Thinking about possibilities (w/ discus)

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
DwarfCichlid101

DwarfCichlid101

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 18, 2006
339
1
0
34
WA
I'll give you all the stats about the tank first, and then the question...

I currently have a 55 gallon tank that has housed some monsters (fish in sig.) and they are getting an upgrade (150). The tank is filtered with a '70' gallon HOB filter from AquaClear, and a recently added XP3. There is an UGF (connected to HOB) but I'm thinking about taking it out. Ammonia: 0, Nitrites: 0, Nitrates: (ok, get prepared, I was shocked when I saw this and working on fixing) 120. (all are ppm)... :nilly: This was because we had a huge project in school (30% of grade) that I had to focus on, and so everything started to slide.... :irked:

So obviously this tank is cycled. What I wondered about is the possibilites for the tank. My sisters and mom have been wanting the 55 to be turned into a 'pretty fish' tank, and I was turned over. :D

So now I'm thinking of the possibilities.

Planted tank:
4 discus
2 kribensis
some tetras
a farlowella (whiptail catfish)

or

Planted tank:
5-6 discus
tetras
rams

or

Planted tank:
kribensis
few gouramis (pearl + moonlight)
farlowella
african butterfly fish

and any advise will be helpful, for I have read into many a night on fish but have little experience with community fish and planted tanks (fish tear up even the plastic ones)...
 
If you want to do a planted tank and discus, there are two methods that I would recommend. First, would be to add the plants, and get some adult discus, but these discus cost a lot more (usually between 100 and 500 each). Method two will cost even more, and is the method I use. Establish the plants completely, and make sure there are a lot of plants to help suck up as much as possible. After a few months, add discus, even young ones. The key to having this method work though, is that you must monitor very closely the co2 levels, iron, pH, GH, KH, phosphates, nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, and TDS. I personally keep my TDS at a max of 200ppm, which is nearly the same as what it is coming out of the tap.
 
If you decide to go with discus I suggest you start from scratch. Get six two inch discus and set them up in the tank using a bare bottom. Add a few potted Sword plants and s couple of pieces of bgwood. The Tetras and pair of rams can go in also. Once your discus have grown to about four inches in diameter go ahead and add substrate/plants.

It is much easier to raise young discus in bare bottom tanks because they are easier to keep clean. Duiring the early growth phase discus should be fed four times a day and it means a great deal more maintenance is needed to keeping a substrate from becoming a garbage trap.

I raise discus so I know exactly how much work the young ones are. Believe me you don't want to make this harder than necessary.
If you don't want to raise your own may you can just buy some large wild discus. If you do, no matter what discus you choose, make sure they do not have a pinched head above their eye and that they are acclimated to and eating the same foods you can easily provide.

If you choose to buy young discus , which is what I recommend, buy from a discus specialist and not from a local fish shop unless that shop has a proven track record of only selling discus in peak condition. Most young discus are as good as useless in the hands of most LFS's. They never feed them frequently enough, often overcrowd,underfeed them and do not keep up with the extra water changes needed to keep young discus from becoming irreversably stunted.

I see you also live in Washington State. There are several good sources of discus nearby. I can give you two very good sources from the Seattle area and one in Spokane if you are an Eastsider
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom