Discus Tank

[DiscusNoob]

Hi everybody I'm new to this forum and after reading many articale of Discus it has made me want to buy the fish stright away and also hesitate.

I was just wondering if I could get some questions answered.

I have some fish already in the tank and was wondering if they are safe to have with discus. These fish are: Bristlenose, Rummynose, Cardinal Tetras and a albino cory.
Also will these fish eat discus' eggs?

I also have gravel in my tank and was wondering when I go through my WC do i just change the water or should I try clean all the dirt and crap in the gravel aswell?

[Merrilyn]

Hmmmmm if you haven't been doing gravel vacs when you do a water change, we may have found the cause of your high nitrates.

All of the fish you mention are suitable tankmates for discus, but all of them will, given the opportunity, eat discus eggs and fry.

While your existing fish may be coping with high nitrates, because they have gradually become used to it over a period of time, if you were to add new fish to the tank, especially discus, it would probably mean their immediate death.

You need to get your nitrate reading down to under 10 before you add discus to your tank.