Discus in a 125

[cweber]

Im tearing down my Reef and going back to Freshwater. I have been reading on discus and malawi cichlids. I havnt made up my mind yet and want to read as much as possible before going one way or the other. First I will describe my tank and then a few questions. My tank is a standard 125g 6 foot long. I have a 6 bulb T-5 light so I could do plants if I go with discus, and a 29g sump that I will convert to be used for FW filtering needs.

What would be the order of doing things with a planted discus tank? I would really rather not have a BB tank, but dont want to risk losing a fish.

Should the discus be the first fish added, and how many?

With different colors, do you put a bunch of one color in and wait, then pull a few, then add a second color? Or get a few of each color and let them be. Im not looking to be a breeder, but if they do it would be cool.

That should get the ball rolling for me. Thanks for any advice!

Cory

[NateTheFishGuy]

You may want to start out with a biological additive to kick-start the biological filter. I would use something like Dr. Tim's One and Only. Discus are hard to start out with, but after the first few weeks they are basically bulletproof. what you need to do is something like letting the tank stand with the bio-additive added, so the bacteria can colonize. Is it only Discus in the tank? because you could try and put Cardinals as starter fish. good luck

[Saraswati828]

@ NateTheFishGuy aren't cardinals saltwater?

[NB_Aquatics]

@ NateTheFishGuy aren't cardinals saltwater?
I think he means cardinal tetras, which look and do awesome with discus. I always had better luck starting out with juvie discus, say about 2". I would get like 25 cardinal tetras to start out with, then add about 6 discus later on, a few gbr's would look great in there also. Maybe some corys too (;

[cweber]

There will be other fish as well. I cant decide between rummy nose tetras or the cardinals. So you say set up the tank with the other fish and plants, and then add the discus.

NB_Aquatics- I would like to start with small ones, but arent they harder to keep? I have an RO/DI unit, but didnt really want to do daily water changes.

How many discus can I put in the tank?

[Temptress]

I have rummy nose tetras with my discus and they are very happy =) I also have some cories, they make good tank mates as well.

The way I set up my tank was to get it all planted and running with some comparable sized fish (or at least bioload, I had about 14 GBR, 10 neons (which won't do well in temps that high), 10 rummies, 12 coris, a family of bushy nose plecos (10) and let that run real good for a couple months. I did weekly water changes of about 50-75% because really if your plants are healthy and growing they are using up the bad stuff =)

After a couple months I sold off a bunch of fish and got 6 adult discus and they were eating the first day and were healthy and happy until I sold them a year later because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to care for them while I was in college. Now I have some new discus =)

P.S. I have never used ro/di water. I think the only time that comes into play is when you're breeding them. Growing discus actually do much better in hard water all the calcium and mineral deposits are good for their bone development.

This is just my experience with my fish, alot of folks might say it's wrong, but it's certainly worked for me =) HTH

[tfrank112]

Cardinals look really great with discus. Right now I have 2 dwarf gouramis with my angels and discus, but will be adding some cardinals or bleeding heart tetras to the mix.

[rich_one]

I think the discus should go in first. I have bolivian rams with my discus, along with one turquoise severum. I plan to put rummynose tetras in there at some point to finish it off.

-Rich

[alan j t]

all the info sounds right to me.

but sounds like you want to buy adults, if you can afford it then go for it.
first, setup the planted tank, all of it growing nice n nice and make sure its dialed in.
i say add your discus last and at the same time or like 5 now and 5 later.

cardinals, rams, almost any tetra cory cats, like sterbia corys

[Enkay]

I set up a 125 in March and added a bunch of plants and fish. I let it be for 2 months with angels, tetras and the like. Only after which I put discus in it and fortunately everything has been smooth so far.

Cardinals are probably the best fish you can put in with discus but I would suggest a whole bunch of cardinals. They look really awesome as a school of a dozen or more.

[Lillyan]

Hey, would black skirt tetra work with Discus? Or is it that Cardinals may do ok in the warmer water..?

[discuspaul]

125 gals is a great tank to get started with discus.
I would suggest you get it all set up, planted and cycled first, and begin introducing whatever dither fish you want to keep. A nice school of various Cories should likely be first, then some RummyNoses if you like them, followed by the cardinals if those are your choices. Get it up & running, settled in well with good params, and plants showing some growth, then add your discus. (Around 7-10 weeks later.)
Again my suggestion would be to get al least 3" specimens, preferably 4" - single strain, or mixed strains - whatever coloration combo you like - but most important, get them from an experienced, reliable source that is well known to provide healthy, well-shaped fish - and get them all from the same source, together, not in batches, even though you'll be adding a heavy bio-load right off the bat- usually safer that way than trying to add other new discus at later periods, especially if from different sources.
Your tank could easily handle 12 or so discus, but it would be safer and less complicated as time evolves, to go with 8 or 10.
It may help you to have a read first, of my illustrated Guide to Getting Started with Discus - in the simplydiscus.com form - here's the direct link:

www.forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?86009-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Getting-Started-with-Discus (http://www.forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?86009-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Getting-Started-with-Discus)

Also, just for you to have a peek, so that it may help you decide, here's 2 sets of pics of my planted discus tank:
First set of pics is several months ago when I had a single strain of Red Snake Skins, and then recently as the plantings matured, and I changed up some of the discus.

http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h357/discuspaul/FTS-Osaka260
http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h357/discuspaul/2tanks.

Hope this helps you to get thinking and started.
Don't hesitate to PM me anytime if I can be of any further help.
Best of luck.