Discus collection complete??

[Discus master]

:DOk guys/girls I am so happy, I do not know if you remember me I am the guy that could not afford to buy all my discus up front and I had to buy one at a time, oh and I had a hard time taking good pictures?
Well I still am having a hard time taking good pictures that are not to blurry. Yes I will post picture when I get some that look half decent I want you all to see them and to tell me what you think, like if they look good healthy stunted I hope not and all that other stuff but mostly because I am so happy I think for this tank I am finished now, well maybe.
You see I now finally have a total of 5 it took me about 8 weeks to get to this point but now I got 5 a good size group I know I have a 55 gallon and I could go with 5 or 6 so I may try and squeeze one more if it is advisable from the rest of the forum? Oh and it has to be one that I absolutely can not live with out, more than likely a snake skin I really love them there cool.
Ok so here is my latest addition a beautiful Silver Pigeon Blood or something like that I am pretty sure that’s what they guy said it was. I googeld it to see a pic and sure enough it looks like mine but mine has just a touch of peppering I know I know there’s all kinds of debate over that but honestly for me it’s not to bad and it does not look o bad and the fish is still beautiful to me.
I had him/her kept in QT for almost 3 weeks prob not long enough but I could not wait to get him into he tank with the rest of the group plus every single fish came from the same local guy so I am thinking and hoping there’s no problems there, Plus I am more worried about him being bullied so I did not buy a baby just in case, my other ones are growing and I did not want the new guy to be the smallest so I am hoping he does not get picked on to bad in fact the last addition the Red Marlb is a bit smaller than this one.
So here it stands as of rite now and in order of purchase, I now have Cobalt (who is getting bigger like every day) a Blue diamond, a Flachen, a Red Marlboro, and finally the Silver Pigeon Blood. So I think I have a real nice mix of color although the Flachen and Cobalt are very similar in looks the Flachen is a bit darker in color but either way I think I have a nice colorful collection.
Now what do you think am I done? Should I add some Ram’s Cardinal Tetras? If so how many if not should I get one more Discus or say that’s a nice size group for that tank let em spread out in there rather than stocking it to the max?
I do have one Cory Cat, one small Pleco, and two small Loaches and when I say small I mean small all are less than three inches the loaches are Angel Biota’s sp? Loaches not the larger clown loaches so having said that what do you think? I do have a 29 gallon I could move some of the clean up crew out if need be?

[JoeDiscus]

sounds like you got your dream discus...sure would love to see some pictures of your proudly owned discus! And yeah, I think a snakeskin would make a great addition, to add a sixth to your collection of 5...;)

[Discus master]

Thank you very much pictures as soon as I can get decent looking ones to post. I was not sure about the 6th discus just because of maxing out the bio load you know but I do almost daily water changes so I probaly could but then I do not think I would be adding any rams or card to the tank if I max out with 6 discus would you?

[mmorris]

I was not sure about the 6th discus just because of maxing out the bio load you know but I do almost daily water changes so I probaly could but then I do not think I would be adding any rams or card to the tank if I max out with 6 discus would you?

I agree. Sounds sensible.

[Discus master]

Thank you, yeah I am trying to do everything the rite way plus I wpould love to leave one spot open just in case I come across a discus I just have got to have you know? I am sure there will be a lot of those along the way I am sure I will want a much larger tank soon anyw ays dont we all!

[mmorris]

Start checking craigs list for tanks. :D

[Discus master]

I will but I just got this one a few months a go, my wife would kill me if I was looking for another one already, I will have to butter her up big time, lol.

[jaykne]

I raised out 8 in a 55gal but had a good filtration and did 50 to 80% water change a day, and they are all 6" and more now. I know have that tank in my living room as a display with 6 discus that are all large and just a couple albino bristlenose plecos. Now I can get away with 2-50% water changes a week, but still BB tank but has nice stand and canopy so looks good.

[Discus master]

I raised out 8 in a 55gal but had a good filtration and did 50 to 80% water change a day, and they are all 6" and more now. I know have that tank in my living room as a display with 6 discus that are all large and just a couple albino bristlenose plecos. Now I can get away with 2-50% water changes a week, but still BB tank but has nice stand and canopy so looks good.

Well I do about 40 - 50% water changes daily rite now but mine are about 4 3.5 to 4 inches big so I am thinking I could get that sixth one keep the small pleco and keep the little cory cat and move the two loaches into the 29 gallon then when there full grown I am going to use a small thin layer of black sand and see if I can get away with every other day 40 - 50% water changes I also have a good fltration system I use a nice canister filter wilth nothing but filter floss and Ceramic rings for the Bio filtration it was rated for 100 gallon tank so I think I am fine with it running on a 55 gallon I use a sry bar so not a lot of current and the input and outputs are adjustable any way what do you think about he plan

[Larry Bugg]

Sounds like you are doing it right with some good thought before making decisions.

Cory's are a social fish and need to be in groups of 5 or more.

[Apistomaster]

I recommend you use a lot of media like Eheim Ehfi SubstratePro and decrease your reliance on the "bio-ring" ceramic tube media. The available surface area of an equivalent volume of the sintered glass balls which is what SubstratePro is, has dozens of times greater biological filtration substrate surface area than that of all but "Siporax" (brand name) ceramic hollow tubes which have 82,000 sq ft of surface area per cu ft.

All the others which resemble it are primarily meant for use as the coarse mechanical filtration stage of a canister filter. They have relatively low surface areas available for biological filtration compared to SubstratePro which comes close to that of Siporax.
You pretty much get what you pay for when it comes to high performance bio-media but the media lasts forever so it is a good investment.

The available surface area of an aquarium and that of your biological filtration media are the two most important determinations of an aquarium's carrying capacity.
The nominal surface area of a 55 gal tank is a miserly 576 square inches which is what makes these such poor Discus tanks. In virtually the same amount of floor space you could use a 75 gal tank, which by every measure, is superior to the 4 ft, 55 gal tank. A 75 gal tank has a nominal surface area of 864 sq inches.
I recommend at least 100 sq inches of aquarium surface area per Discus. This over rules the 10 gal/discus guideline anytime. 55 gal/5 Discus. 75 gal/8 Discus. You are always safer being conservative when using general guidelines rather than pushing them to their max.