it to "nuke" a massive infestion of MTS in my tanks and killied them all with one treatment. Treat the water once wait 10 days, then do 100% water change several times within two weeks to rinse all the medication off your plants, then they are "safe" for the show tank.

You can buy Flubendazole here :http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/ItemsForSale.html


Thanks for the idea about the "canary" fish. The rainbows, the killies or the cardinals could easily do this.

I fully siphon my substrate with every water change and clean off the viewing sides of the tank. I leave the back side for extra algae for the pleco, nerites, otos, and SAE to much on.

Harriett, I agree that mature SAEs get long fat and lazy. They love swimming/surfing in the current of the powerhead, but then lay around on the wood till feeding time. Ok they do help with algae control, but not as much as they did when they were one inch long.

Brian

[RodneyL001]

It sounds like you have a lot of experience in keeping fish. So, I understand you may, as well as other on this forum, have a different take on my suggestion. I don't think I would ever add 8 discus to a tank at one time. That sounds like a bio load that will stress your tank out, and that would include a quarantine tank also. I would check with who ever you decide to buy your fish from, and see what kind of nitrate readings the fish are use to. Most people who breed discus do daily water changes, so their nitrate readings are going to much lower than where you are now. I will have to try your idea on treating plants before placing them into my show tank, I have been fortunate that I haven't had any pest snails attach to any of my plants. I hope you enjoy keeping discus.

[Harriett]

Rodney,
I understand your post, but I think that there is often a catch up for a couple days even in QT for a filter. Also, if the new fish are QTed and the issue is putting them in the larger very mature tank together, it will push the bioload in that tank also for a couple days but it will quickly catch up. I don't think there would be a problem. Fish in a new tank tend to eat lightly for a few days, so keep the feeding lighter x 2-3 days, perhaps an extra water change beyond the regular until it settles down and you would be fine in my opinion. I would want to keep them together if possible through the process--they would already have their pecking order worked out.
Best regards,
Harriett