keeping discus?

[Acgelok]

Hi all I've got a question for any discus keepers My water parameters are PH
7.4 with D.I.Y. CO2 PH is 7.0 KH.4.48 & GH.9.52 What I would like to know
is , what are my chances of keeping Discus under these conditiones? I haul my
water in from the city in 40 gal. barrels by truck, because my well-water is
liquid stone.
As it is I already have a hot water heater element installed in a drum to bring
the temp. up to 80 f. for water changes and anything beyond that would be
difficult/imposible? to do Any comments or ideas to mull over will be greatly
appreciated I plan on setting up a 90 gal. highboy that will be planted and
water scaped like a section of amazon river or tributary I like my tanks to
look as natural as possible Some of the discus tank mates will be angels 2
pairs clown loaches and a big white spot pl*co lda33 if I can find one.
Please all those who have any experiance with these or similer conditions
respond in this forum or E-mail me. And T.I.A. and regards as always Art
P.S. downloads will be deleted untill I know you better. I have 2 worms & 3
viruses in isolation already thats enough for now

[Keith J.]

I kept 6 discus at 80f , pH 7.2 , with total hardness of 110 ppm for six
months until I sold most of them. My favorite is still in the same tank,
same water conditions, and he's been doing fine for about a year now. Of
course, mine were tank-raised. Wild caughts or F1's may not be this
tolerant. Spawning would probably require higher temp and softer water as
well.

Something to keep in mind for aquascaping is that discus ( and angels ) feel
more comfortable if they have groups of tall, thin plants to hide in. Groups
of small sticks protuding vertically from the bottom have a similar effect
if plants would be a problem.

Loaches and angels are compatible with discus, but I'm not fimiliar with the
L33 catfish . Hypostomus species and similar aren't recommended for discus
tanks, as they sometimes attatch to the side of the discus and injure them.

Keith J.

"Acgelok" > wrote in message
...
> Hi all I've got a question for any discus keepers My water parameters are
PH
> 7.4 with D.I.Y. CO2 PH is 7.0 KH.4.48 & GH.9.52 What I would like to
know
> is , what are my chances of keeping Discus under these conditiones? I haul
my
> water in from the city in 40 gal. barrels by truck, because my well-water
is
> liquid stone.
> As it is I already have a hot water heater element installed in a drum to
bring
> the temp. up to 80 f. for water changes and anything beyond that would be
> difficult/imposible? to do Any comments or ideas to mull over will be
greatly
> appreciated I plan on setting up a 90 gal. highboy that will be planted
and
> water scaped like a section of amazon river or tributary I like my tanks
to
> look as natural as possible Some of the discus tank mates will be angels 2
> pairs clown loaches and a big white spot pl*co lda33 if I can find one.
> Please all those who have any experiance with these or similer conditions
> respond in this forum or E-mail me.

[NetMax]

midposted...
"Acgelok" > wrote in message
...
> Hi all I've got a question for any discus keepers My water parameters
are PH
> 7.4 with D.I.Y. CO2 PH is 7.0 KH.4.48 & GH.9.52 What I would like
to know
> is , what are my chances of keeping Discus under these conditiones?

Hi Art, you are probably using a mix of well & city water to have almost
10dgH. I think your conditions would be ok, just on the high side, so
acclimation will be longer.

> I haul my
> water in from the city in 40 gal. barrels by truck, because my
well-water is
> liquid stone.
> As it is I already have a hot water heater element installed in a drum
to bring
> the temp. up to 80 f. for water changes and anything beyond that would
be
> difficult/imposible?

I don't see anything wrong with 80F water change supply (unless your
heater element is made of copper). It all depends on the water change %
you are doing. If less than 30%, and your tank will be at 82-82F, I
think you will be fine.

> to do Any comments or ideas to mull over will be greatly
> appreciated I plan on setting up a 90 gal. highboy that will be planted
and
> water scaped like a section of amazon river or tributary I like my
tanks to
> look as natural as possible Some of the discus tank mates will be
angels 2
> pairs clown loaches and a big white spot pl*co lda33 if I can find
one.

I don't mix imported Angels with local Discus. I keep local bred with
local bred (Angels and Discus), and have had good results with imported
Discus being kept with local Angels (so far). My current Angelfish
supplier is east of Ottawa in well-water (about 7.6pH, 8dgH). I've had
amazing results with his fish. My Discus supply is also maxed out (10
tanks), so the selection is great. I'm sorry to sound like an
advertisement, but I know you been to my store before, and my regulars
are always very happy to be notified of Discus arrivals (40 came in
yesterday from Hong Kong... sweet :o).

On loaches, I find that these characters are tough on delicately planted
material, so ymmv. On plecos, (the LDA33 is a beauty), I find that they
can be hard on plant life (just from their thrashing), and many people
will not keep them with Discus (due to some of them having a taste for
slime coat). Again, ymmv

I've been looking more at shrimp, MTS, and Corys as South American
biotope tank-mates for Discus. http://fish.mongabay.com/biotope.htm has
lots of interesting info for biotopes. Just scroll down to your location
of interest.

> Please all those who have any experiance with these or similer
conditions
> respond in this forum or E-mail me. And T.I.A. and regards as always
Art
> P.S. downloads will be deleted untill I know you better. I have 2 worms
& 3
> viruses in isolation already thats enough for now

Just my opinion based on limited experience, so I hope others can
contribute their comments.
cheers
NetMax

[Acgelok]

>discus keepers My water parameters
>are PH
>> 7.4 with D.I.Y. CO2 PH is 7.0 KH.4.48 & GH.9.52 What I would like
>to know
>> is , what are my chances of keeping Discus under these conditiones?
>

Thanks "NETMAX' My main concern is with the water parameters Ph ,GH and KH they
are constant for me,if you say Discus can handle that I'am going to give it a
try. I will try dropping the ph down to 6.6 at the beginning (supplier ph ) and
slowly cut back on C02 till i'am at around 7.0 - 7.2 and hope I don't end up
with $40 floaters wish me luck ,Any others out-there have any advice on the
matter I'd love to hear it.
Besides I need some people to blame the $ loss on if I scew up :-) P.S. I'am
located in "wainfleet near Welland in southern ontario regards Art

[~misfit~]

Acgelok wrote:
> Hi all I've got a question for any discus keepers My water
> parameters are PH
> 7.4 with D.I.Y. CO2 PH is 7.0 KH.4.48 & GH.9.52 What I would like
> to know is , what are my chances of keeping Discus under these
> conditiones? I haul my water in from the city in 40 gal. barrels by
> truck, because my well-water is liquid stone.
> As it is I already have a hot water heater element installed in a
> drum to bring the temp. up to 80 f. for water changes and anything
> beyond that would be difficult/imposible? to do Any comments or
> ideas to mull over will be greatly appreciated I plan on setting up a
> 90 gal. highboy that will be planted and water scaped like a section
> of amazon river or tributary I like my tanks to look as natural as
> possible Some of the discus tank mates will be angels 2 pairs clown
> loaches and a big white spot pl*co lda33 if I can find one. Please
> all those who have any experiance with these or similer conditions
> respond in this forum or E-mail me. And T.I.A. and regards as always
> Art P.S. downloads will be deleted untill I know you better. I have 2
> worms & 3 viruses in isolation already thats enough for now

Never keep angels and discus together. They are succeptible to the same
diseases and angels are tougher, quite often carrying low-level infections
that don't hurt them but will kill your discus real quick. Cardinals and/or
Rummy-nose tetras look good with discus and are found in similar locales.

If you like your tanks natural and want it to resemble a part of the Amazon
basin then keep Asian fish out (loaches).

Big sucker-fish can be a pest for discus, they learn that the slime on them
is tasty and will often attack them at night, latching onto their sides,
causing stress and damage.

Once acclimated, discus should be fine under those water conditions.
--
~misfit~

[Marksfish]

> Never keep angels and discus together. They are succeptible to the same
> diseases and angels are tougher, quite often carrying low-level infections
> that don't hurt them but will kill your discus real quick. Cardinals
and/or
> Rummy-nose tetras look good with discus and are found in similar locales.
>
Popular misconception IMHO. Most angels now are domestically bred and don't
carry
most of the nasties they used to. The only potential problem is that angels
are more aggressive eaters that discus and they may get the food rations
first. I have kept both together on many occasions with no problems except
when spawning when all cichlids become aggressive to other in the tank. If
this happens, you may need to remove the pair.

Regards

Mark

[Acgelok]

Misfit wrote >If you like your tanks natural and want it to resemble a part
of the Amazon
>basin then keep Asian fish out (loaches).
>
>Big sucker-fish can be a pest for discus, they learn that the slime on them
>is tasty and will often attack them at night, latching onto their sides,
>causing stress and damage.
>
>Once acclimated, discus should be fine under those water conditions.
>--snip
You are right of course about the loaches and the pl*co's . I'm in the process
of making up do's & don'ts lists that in the end should be a big help when I
set the tank up Regards Art