Going to give it a shot!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I have asked about a 3D background and the price they want for the size of the tanks is just too much right now i have just invested quite a bit of money into my so called fish room and spending 350-450 for a background is not the books right now, worst that can happen is I need a blue vinyl background more trouble then pleasure but if thats what is required I am happy to give it a shot if it fails it will just be a creamy color wall behind it so win/win if black really does make them fade!

I really want a large school of rummies I might cut back on the cardinals but rummies i am fixed for 50 ever scene I have seen them going in a friends tank they even made watching tiger barbs school boring! maybe I will just ditch the cardinals or add them see how it plays out and if its too much move as many as I can catch into a empty tank or add them to my neon tank. I planned for 6-8 which imho would work fine with 100 but if i go 10 it will be right on the line pushing it, I believe there is a tank with 8-10 discus and 100 cardinals thats 90G and every thing looks pretty good but what works for one might not for the other!

As for adding them later on I would just do it like all my other high stock cichlid tanks adding a divider and letting them see one another for some time then remove it, But I think I will be getting them all at once I cant see what could go wrong the tank is cycled RD is healthy in there he had ich a few weeks ago but thats gone and pretty sure ich can only be passed on by one fish contacting another + I will be doing a 50-70% WC before we go out.

One store did contact me saying they do not suggest mixing thai discus (from the other store) with there discus from Malaysia is there any truth behind this? Or just trying to make me feel safer buying them all from him? google showed nothing on the topic just came up with breeders from each area.

Thanks for the help everyone who contributed.
 
discus with pigeonblood genes will pepper and that includes melons. the blues are safe. if your going with at least 4" fish then you should have no problems. what kind of cleanup crew? bn plecos will work but they will put out huge amounts of waste and once the grow, they become lazy and will eat fish food instead of algae. Oto's are not really recommended as they are known to suck on the discus for thier slime. Rummynose work great and are good schooling tetras. Cardinals are ok but many people have trouble keeping them once the discus are adults. they can become expensive snacks. I have Lemons and they are bigger and are always tightly schooled.
 
you can mix discus from different sources justbe sure you follow strict qt protocals.
 
that sounds like a good plan to me, i have never heard about it being wrong to mix discus from different places but i have heard that its better to mix at the same time. i think if you did introduce the new fish the way you planned then it could work but im no expert. and i understand that it can get pretty expensive to install a 3d background so why dont you save up for now or install one of those off the roll backgrounds from petstores? i like the idea of cutting down on cardinals and keeping the rummynose tetras.
 
Only pigeon blood will pepper, the rest are ok with the black background. Also you could add some white gravel to level out for the background. Once u change the background the peppering will decrese so it's not a long term issue. Like everyone said I've heard of no issues on mixing different source discus, but it's far more better to add them all at the same time in the new tank then adding new ones latter when pecking order is established. IMO go easy on the tetras, get 25 rummy and 25 cardinals and u can always add more of those later with no issues.
 
Thanks guys! yes I have read about the cardinals getting eaten when the discus grow larger like I said I am happy to take them out if i see anything going on its going to be lots of trail and error from the sounds of it, I might get lemons they have been on my mind or even harlequins they get quite big also just a bit worried about the temp!

as for cleaners I am falling towards just corys and some l333s, I was going to get clowns but I dont think they clean much and the tank is not very wide + they get big after a few years!

I think I will try to just stick to one store! the QT makes sense the owner explained to me that in Thailand and Malaysia there are different bugs in each area the discus build there immune system around that which is why when a new bug is introduced there health goes down very fast as they cant adapt/fight the bug off well.

I wont be getting a 3D for this tank as I am getting one for the 6FT and its costing me the same price pretty much which means Its close to 1K just on backgrounds compared to having a not so pretty tank for a year yes my idea is a roll on but its hard to find ones made for 30 inch high tanks which is why a vinyl is normally easier.

anyways we leave in 1-2 hours so I better go and do that large WC and check the RDs tank is ready to go. I will try to get pictures up asap!
 
thanks for that alex, I have got the whitest sand you can find here **not coral** + lots of plants so its not as if its full black but it is there and the plants are not 28inch high yet so around the 16inch mark it turns all blackish I plan to buy some floating plants today to clean that up and add some green. main reason I was thinking of 50/50 is the deals I go given for them as they consider it a bulk buy like I said before I am considering droping the cardinals so I might only get the rummy today and the rest later if I feel so.

In theory having more plants over the black background would help a lot tho correct? I know one shop that sells 25inch tall vine plants that I could use then I wont have to wait for the others to grow.
 
Well I got 6 Discus the lady breeds them all and has been doing it for 12 years she suggested to add 6 then 4-6 later, I told her about the pecking order she said she hardly doubts in 2 days anything major will happen with the pecking order and said even later down the track adding discus is not impossible just requires some time and a close eye, apparently the 6 discus would produce more waste then my RD which I found hard to believe but I guess only time will tell I tried getting a 7th and she wasn't very happy to sell it to me, I am hoping she knows more then me she sure seemed to know everything about them and had a good idea about fish in general so I trusted her. they also had rummys in the tank and there nose was as red as a baboons ass which was a pleasing sign! AND the used all black background and I noticed 0 peppering or any of them changing color even in the largest which maybe me feel really safe also.

I got 0 tetras :) held back I did get 4 L brozen corys and 8 sterbai corys, I plan to add some pandas and hopefully 2-4 l333 and of course some tetras. I did go a bit plant crazy as I had the discus in the car waiting so just rushed it and got a bit too much haha its not to bad looking just kind of full on!

Anyways I shall take some pictures tomorrow, they are still a adjusting so I don't want to be standing around the tank with the light on etc!
 
Thats a great advice, and I agree with it. Adding too much fish at once will put a strain on ur bio filtration, and a couple of days won't make an issue in between adding the new batch. Just add the new ones before those get settled in. If u have another established tank you can add more bio to ur filter, but since it's an established tank the bacteria should multiply quickly.
Black background isn't as big issue as u maybe think. Specially if u have lighter gravel and plants, and it's mostly low quality discus that get peppering so the fact that there is no peppering in her discus only shows they're of a good genetic background. Plants will also help with the bio filtration so seems like u got everything covered. Good luck!
 
if you had done a fishless cycle you couldve added them all ;) lol but a few days will be fine i added to my existing stock weeks after the pecking order was establish and they just re-establish the pecking order to include the new ones lol
 
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