Discus

[kev350d]

Having never kept discus im wondering, The local breeder around here keeps and breeds his discus in tap water at a ph of 7.2 and temps of 29° they always feed in an agressive manner and come to the front of his tanks to greet you when you approach. Now he lost all power in the property over the course of a weekend a couple weeks ago and lost no fish although they were in poor condition they are now very much back to full health. So im wondering are these fish actually quite hardy (unlike alot would have you believe)as i do plan on swapping out my community fish in the new year and replacing with discus from the guy im talking about.
RO is out of the question for me and my tap water is at a ph 7.5 but quickly drops to around neutral once in the aqaurium and mixed with the mature tank water. I use peat in my filter and bogwood as i like the tanned water.

Set up:
Trigon 350
Fluval 405
Power head for O2 displacement and filtration
Vecton UV15 Sterilizer
PH 7.0
Nitrite: 0
Amonia: 0
Nitrate : 5

Tank Mates:
Certainly my LDA33 Snowball + L177 Queen Golden Nugget
Possibly a shoal of 20+ cardinals (i will re-house if it isnt a good idea but i was told that they can be perfect)
What about a trio of pearl gourami (my original fish and very placid).

The tank is heavily planted toward the rear with lots of free swimming at the front and centre, it has a fine gravel substrate and a few large sections of bogwood, would it be better to get rid of the plants and swap gravel for a shallow layer of sand (what i dont want is a tank that looks bare with a few fish in as i think they look more like jam jars with your catch in when you were a kid).

I wondered why people say no substrate and no plants as i was almost certain both were found in a discus's natural enviroment although im certainly no expert, im just curious to ask why ?

And as for fish that have been reared in tap water (will these be obviously more hardy than say fish that have been kept in ph's of 6.4 and ro based water.)

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Actually plants are not found in a Discus natural environment, it's mostly just roots and muddy bottoms. Some people say Discus do better in a bare bottom tank as their are easier to keep clean, but that is debatable. If the discus at the breeder is 7.2 then you're okay. Try to simulate the water exactly like the breeders so the fish don't have to get settled in diffrent water chemistry. which will most likely result in illness or death.

 

[kev_kb]

It is not debatable that a bare bottom tank is easier to keep clean than a fully planted one. With a bare bottom tank you have easy access and can keep the floor of the tank clean. The same could be said for a sand substrate, but if the tank is heavily planted there will always be areas for debri to build up. With a gravel substrate you'll need to do lots and lots of gravel cleaning, and this will disrupt the plant roots.

I would go for a bare bottom tank, it really makes Discus keeping so much easier and eliminates some of the problems new keepers can experience. Having said that, the tank doesn't need to be bare, you can and should have pieces of bogwood in there, and you attach plants to these. Some people also keep stem plants in containers, but I'm not a fan of this.

IMHO Bare bottom tanks are essential for raising baby discus which are easily stunted. I always think it's best to buy fish around 4" and upwards because of this.

A neutral pH will be fine, what you need to look at is the hardness of the water, so you need gH and kH test kits. If you match the hardness of the supplier you should be fine, if your sure the supplier is of good quality. Some places are blessed with soft water from the tap, however most aren't and so RO is the easiest method to produce perfect water for Discus.

Be careful with the powerhead in the tank, Discus do not like fast flowing water at all. You just a little surface movement that's all.

Not sure about your tank mates, not seen many (any?) tanks mixing Discus with gouramis, but you'll need to look into it. Cardinals will be fine, but be prepared to loose them when the Discus reach adulthood, some people seem to experience this whilst others don't. Also heard about some Plecos that will suck on the side of discus, so you'll need to check that too. I can confirm that Bristlenose, Clown and King Tigers should cause no problems.

Discus are not as hard as some people/sites/books make out, but you need to research them thoroughly and provide the correct conditions.

 

[kev350d]

It is not debatable that a bare bottom tank is easier to keep clean than a fully planted one. With a bare bottom tank you have easy access and can keep the floor of the tank clean. The same could be said for a sand substrate, but if the tank is heavily planted there will always be areas for debri to build up. With a gravel substrate you'll need to do lots and lots of gravel cleaning, and this will disrupt the plant roots.

I would go for a bare bottom tank, it really makes Discus keeping so much easier and eliminates some of the problems new keepers can experience. Having said that, the tank doesn't need to be bare, you can and should have pieces of bogwood in there, and you attach plants to these. Some people also keep stem plants in containers, but I'm not a fan of this.

IMHO Bare bottom tanks are essential for raising baby discus which are easily stunted. I always think it's best to buy fish around 4" and upwards because of this.

A neutral pH will be fine, what you need to look at is the hardness of the water, so you need gH and kH test kits. If you match the hardness of the supplier you should be fine, if your sure the supplier is of good quality. Some places are blessed with soft water from the tap, however most aren't and so RO is the easiest method to produce perfect water for Discus.

Be careful with the powerhead in the tank, Discus do not like fast flowing water at all. You just a little surface movement that's all.

Not sure about your tank mates, not seen many (any?) tanks mixing Discus with gouramis, but you'll need to look into it. Cardinals will be fine, but be prepared to loose them when the Discus reach adulthood, some people seem to experience this whilst others don't. Also heard about some Plecos that will suck on the side of discus, so you'll need to check that too. I can confirm that Bristlenose, Clown and King Tigers should cause no problems.

Discus are not as hard as some people/sites/books make out, but you need to research them thoroughly and provide the correct conditions.

Thanks for the advice and i will have a read up on them well in advance (i may opt to have a fine layer of sand and retain my bogwood, the plants will go the journey "although ive nearly talked the mrs around to having another 350 in the opposing corner (this will allow me to keep both my community and the new arrivals if and when i decide to go ahead with it)".