i want to start a discus tank, but from all of my reading and whatnot i hear they are a little picky
so basically i am looking for advice on filtration and on tank mates
any input would help
i have several friends that have discus tanks, they all keep only discus in their tanks with nothing else as far as other fish are concerned, discus by all accounts are very very picky and require a completely stable setup, one thing you can do with discus is have a very nice planted setup with several discus, i have seen where some ppl will keep cory cats in the discus tanks for bottom foragers, to help with the tank cleaning but this can also be a problem as cory cats do prefer a little bit of a colder temp than what the discus need to stay at. i would suggest reading as much as possible and check this link for the compatibility charts... http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/freshwater_compatibility_tool.php dwarf ram cichlids would be a nice addition to the discus tank. just remember this as discus are fairly expensive as a rule i would only add one or two discus at a time and let the tank settle down for a couple of weeks before adding anymore you don't want to upset them too much as they are an extremely docile fish and can get stressed easily by changes in the water quality, if you add too many at one time this will cause the natural balance of the water to go out of whack and can cause a collapse of the biological filter as stressed fish will produce more waste as well as are more susceptible to illness and parasitic infection. good luck and be creative with your plant choices.
hope this helps
Brandon
as brandon posted, those are very very docile fish.
i used to breed them. had 8 in a 125 with 20 or so cardinal tetras.
best way to start up the set up is, get cheap fish slowly raise the tempture, to about 90 fahrenheit or about 30 degrees celcius.
so you get your tank cycled. i would not recommend to put in discus after a week. let the tank cycle for about a month.
you dont want to lose such an expensive fish.
also if you want to keep your PH low , then put some peat moss in your filtration or get a nice piece of driftwood.
for plants the best choice would be amazon sword. there can tolerate the warm water very well.
also make sure you got some dark areas in your tank, to make the discus feel comfortable. they can get scared very easily.
keep a group of at least 6 also to comfort them and they wont stress out.
you also need to do alot of water changes, at least once a week.
In addition to other's comments, I would use a large canister filter with stacking trays within which is silent, allows the aquarium to be closer to wall than a hang off the back type, along with an undergravel filter powered by a powerhead with venturi air entrainment for oxygenation. House diskus in groups of at least three and they will be noticably tamer and happier. Many people house diskus with neon or cardinal tetras. Feed them blood/black worms(live), and use a funnel feeder with holes so worms can be eaten off feeder and don't burrow into the ground.
I have discus and I find they are much easier than most people say they are. first thing i have found is clean water is the most important thing keep nitrates low and do water changes religiously. I have a 55 gallon tank with 4 discus and various tetras and cory cats. I keep serpae, glowlight and pristella tetras with my discus and have no problems at all. I keep my tank at 85 degrees. I have a 350 magnum pro canister and an emperor 400. I do weekly 25-30 percent water changes and my discus are healthy and active.
