Finally getting discus!!! yay

[jimmyboy]

Hey all after much research i think i am ready for discus!!!! I have talked to rod and i will hopefully go and get some beautys from him some time next week.I am going to get a 220 litre tank it is going to be bare bottom and get atleast 3 water changes a week hopefully more! I am hoping to get 5or 6 2 inch discus and feed them lots and grow them out and in 6 months get a big corner show tank for them! I have a couple of questions though!

#1 i am going to get a eheim classic 2215 to filter the grow out tank, it will be new however if i split half the media from my 2215 on my community tank which has being going healthy for over 6 months, would this sound like a good idea to get the bacteria for my new discus tank.

#2 will i still get decent growth with 3 or 4 water changes a week?.

#3 does this sound like a good idea or should i just wait till the show tank comes in a few months.

If u have any other helpful hints that would be awesome thanx heaps james

[Ben]

First of all welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of discus James!

1/ that is a perfect idea, seeding your new canister with old canister filter media. This will give the good bacteria a head start.

2/The more water changes the better i believe!
%50 every second day would be good.

3/If you get the discus sooner rather than later they will get used to your conditions and routine plus you can work out any teething problems.

Cheers
Ben

[G-1000]

Hi James,

1) That is a good way of giving your new tank a good jumpstart. However, I would actually recommend doing something a little different. I would grab a bottle of seachem stability and use it as well as to a fishless cycle at the same time (see thread in article section). I only say this because your old tank media may release a lot of pathogens into the new tank.

2) Changing water that often for juvis is very good and yes - you will get a very good growth rate.

3) Well thats up to you really. I would use this presumably smaller tank for the growout phase for sure. It would make w/c easier and give you a smaller tank to treat if anything went wrong.

Just give it a go and do the best you can.

G