Discus help

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BlackMagic

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Apr 26, 2010
Messages
469
Hi,
Can some discus keeper help me out a bit, I'm going to buy some discus soon not sure how soon but soon.

My question is water, any of you have a 100% success in keeping discus in tap water without using any kinda of water treatment? Stuff like prime doesn't count.
Like discus buffer or stuff made for discus. Do you really need those?

Filter I'm going to use is 2x 50 or 70 AC depend on what I have left plus my old wet/dry sump.

Now as far as all this goes, what other fish can I add to this tank?
I really like paint tetra, the blue n pink bring out color. Will they be good tankmate?
or what will you recommend to me?

As plants goes, I have ton of java moss n fern n some nano.

I guess that's all,

Thanks
 
BlackMagic said:
Hi,
Can some discus keeper help me out a bit, I'm going to buy some discus soon not sure how soon but soon.

My question is water, any of you have a 100% success in keeping discus in tap water without using any kinda of water treatment? Stuff like prime doesn't count.
Like discus buffer or stuff made for discus. Do you really need those?

Filter I'm going to use is 2x 50 or 70 AC depend on what I have left plus my old wet/dry sump.

Now as far as all this goes, what other fish can I add to this tank?
I really like paint tetra, the blue n pink bring out color. Will they be good tankmate?
or what will you recommend to me?

As plants goes, I have ton of java moss n fern n some nano.

I guess that's all,

Thanks

Hi black magic. First if all, is your tank established? How big is your tank?

I use tap water for my discus. No buffer or anything. The discus that I have came from a local breeder and he also used plain tap water. So, the fish is used to the tap water's quality. If you'd buy a wild discus then you'll have to imitate the environment or water quality where they came from. It's easier to take care of local bred discus. Don't use any buffer. Any fish likes a stable ph compare to fluctuating ph. That's very stressful for the fish. I don't know if your filter would be enough because I don't know your tank's size. Discus prefer to be in a shoal of 5. They tend to bully the bottom of the pecking order if you keep them below 5. Minimum tank size for 5 discus if you go bare-bottom is 55g. If you are going to put substrate, decoration and what not, IMO, 75g would be the minimum.

I have cardinal tetras, rummynose tetras, corys, albino bristlenose pleco, amano shrimp and a bunch of snails with my discus. I have them in a 125g though. If you have the minimum size tank, I would not add any other fish.

Provide some hiding places fir the discus. I noticed that my discus will just hide if the light is too bright.
 
Hi Roy,

I'm going to use a 75g as I sold off everything I own. Kinda getting off the hobby but still going to keep myself the 75, kinda don't want anything to small or to big I feel like a 75 is a good size. Im going to use PFS as substrate if i can find them. 5 discus was the number i was thinking of as well so 5 it is. hmmm I guess that put me at no adding other fish.

You think 2x AC50 or AC70 + a sump is enough for a 75 discus tank?
my water pump shot about 1000GPH. If not maybe I'll see if i can sell those off and get myself a FX5.


Thanks again Roy :)
 
BlackMagic said:
Hi Roy,

I'm going to use a 75g as I sold off everything I own. Kinda getting off the hobby but still going to keep myself the 75, kinda don't want anything to small or to big I feel like a 75 is a good size. Im going to use PFS as substrate if i can find them. 5 discus was the number i was thinking of as well so 5 it is. hmmm I guess that put me at no adding other fish.

You think 2x AC50 or AC70 + a sump is enough for a 75 discus tank?
my water pump shot about 1000GPH. If not maybe I'll see if i can sell those off and get myself a FX5.

Thanks again Roy :)

I would go with 2 ac70. They say to cut in half what the filter is rated for and 2 ac70 plus a sump should be more than enough. Although an FX5 is a lot better ;) I only have an Fx5 in my 125g. I used to have 2 penguin 350s with the fx5 but took it out because of the bubbles.

Too much filtration for discus is unnecessary. You would want Keep your nitrates below 20ppm anyway. To do that with my tank, I have to do 2 PWCs a week.
 
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