Project at Hand. w/pics. Opinions?

[Vyache]

I visited a fish store that was a bit out of town for the first time today. The guy was really friendly and knowlegeable and informed me that he was going to get about 15 discus next Wednesday. They will be about two inches in diameter and will be selling for $9.99.

I'm in the process of setting up a 55 gallon tall corner tank.

Its going to have crushed and tumbled amethyst as gravel. I've got some in there now, but the rest won't be ready for a while. It needs to be tumbled still. (my father owns a rock shop, so if anyone is interested in special rocks... http://www.randysrockshop.com/)

Right now the piece of African Swahala rootwood in the tank is releasing a lot of tanins, thus the black water look. I'm trying to get Java Moss to connect to the wood, thus the white thumb tacks. The green and red rock is Ruby in Zoisite.

I wanted to put a bunch of Cardinals and Harlequin Rasporas in this tank along with a few Cory Cats and some small Clown Loaches. Now I'm thinking, those discus would look good in there too... I'd like to get them while I've got the pick of the shipment and a bargain price. I think that I could temporarily store them in my main tank.

It is a 135 gallon and houses 10 clown loaches (largest 2 are 6 inches others are 3 inches or smaller), 10 Bala Sharks (3 are 5 inches other 7 are 3 inches or smaller), 3 Redtail Sharks, 2 Red Finned Blue Botia (5 inches), 4 Julii Cories, a Pictus Cat (4 inches), 4 fiddler crabs, and African Dwarf Frog, 3 Dwarf Gouramis, and perhaps a few others I'm forgeting. The tank pH is 6.7, ammonia and nitrites are miniamal, I do a 20% water change at least once a week. I recently evicted 3 six inch tinfoil barbs and 2 five inch Pacu. They got big too fast and started bashing around my other fish and eating too many of my loaches tubifex worms.

I've been keeping fish for a number of years now. I've never had Discus but know they require special conditions. I've breed livebearers, snails, cory cats, and blue acaras.

Now for the questions:
Will the Discus get along with all the fish in the large tank? I'm most concerned with Bala sharks.
What do you think of my corner tank plans? What would you change?
If I put some cardinals in my big tank would they dissapear?
How many Discus should I get?
Should I try to breed the Discus or have them in a community tank?
Should I get simularly colored Discus, or a variety?
What test kits do I need besides pH, ammonia and nitrite?

Hmm. Thats all I can think of for now but I may post more questions later if I get a good response to this thread.

Thanks for all the help!
Vyache   ;D ;D ;D

 

[cholula]

I have a big hunk of  root wood in my
150g..... I have synodontis mostly in
there.......
Water is still a nice tea color... I expect
it to take some time before it really
clears up....  I dont really care thought.

I am not a discus fan, but I enjoyed your
post....

 

[Vyache]

I've never had discus before. I'm more of a bottom feeder fan myself. The discus would look good in thatr tank though...

 

[fishboy]

Ok...... Discus need good water conditions which means that you are gonna atleast want to try to get 20 percent daily or every other day. The balas need to go as well as the sharks. You will also need to get more hiding places. You will want to get a group of four or more fish to minimize aggression......i have a divider in my 20gal discus right now because i only have two in there. Dont try to breed the discus yet first of all because they are only two inches and second you want to atleast get the basics first with discus. It doesn't really matter what colors you get, pick what you like.

For test kits you are going to need atleast a nitrate and hardness test kit. Nitrates should be kept as low as possible.... like below 10 because nitrAtes will stunt discus.

Also the cardinals should do fine if you get rid of the larger fish.

Best of luck

 

[Vyache]

I'm starting to have second thoughts about the discus. I'm sure I could put forth the effort to keep their water clean, but I just won't be ready for them by wednessday. I'm also thinking, this guy at the fish store really wants to get rid of them bad if he is trying to presell them. He told me I should get there early if I want the prize ones in the group. I'm thinking maybe he actually ordered 20 instead of the 15 he told me he was getting, and he's going to take the five best. Then again maybe I'm paranoid and he just thought I was the most qualified person to walk into his store that day. We did talk for about half an hour about fish we've kept and bred and what tanks we had up and running.

Oh yeah, I obviously can't breed the discus at their current size. Heh heh. I ment should I put other fish in with them and keep them as centerpieces of a peaceful community tank, or should I make the tank a spartan breeding tank and restrict its inhabitants to the discus I get. It also has to do with what colors I get, since I would probably get better colored babies if I bred simularly colored parents rather than the muts I might get from breeding say an orange one to a turquoise one.