i am new to discus and need help

[yanke]

hi all
i want to start a discus tank up
it is a 6x18x20 tank i have a sump on it
and it will do 3500l/h
300w heater
i think i have all the bases
but now do i need any thing more
and i have been told u have to have a high temp
for the tank like bath water warm
and a low ph like 6.0 to 6.5

now how many can i keep in a tank like that
i want some plants and the wife whats some neon
and fish like that guppies and maybe 2 or 3 cats
or bn in there i want a pair of Apistogramma
i want about 6 or so discus i want a show tank
it is in the liveing room

now i have been keeping fish for about 25 yrs now
but they have been africans i have 21 tanks setup now
so 1 of them will be for some discus
i all ways waitted discus so the wife sayed go for it
so i am going for it with a little help i hope lol
well thats all for now

oooo i am in new castle were can i get some good fish
and not be taken for a ride

thanks for any help
yanke

[boxters]

Yanke

I am always happy to help new comers.have a look at my website. www.marlonsdiscus.com.au
Your pump is to small IMO and 1 heater not enough. Feel free to contact me

[Mr Wild]

Welcome to the forum

Plenty of good informatio on here about selecting discus, what to look for what not to get etc.

Your tank holds approx 400 usable litres. Discus use 40 litres per fish, plants take up room and so too other fish. You need to look for fish that do well in temps of 29C peppermint BN do well for your cats neons may be eaten by hungry adult discus.

Read plenty before you start, it is best to undestand the committment you are ubdertaking before you do it they require more care IMO but I find it worth it.

[yanke]

hi
so how big of a pump do i need
and the heater keeps the tank and 28
i have it in the sump
i had up to 80 big african in that tank
with that pump and it alway been clean as
it will do a little over 8 time the tank a hour
it is only a 425L tank
so at 40L a fish it safe for me to have 6 in there
with plants and some smaller fish
thanks so far yanke

p.s. what i want to put in is some blue turks
and maybe some red 1 also 3 of ea

[yanke]

hi
as we start to set up the tank have to drain it frist seeing how
i have a full of african tank out all the water full it up
with new water run it for 24 hrs and then drain it again that
way i can get all the old water out as i can't get all that in
the sump out and that way i can suck out all the old gravel
as i have coral in my gravel and stuff from the sump and start it like a new tank with new gravel also
god it a lot of work to set up the tank as i had to move fish from 3 tanks
around to get this to work
1st movie fry out of my 3x18x20 in to a 3x14x14
then fish out of my 6ft to the 3x18x20
they are fry also only 22 of them in that tank
now take out the fish and rocks out of the 6ft in
the live room and put them in to the 6 ft in the fish room
then that will give me the 6 ft in the liveing room for my discus
then atfer the tank is up and running i have to take out all the stuff and plants that i have in my Apistogramma tank and put them in the 6ft
the things we do to have a nice show tank lol
and atfer 2 months i will get to put in the discus
wohooooooooooooooo
yanke

[Merrilyn]

Aahhhhh the things we do for our fish :lol:

No need to wait two months before putting in your new fish. Just move some cycled media out of your old filters to the new tank and you're right to go :P

[yanke]

yes i know that
going to move the hole filter in to the new tank
for about a month then clean it and put it back
in the old tank
i have 4 of them they are the eheim pickups 2010
i run 2 in a 3ft and i change 1 a month and clean it
yanke

[Merrilyn]

Eheims are great filters, aren't they. Love mine. They just seem to go on forever.

[yanke]

yes they are i have 4 2010 pickup
and 2 of the 2217 that run a 6ft i have in
the fish room

[goodoo]

You can use some seachem stability to speed things up a bit, if fish are in there allready. I Dont know how this stuff works, Its supposed to add good bacteria.

[yanke]

hi
i started my tank today
i put in all new gravel and all new water
cleaned out my sump really good seeing how
it had african in the tank before and the high
ph 8.6 and cichlid salt
but i did some thing good
i have a Apistogramma tank that had a pickup
2010 in it for about 2 months running time
so i put a new pickup in that tank and put the 1
out of that tank in to the new setup and it is running now
the tank it came out of been up and running for about 8-10
months now with fish and plants in it and that tanks ph is 6.6
and thats what i want in the new tank
so i hope that the fitler will give the new tank a jump start
let me know if i am right in thinking that
yanke (paul)

[Merrilyn]

I must be missing something here Paul. You said you have moved a 2010 from an existing tank into your new tank.

That is obviously a fully cycled filter (the pH in the tank the filter came from doesn't matter) so you could in theory put a group of discus in that tank now, so long as you maintain a stable pH.

I think you said in a previous post that you would run that filter in there for a month, then pull it out and fully clean it then add some fish. Ummmm why? That's the part I don't get.

What is going to feed your filter while it's running in an empty tank? The already existing bio colony will die off with no food. Do you intend to do a fishless cycle on that tank, using some form of ammonia till your sump is fully matured? In that case, you could simply remove the used media from your eheim and drop it into your sump till the bacteria colonize the sump media as well. In any case, the bacteria will need to be fed, either with an artificial form of ammonia, or with fish waste.

Not sure I've got it right. Help me out here.

[yanke]

hi
i am going to run the filter in the new tank for a month
to my sump gets cycled then take it out and clean it
so i can put it in a other tank when needed see i have 4 of them
3 are in tanks and the 4th i use when i have to clean 1

and now i have Krib fry i put in the new tank and i leve them in there for about a month that way my tank will be fully cycled
and the temp. and ph will be right
i am doing it the right way takeing my time
like i seen in a post don't do it to fast or it will end up costing me
money and fish
i had fish for yrs but they was african and they can live in piss water
and with discus it a lot harder to keep them happy and alive
so like u said in a post take it slow right
yanke

[Merrilyn]

Ahhhhh okay. I'm with you.

I wondered how you were going to keep your bio colony alive while you waited for your sump to become cycled.

Now I see you're going to put some krib fry in the tank to keep the bio alive. Makes sense.

I knew I had to be missing something :P

[yanke]

well tank is up and running
ph is staying at 6.6-6.8
temp. is 29.3-29.7
i have 6 discus comeing 5-6cm big
now i have some peppermint BN to put in
4 of them they are small
and i have a pair of Apistogramma i want to
put in there also
and i like to get some tetra in there also
what kind can i get
thanks Paul (yanke)

[boxters]

Paul

neons or cardinals are very good with Discus. Just remember to treat them before adding them to your tank.

[lpiasente]

Neons are great in discus tanks...mine thought they were very tasty. I started with 15 now I have 2 :lol:

[yanke]

well i did it on sunday
i pick up my fish (6 discus from boxters)
to put in my 6ft in the liveroom wohooooooo
they are
2pigeon
1blue diamond
1white diamond
1golden yellow
1red melon
all at 5-6cm big
i know it will take some time for them to grow
but i am in the makeing of a show tank
and wanted color
can't want
yanke (paul)

[Merrilyn]

Sounds terrific Paul.

Now you know we want to see piccies :P