Thinking Discus?

[juggernuts]

im thinking of turning my 250l into a discuss tank....

first of all my main problem is a commen plec now yes i know its going to be to big and i know, but i cant get rid of him now he one of my first fish . Ive looked around and there are a few quality suppliers around the north east and would love to try them as i find them absolutley stunning!

couple of questions now!

would my corydoras be able to withstand the ph change from low 7 to lower?,i understand my pleco will, if not i will move these fish along with my others.

amongst other things im getting mixed vibes as to how they would adapt to my water i read about having to keep lower hardness and frequent water changes but do you guys/gals actually need to do this, i read about 50% weekly and 20 every 2nd day? surely thats slightly excessive.( i do not want to sound lazy thats not what im getting at, i just find it hard to beleive thats the case)

basically im wanting to step up my fish keeping skills and would honour any advice

thanks AGAIN!

 

[mattlee]

ive just gone down this route myself.... my discus are in medium/hard water with a pH of 8 and seen to be doing fine. your corys depends on what species you have, sterbai seem to be a favourite as the can handle higher temps as most others like it below 25C. i breed corys and their prefered temp is between 22-26C so these may not be suitable unless you research the fish first as discus like it warmer 29-31C. if you go ahead then make sure you change the temp slowly so the current fish can addapt a little easier. also i have found that discus are slow eaters and if greedy fish are kept with them there isnt much left for the discus so beware.....
water quality is essential with discus and at least 50% water changes are needed per week with adult fish and more with smaller ones. they need a large tank which means large water changes im affraid......... and as they eat slowly the food can go off quickly so be sure to remove any uneaten food after an hour or so to prevent it causing excess ammonia levels.
hard work but worth it in my eyes

 

[juggernuts]

ah cool to hear you did the same... im planning on only having the corys and my plec in the water so i think if i bump it up to about 29 over time, as i know itss roughly 25 now, then i should be ok. my ph like mentioned is roughly 7, its just when i read some profiles on fish i find they do not have what they are recomended to have ie PH.

im planning on a new filter for the tank which ill run along side my other for a while. Thinking all my parameters should be ok by the looks of it.... discuss here i come!

thanks by the way

 

[mattlee]

no probs, what corys do you have?

 

[juggernuts]

no probs, what corys do you have?

a couple of panda corys,
4 three stripe
3xl bronze

sadly i had a few more but as time has gone on, they have dwindled for one reason or another

 

[mattlee]

no probs, what corys do you have?

a couple of panda corys,
4 three stripe
3xl bronze

sadly i had a few more but as time has gone on, they have dwindled for one reason or another

sorry to say but i dont think these corys will withstand the heat a discus set up will need to be at..... most people use sterbai corys as these dont mind higher temp water.

 

[juggernuts]

no probs, what corys do you have?

a couple of panda corys,
4 three stripe
3xl bronze

sadly i had a few more but as time has gone on, they have dwindled for one reason or another

sorry to say but i dont think these corys will withstand the heat a discus set up will need to be at..... most people use sterbai corys as these dont mind higher temp water.

Meh fair enough ill pop them in my 60 litre thanks for advise pal i do have 2 gold sterbs actually so i suppose i could get a few more and put them in there