Thinking about Discus

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EmilyMarie85

EmilyMarie85

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I am in the process of moving my planted 75g to a 125g. Current stock is:

30 cardinal tetras
2 bristlenose plecos
4 albino cory cats
2 loaches
countless RCS
countless MTS

125g will have 3 XP3's w/ pre-filters and pressurized CO2

I was thinking about adding some adult discus once things settle in, but I am not really interested in doing water changes every other day or every 3 days -- I would like to stick to my once a week WC schedule.. so my question is, if I were to way under-stock the tank - say maybe just get some more cardinals and then 5 or 6 discus, would they be ok? Or would they still need the more frequent water changes regardless of filtration/stock?
 
Star_Rider

Star_Rider

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should be ok.. but remember Discus usually thrive in warm water.. even adults .
I prefer to keep my tank at 82-84. often the issue is finding plants that survive the warm temps.
 
EmilyMarie85

EmilyMarie85

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Hmm... yeah.... good point....

Thanks :)
 
discuspaul

discuspaul

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It wouldn't be an ideal situation, but it could be done successfully and you could perhaps manage it properly with a once weekly wc, so long as your discus were adult size, say 5" or more, your filtration was excellent, and your weekly cleansing/maintenance routine was very good.
But I would suggest not adding any further dither stock. (i.e. cardinals)
The 2 loaches may, or may not, be a problem (what kind?), but your RCS (I assume it's Red Cherry Shrimps) probably wouldn't last very long with adult discus - there would be many great lunches for the discus for a while anyway.
 
EmilyMarie85

EmilyMarie85

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Ah ok, screw it then :) I've got some really red cherries in there, and I really do want a larger school of cardinals. It was just a thought -- maybe one day when I want to use discus as the center piece, but now is not that time - thanks for replys :)
 
discuspaul

discuspaul

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That's great, steph.
Don't know how large your RCS's were, and the size of your discus, but it seems somewhat unusual.
I've seen a few situations much to the contrary, but if your RCS's were in the tank first, I can see it working.
Would be a nice combination, and who knows, I may try it myself - IME, I've never kown any shrimp to be disregarded by discus in their diet, except good-sized Amanos. We live & learn.
 
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