93 Gallon Amazon Discus Biotype

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Mikefallen13

Exodon
MFK Member
Jan 12, 2016
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Hello!
I've been a lurker on this forum for quite some time but I think it's time I start posting! I haven't kept any freshwater tanks for quite some time as I really fell in love with saltwater tanks a few years back. I had 3 reef tanks tanks but unfortunately my largest, a 93 gallon mixed reef, crashed, killing off several thousand dollars worth of fish and coral. I was originally going to just set it up as a reef again, but I figured I'd jump back into freshwater instead. I've been reading articles, looking through forums and looking at YouTube videos trying to figure out what I want to do with the tank. A couple weeks ago, I came across a video on YouTube about discus and was immediately interested. I had seen discus at my LFS before but never really paid them much attention as I was always heading for the saltwater section.

I did my research and decided I definitely wanted a discus tank, but most of the tanks I had seen online were heavily planted, which is something I'm really not looking to get into at the moment, as it seems fairly complicated and generally a PITA to keep up with. So instead I went with a huge piece driftwood to provide shelter for the fish instead to plants, and I'm fairly pleased with the results, other than the fact that the supposedly 'cured' driftwood I purchased floats like a beach ball and made my water so cloudy I couldn't see inside the tank.

So now, 2 weeks after the wood was added, the tank is cycled (still pretty cloudy from the wood but it's getting better) and I'm probably gonna pay my LFS a visit this weekend and get some serpae or cardinal tetras, then let the tank run for another week or two before I even think about adding discus. Now, I still have a few questions about the tank that I need some help with.

First, does anybody know of any good retailers for wild type S.aequifasciata? I'm not a huge fan of the super gaudy, brightly colored discus hybrids and much prefer the look of the pure species, especially since I'm going for a very natural look. (Not sure of the rules on MFK about discussing retailers so if it's not allowed in public discussion feel free to shoot me a pm)

Next, are there any hardy floating plants that can handle the 80+ degree water temps, and super clean water in this type of tank? I said I didn't want to go planted, but I think it would be cool to have some sort of floating plant to provide some cover for the fish, and I'm not against dosing ferts to the tank since I'm using R.O water.

Lastly, i wanted an opinion on my stocking list, keep in mind I'm running a 30 gallon sump with socks and a huge pile of lava rock since I know from my research discus pack a pretty heavy punch when it comes to bio load. Here's what I was planning:

4-5 wild type S. aequifasciata
30 cardinal tetras
20 rummynose tetra/serpae tetra (I heard that rummynose can be pretty tricky so I might just go with serpae)
5-10 cory cats (undecided on species)
2-5 small pleco species (bristle nose, etc.)

Stocking order was going to be as follows:
First in: cardinals and corys. Let them settle in for a few days.
Then: 2nd school of tetras and plecos. Wait a week or two for the filter to adjust to the bioload.
Last: the discus

I'm pretty unsure about the proper number of tetras, plecos and corys for a tank of this size so any advice on that would be great.

I'm really excited about this tank and I can't wait until it's full of fish! I'll try to get a picture of how it looks at the moment and post it up later. Any advice or answers to my questions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Mike
 
I'd go with snookn21 for his wild discus. Good price and great shape. I like your stock. Be sure to qt your fish as its a PITA to do it in a display tank and your tetras cant handle the higher temps when treating for intestinal parasites. He sells wild cories, cardinals, and rummy noses as well.

His response time is slow but he is a great vendor. I got my wilds from him.

Here's a vid in a 150.


 
I would do 6 wild discus, 25 cardinals, and a dozen rummies. 6 cories and 2 bristle nose plecos. That's your limit and discus do better in groups of at least 6. Thank 8.8 gallons per discus as a minimum rule.

Do 2 water changes a week and you are golden. Add the discus first.
 
Curious that it's 93 gallons...is it a corner tank? I only ask as my corner tank is 92, don't usually get people with rectangular 93 gal tanks.

I would cut back on the rummy nose and cardinal numbers, like half of each; less is more in my eyes, both in bioload and visually.

Looking forward to pics!
 
Well,I encountered an unforeseen and somewhat problematic set back.

I got a text at about 5 pm this evening from a friend and basically he said "there's something wrong with my tank, can you come over and help". Obviously, I went over and it was really bad, water was very cloudy, dead fish floating around and he was panicking trying to pull everything out of the tank before his girl got back from work. Apparently the heater in his 55 had failed in the 'on' position and basically cooked most of the inhabitants, but a few fish somehow survived. The survivors included an angelfish, 3 bosemani rainbows, 6 cardinals and about 10 of what he called 'whitefin' tetras (looked like serpae tetras to me) so, after a solid 30 mins of draining and cleaning, this whole saga ended up with me taking the remaining fish home and putting them in the 93 to see if I can save them. Everybody looks to have settled in is actually in much better condition than I thought but now this throws a wrench in my original plan. I'm not sure wether my friend is gonna set his tank again or if I'm gonna be stuck with these fish, I mean, it is nice to finally have something swimming around the tank but I would have preferred that to be some Discus lol.

Figures that when I'm finally have a plan, this happens. I'll keep you guys updated.

Thanks guys
 
Mikefallen13 said:
Well,I encountered an unforeseen and somewhat problematic set back.

I got a text at about 5 pm this evening from a friend and basically he said "there's something wrong with my tank, can you come over and help". Obviously, I went over and it was really bad, water was very cloudy, dead fish floating around and he was panicking trying to pull everything out of the tank before his girl got back from work. Apparently the heater in his 55 had failed in the 'on' position and basically cooked most of the inhabitants, but a few fish somehow survived. The survivors included an angelfish, 3 bosemani rainbows, 6 cardinals and about 10 of what he called 'whitefin' tetras (looked like serpae tetras to me) so, after a solid 30 mins of draining and cleaning, this whole saga ended up with me taking the remaining fish home and putting them in the 93 to see if I can save them. Everybody looks to have settled in is actually in much better condition than I thought but now this throws a wrench in my original plan. I'm not sure wether my friend is gonna set his tank again or if I'm gonna be stuck with these fish, I mean, it is nice to finally have something swimming around the tank but I would have preferred that to be some Discus lol.

Figures that when I'm finally have a plan, this happens. I'll keep you guys updated.

Thanks guys
Click to expand...

Ouch.

Could always do angels instead of discus, work around them instead.
 
Yeah, I was also thinking about just switching to Angels. I'll find out what my friend wants to do with his tank, I have a suspicion that after this incident he will probably just take the aquarium down. Goes to show what can happen if you cut corners on equipment, the heater that failed was an old used heater that he picked up off craigslist.

But anyways, here's a quick phone pic of the tank with its new inhabitants, still pretty cloudy but it's getting there. I really just wanted to see if I can get my pics to work properly, let's see if it works!



Don't mind the bag of gravel on the driftwood, it's still really buoyant
 
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Mikefallen13 said:
Yeah, I was also thinking about just switching to Angels. I'll find out what my friend wants to do with his tank, I have a suspicion that after this incident he will probably just take the aquarium down. Goes to show what can happen if you cut corners on equipment, the heater that failed was an old used heater that he picked up off craigslist.

But anyways, here's a quick phone pic of the tank with its new inhabitants, still pretty cloudy but it's getting there. I really just wanted to see if I can get my pics to work properly, let's see if it works!



Don't mind the bag of gravel on the driftwood, it's still really buoyant
Click to expand...

Interesting tank!

Shame you aren't into plants for this set-up, could tie stem plants to the wood, along with moss; maybe some hydrocotyle around the base, would look phenomenal
 
I wouldn't be opposed to plants, but I just don't want to get into all the Co2 stuff and I used straight sand for substrate, no dirt or plant substrate which I understand is pretty important. I'm using the 10,000 k LEDs from the reeftank, so I don't think light would be an issue. I'm actually kind of regretting my decision for a plantless tank, especially after browsing the planted tank section of this forum LOL
 
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