New Discus Thread, Now With More Ram..

[Jim Curtis]

Couldnt resist the urge to put some sand in this tank. Also added the rams I had in my 20 gallon, a few pieces of slate and a new background. My old thread was getting a bit long so I started a new one. The Discus dont look any different to me than they did 2 months ago. Im pretty happy with the tank how it is now. I have no desire to add plants to any tank ever again.

 

[shroob]

Very nice discus, I don't know alot about them but I do know the striped bluey ones are my favourite . Any plans for plants? I think a planted discus tank looks great (doesn't have to be a propper jungle mind).

 

[TheConstantGrower]

You seem to be a seasoned discus keeper... Ive only been keeping fish (personally) for 3 - 4 years now (my father kept tanks as far back as i can remember.

Ive always been a HUGE fan of shoaling fish, groups of 30 - 40 tetras just having at it, with vast expanses of plants and inverts on the bottom to keep things clean, live breeding fish for helping to balance the diet of the bigger fish.


Now i understand cichlid keeping is entirely different as the fish can reach sizes of 12 inches or better and have personality, attitude and require a thorough examination of the community to make it happen properly...

But i do so ever strongly desire to have discus fish. i have a 55 gallon tank 48/12.5/21 tall Its reef drilled with corner overflow / return capable of well over 600gph yadda yadda.

Lighting is two 10,000 daylights and 2 of the blue actinic ones and 3 moon lights at night.

Underneath it is a custom made 38 gallon glass wet dry sump and refugium.
Designed by myself created by the kind folks at www.glasscages.com

Veggie filter plus massively over sized wet dry + ceramics so filtration and water quality is always top. and i do mean TOP.

Trying to think if i left any data out... think i got it all..


So... can i has discus? id just like a pair of some good size discus.

yes? no?

Do's and dont's?

 

[joecoral]

Jim Curtis - Those are some gorgeous discus, they are a real credit to you, keep up the good work!

TheConstantGrower - That tank seems perfect for discus, sumps are excellent for filtration, plenty of capacity for biomedia
One thing I would do is remove the actinic tubes as they can stimulate algae to grow, and swap them for some daylight tubes, or even remove them altogether as you dont need a lot of light
A group of 5 discus in that tank should do nicely (although you express a wish to keep only 2, unless you have a mated pair it will not work, and keeping a breeding pair isnt advisable for the beginner discus keeper. They are best in groups of 5 or more, 10gal per fish, hence in your 55gal you could keep 5, although the extra water capacity of the sump may mean you are able to keep some more, im not sure how this works)
As for the plants, many people recommend you keep discus, especially juveniles (ie less than 5" or so I believe) in a bare bottom tank as this allows you to keep water conditions absolutely pristine in order to prevent the growth from being stunted
HTH
Joe

 

[petertr]

really nice looking Discus there

 

[Jim Curtis]

ConstantGrower,

Joe Coral said exactly what I would have.


Shroob,

I have no plans for plants. I want to keep this tank as easy to clean as possible. It was a barebottom until a few days ago. Once you get into keeping plants things get really difficult to keep clean.

 

[TheConstantGrower]

Ive always had planted tanks and its actually not as hard as it seems to keep a clean eco system inside the tank, the proper quantity of inverts omni's and carnis keep everything in check (for the most part).

So out of the 55 gallon tank ide say only 30% will actually achive planted status. long stuff in the corners, some rocks and wood risers with java moss. maximum swimming area.

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=rshW7CBwDYM

In this video here we see our favorite aquascape designer PETTING his discus then feeding them, they are red alenquer. he has 5 in his thirty gallon tank. due to the heavy planting he is allowed to keep more discus in a smaller area due to the fact the the water quality is near pristine 25 hours a day 366 days a year.

since i have have a 55 gallon up top and a 38gallon sump + veggie filter down low thats just shy of 100 gallons of water.

my question is with this setup on TOP of the 5 discus can i get away with my standard army of other fish


"bunch" of glass shrimp (invert)
2 - 3 siamese algae eater (shark family)
600 cardinals swimming vigerously
5 platies (for the live breeding of food, err fry)
1 Chinese algae Eater (currently 3 inches but clearly wants to bust out of his current home and eat eat eat so expect 7 - 8 inches)

Obviously i cant have 600 tetras in my tank... but i would like a large quantity of small peaceful fish in the tank with discus...

If the discus were to eat a few of them, i dont think ide shed tears, thats life in the wild.

Thank you for all the info so!

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Ive always had planted tanks and its actually not as hard as it seems to keep a clean eco system inside the tank, the proper quantity of inverts omni's and carnis keep everything in check (for the most part).

So out of the 55 gallon tank ide say only 30% will actually achive planted status. long stuff in the corners, some rocks and wood risers with java moss. maximum swimming area.

[URL="http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=rshW7CBwDYM"]http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=rshW7CBwDYM[/URL]

In this video here we see our favorite aquascape designer PETTING his discus then feeding them, they are red alenquer. he has 5 in his thirty gallon tank. due to the heavy planting he is allowed to keep more discus in a smaller area due to the fact the the water quality is near pristine 25 hours a day 366 days a year.

since i have have a 55 gallon up top and a 38gallon sump + veggie filter down low thats just shy of 100 gallons of water.

my question is with this setup on TOP of the 5 discus can i get away with my standard army of other fish


"bunch" of glass shrimp (invert)
2 - 3 siamese algae eater (shark family)
600 cardinals swimming vigerously
5 platies (for the live breeding of food, err fry)
1 Chinese algae Eater (currently 3 inches but clearly wants to bust out of his current home and eat eat eat so expect 7 - 8 inches)

Obviously i cant have 600 tetras in my tank... but i would like a large quantity of small peaceful fish in the tank with discus...

If the discus were to eat a few of them, i dont think ide shed tears, thats life in the wild.

Thank you for all the info so!

Shrimp would probably be eaten. Cardinals will probably be okay though, as long as you get them large and get the Discus small.

C.A.E isn't such a good idea. Chances are he will end up going for the Discus slime coat. S.A.E may end up doing the same, but that may depending on if they are real real S.A.E or false S.A.E.

 

[TheConstantGrower]

Alright, thank you for all the information. ive been rethinking my stocking plan for my 55 anyways.