Going Discus and have some questions...filtration, stocking.

[MCF]

First I want to say in advance, thanks for this forum!!!! I have a 55 gallon long tank (48" long). I had a successful cichlid tank a year ago and had to decommission due to travels. The tank is now up and running and being cycled and am considering going discus. I have a 2-3" deep sandy white/black substrate (was live when I got it a year ago..can't think if name, I belive araganite?), a Eheim 2126 thermofilter, a AC110 HOB filter, an undersand jet system (to keep stuff from settling on substrate) and a couple of air rocks for bubbles to keep water oxygenated, and of course two 48" lights in a hood.

1. I assume I have enough filtration (more than enough) for a discus tank?
2. I am in Houston, Texas and will be using dechlorinated water out of the faucet and I believe it's properties are in line with discus requirements.
3. Are discus overly 'dirty' (any more so than Mbuna cichlids)?
4. My preliminary stocking plan is as follows:
1. One Neon Blue
2. One Red Torquise
3. One Pigeon Blood
4. One Ocean Green
5. One Royal Blue
6. One Bushy nose pleco
7. 2-3 Clown Loaches
Any thoughts, recommendations, changes, etc.??
5. Any other critical factors I should consider before doing in depth research? Thanks!!!

[MCF]

In addition to the sandy substrate, I also have some Texas Holley Rock and about 4-5 other nice size rocks with holes and little tunnels and hiding places along with 4-5 plastic plants with bases buried in the sand. Sorry for the quick update...I think that covers everything. Again, the tank is cycling and will be ready for stocking in about a week. It has been running now for over a week and levels are tapering off....

[ILLUSN]

just watch your substrate, discus prefer softer more acidic water and i believe araganite can leach carbonates into the water making it harder and more basic.
Discus arnt dirty by any means but with propper feeding will still produce alot of nitrogenous waste and demand high water quality.
be carefull with rocks as the fish can injur themselves on them, also make sure they dont also leach CO3, drift wood is better cause it softens the water.
your stocking plan is ok just watch the clowns, after 5-6 years they'll be a bit big for the discus.

[MCF]

just watch your substrate, discus prefer softer more acidic water and i believe araganite can leach carbonates into the water making it harder and more basic.
Discus arnt dirty by any means but with propper feeding will still produce alot of nitrogenous waste and demand high water quality.
be carefull with rocks as the fish can injur themselves on them, also make sure they dont also leach CO3, drift wood is better cause it softens the water.
your stocking plan is ok just watch the clowns, after 5-6 years they'll be a bit big for the discus.

Thanks...I will be sure to check ph and hardness. Also, what about pairing discus? If I am getting 5-6 discus, is it ok to have 5-6 different ones or do they prefer to be in multiples of the same? Yeah, not sure about the Clown Loaches, considering a different loach now since the clowns get pretty big.

[MCF]

It appears to be between 7.6 and 7.8...I know recommendation is around 7.4...is 7.6-7.8 going to cause a problem?? If so, what is a good recommendation to lower it? Thanks!!

[ILLUSN]

7.6 is fine, add some peat to your eheim and it will drop it to about 6.8-7.2 (will also give the tank the very cool blackwater look), discus will pair with what ever other discus are available, i wouldn't put a pigion in there cause the peppering is hard to breed out, i believe it spoils the fry but thats just my opinion all your others will give nice looking fry.

[MCF]

If I add a couple pieces of nice driftwood from my LFS, do you think that will be sufficient to lower the PH a little? Not really wanting water to get dark or anything. I am kind of a stickler for details so when I read that PH should be between 7.4 and 7.6 I have that stuck in my head...unless you can really convince me that 7.6-7.8 is really ok...I don't want to hurt the little fellers..hehehe. If at the end of today, I am convinced 7.6-7.8 is ok, I am going to go ahead and add 5 tetras to help bioload ( would prefer Neon, but I guess with 80 deg F water, cardinals would do better, unless again I am told Neons will do ok in 80-82 deg water).

Thanks for all the help!!!!!

[ILLUSN]

Cardinals will do much better then Neons, people here in oz breed good quality discus at 7.6-7.8 so it shouldn't be a problem, just have some ph down on hand for worst case situations (plague etc)

[MCF]

Thanks..then I will stick with the Cardinals.....will adding some good driftwood from my LFS do anything other than adding more decoration to the tank?

[ILLUSN]

will leach some tannins and soften the water a little

[MCF]

How about this for the 55 gallon long:

5-6 assorted discus
10-15 cardinal tetra (have 5 in tank now slowly building bio load)
2-3 Bristlenose catfish
1-2 bushynose pleco OR 1-2 albino bushynose pleco

Any thoughts?

On another post, someone recommended coolie loaches, dwarf loaches or cory's. Any thoughts?

[ILLUSN]

stocking plan looks good, 5 plecos might be a bit much, again i'd put in some small mouthed scavengers just to get the small bits of food the discus miss.

[MCF]

stocking plan looks good, 5 plecos might be a bit much, again i'd put in some small mouthed scavengers just to get the small bits of food the discus miss.

Any suggestions?

[ILLUSN]

Coolies do well in my tanks, they're so ellusive they never bother any other fish, I've also had good luck with dwarfs but some people havn't

[MCF]

My tank is cycled and two days ago I added 5 Cardinal Tetras...next morning 1 is stuck to intake of AC110 filter (running on lowest setting). Last night I added 12 more Cardinal Tetras and THREE MORE are stuck to the intake of the AC110....what is going on??? The intake is not that much, but why are so many dying!?!? I did see last night that 2-3 tetras were staying away from the main group on the opposite side of the tank. I used to keep a sponge on the intake of the AC110, but got tired of it filthying up the tank everytime I would have to take the AC110 down to clean....

[ILLUSN]

are you sure your tank is cyclrd? cardinals are excellent indicaters, once they go crook or dead something is wrong with your water.

hows the ph kh gh nh3 no2 no3?

[MCF]

PH is about 7.8-8.0, but VERY NICE LFS said the use standard tap water for their tanks so all their fish are used to it so there will be no shock for the fish at home.

NH3 is zero
Nitrite is zero
Nitrate is about 5ppm

Not sure about kh.....but since the LFS is using standard tap water (same as me) there should not be an issue with the water condition. Could it be these were just weak fish that couldn't handle the initial shock of changing tanks? I have never lost 4 fish in two days (even though the Cardinal are VERY SMALL).....

[ILLUSN]

if the cardinals are too small they dont handel transport well, try a long acclimitisation, float the bag for a good 1/2 hr, then add in tank water (about 5-10% of the bag volume) every 15min, will take an hour or so but it will give your cardinals the best chance. i find bigger cardinals easier to start off then small.

[Professor_J]

From what I've heard from my LFS lady is that a combination of ottos and coridoras sterbai work very well in discus water. The ottos go nuts on algae and uneaten veggies and the cories take care of uneaten protein very well (though most cories don't like the heat these ones apparently do quite well).

Just my two bits on bottom fish for this kind of tank.