Im getting a large tank this thursday...
and im thinking about getting discus, but i dont want to keep them in a species tank only.
I've been googling on this, and i found a good site, but it only gave a number of speices of tetra.

I'd llike to keep cichlids with them.
And other colourful fish, ive decided on getting emporer tetras already a school of 6-8.
Just so you know im getting: a bio filter
250w heater
plants and bog wood
under gravel filter system.
florecent lights, one of whitch percific for plants


but before i put discus in im keen on getting the water nice and soft, with a near 0 amonia levels. and a low nitrates level.. my tap water is quite soft around 6.5, but i know that in the wild they cheerish a PH of 4-5.. with no minerals at all in the water, id like to know how to get rid of these aswell.

I'll be cycling the tank with fish, proberly cichlids.. in my lfs, they have a tank with one label on African cichlids. my only concern is that they may not be able to stand the high alkaline PH of the water that will eventually keep the discus.

Im intending to keep a pair of discus.

If you have any comments please state them. also any help on the subject is greatly appreiciated.

cheers in advance

Welll... how big is the tank?

I would not recoment the undergravel filter as many plants do not like large amounts of water around their roots. They are also hard to clean and you will find it hard to keep your nitrate levels down.

To remove minerals from your water, activated carbon is best.
If you remove all the minerals from the water your plants may not do well at all as they like iron and potassuim etc.

I would maybe keep the Ph about 5.5 but 4 is much too low.
Are you thinking about creating a biotope?

Why buy fish to cylce with? A tank with labelled "african cichlids" could contain any number of fish with different temperaments, even hybrids. Why not do a fishless cycle?

I'm not a discus specialist by any means, but I would have assumed that most cichlids would stress discus too much, especially with their territorial behaviour.

Good luck with your tank

well the tank is 3ft wide. 12" deep and 18" high.. averages out at uk 25 gallons..
most sites say give discus 10-15 gallons per fish, so i reckon when the tank has matured. i'll be able to squeeze two in. but at my local lfs there discus are 2-3" in dia. so i'll be able to fit a school of fish and a couple of cichlids all of these being babies..

as the fish grow i'll be getting a size tank up from this maybe 4ft x 1.5ft x 2 ft..

As for the plants. If i dont use the undergravel filter. just use the biofilter? Im not famailar with the term biotope what is this? maybe fish plants and filter working in a balance? just guessing.

any further info would be grand.

cheers

Sorry but a 25g tank is not big enough for Discus, the minimum for keeping Discus is 40 gallons for a pair and then an additional 10 to 15 gallons per extra fish.
The only other Cichlids you may be able to keep with Discus are rams or Appistogramma species which are peacefull and small enough not to stress the Discus.



Discus need a low acidic pH not a high alkeline one, something in the region of 6 to 6.5 is ideal so your tapwater is perfect. African Cichlids on the other hand DO require a high alkeline pH (above 7.5), they are also sensative to ammonia and nitrite so are not the best fish to cycle with. If you must cycle with fish use hardy fish like Danios but a fishless cycle would be better.

Don't cycle with african cichlids. The water needed for discus is low ph and africans need high ph. They will be at a disadvantage in this sort of water and prone to diseases which will in turn be passed on to your discus (a fragile enough fish as it is).

Personally I would always 100% without a doubt stick to a fishless cycle with any fish as delicate as discus, better to be safe than sorry with a fish that dear (in fact, I do fishless cycles any time, I disagree strongly with cycling with fish).

EDIT: damn you cfc, you beat me to it

This post has been edited by Dragonscales: Oct 3 2005, 06:58 PM

You need a bigger tank. You need to lose the gravel. You need at least 6 young fish to start with. Any type of highly active fish is a bad pick to go with discus. I wish you luck but feel that your current plan will fail with discus.

-john

in addition to the above posts, emperor tetras may not be suitable either; they are fairly territorial towards their own species, and a PH of 4 will kill any filtration system.

well im not able to house a bigger tank than i have already shown.

With soft tap water that i have, what would you guys suggest i stock my tank with?
At my lfs they have many types of tetras; cadi's, neons, black widows, emporers and a few others.
they also have many different types of loach. many different types of gourami including Dwarf (colsia lalia),
chocolates, pearls and golds.

As i have already said they have african cichlids.

I'd love to keep schooling fish, so tetra's is a good choice for me.

Considering the size of the tank, what would you guys suggest?

thanks

depending on size of discus. frequent water changes and a hma filter,,plenty of tlc .it ia aso reccommended to give hiding places.......i don't agree..force them to be out there. you could manage 12x 3inch discus ..couple of julii catfish and have a happy tank...(don't forget oxygen bubbles though)

i have had 25x2.5 inch discus in a tank that size,really regular water changes though they were happy.with discus you can tell...theyr'e like pets....need tlc.if youv'e not time don't bother.....they seek your affection or go dull

hi slow swim ive got rams with my discus and he seems happy with them being in there.the one tetra discus do like being with is cardinals they feel safer having shoaling fish around as they know they are safe ,it does help getting plants that grow to the top like vals because when it grows really long the discus like to hide underneath it to feel safe aswell.like people have started here dont go with africans as they need different water conditions plus they're alot more aggressive then discus as they will find a place in the tank they will call there teritory they will chase the discus off and stress them out to much.paul newton your not giving very good advice to someone who is looking in to keeping sensitive fish it may work for you keeping all those discus in a tank that size but it isnt healthy for your fish anyway slow swim keeping researching there is alot of pretty fish out there for your tank size

PLEASE DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS IDIOT

At the end of the day the fish will need to grow, the will get stunted and will likely die. Sorry to say but your tank is not big enough for discus, why not focus on a nice community tank? if your after some shoaling tetras go for rummy nose tetras. I have 10 in my tank and they all swim close together and look great!!

Also i wouldnt reccomend an under gravel filter as they are not great! at least consider an internal filter or if you have the money go for an external

Also why are you "aiming" for 0 ammonia, i wouldnt have fish in a tank if it wasnt constantly 0 ammonia!!

This post has been edited by Ian H: Jul 7 2008, 11:45 PM

I have to say I agree, but look at the date of the post

doh!