29 gal Discus Tank

[newby2tropicalfish]

My birthday is in November and I've asked for a 29 Gal tank. I want to set it up for the most beautiful fish I've seen...the dicus...what do I need to set this tank up so that I can care for these very beautiful but also very expensive fish? What water conditions do I need? I currently have a 55 gal community tank and a 5 gal grow out tank for my girlfriends baby mollies...
thanks in advance for any help!

[Lynn]

Well 3 discus and maybe a few otos is about the max for a 29G. Well discus need high temps 84-88*F, pH around 6.2-6.6, moderatly and moderatly soft water. They like live plants and look great swimming threw them. The need a diet mainly of frozen foods. I use beefheart(homemade kind, not the kind from the LPS), frozen bloodworms, frozen krill, discus pellets, FreezeDried bloodworms & spirulina flakes. You will need excellent filtration, preferably a canister since it doesn't create so much water movement. If ya wanna keep discus you must like to do waterchanges, IMO twice weekly of 20% is oK more is better. Thats about it, discus arn't hard if you give them what they want. GoodLuck!

[newby2tropicalfish]

A canister on a 29 gallon tank? I've always thought they were used on 55 gal and larger...What's a good canister and where might i find one? how much do they run? Does anyone have a picture of otto's? I have heard alot about them but I don't have any idea what they look like!
Thanks again!
~Phillip

[clothahump]

Go to www.fishbase.org and search for otocinclus.

[Lynn]

There is a canister filter for just about any size tank. Most of the time it just isn't practical to use a canister on a small tank. But for discus the benefits out weigh the #1 drawback and thats price. I would def. buy online, www.petsolutions.com is good. I think the Fluval 204 would be a great choice for your tank online it shouldn't cost more than $75.

[newby2tropicalfish]

What, exactly, are the advantages to using a canister filter? What types of media should I use? Thanks once again...

[Lynn]

Well for 1 it houses a lot more media than a powerfilter, and it doesn't create as much current. Discus don't like that much current but they need some extreme filtration therefor a canister is the best choice. I'm not saying other forms of filtration wont work, but a canister IMO is the best option.

I would use:
Fluval Foam
Ceramic Rings-never needs replacing just rinsed
Fluval Prefilter
and Fluval Peat fiber-helps stabilize pH.

[ryanp15]

Okay here's something else I should say. 3 is definitely the max! 2 would be best in my opinion but I like to understock myself. Makes for a more stable environment sometimes and won't allow so much disease spread and so on and so on. I agree a canister is the filter for a discus tank. Eheims are good as are fluvals. What kind are you looking at? And one more thing, how much experience do you have? Not a cut down but I notice your "newby2tropicalfish" so if you don't have a whole lot of experience I wouldn't take the risk and get them just yet. I have never kept them myself (personally they are to expensive right now on my budget!) but I do know plenty and I know they are sensitive. And you are not going to be able to get them right away. Your tank must cycle and become stable first. And I know some people suggest letting a tank run for at least 6 months before you ever add a discus. Well I have said enough and I wish you well with your discus just don't get into anything your not ready for. I'm sure you could do it as could everyone but you have to be careful with expensive and sensitive fish like that though. ;D

[newby2tropicalfish]

ryan..I have had a 55 gallon community tank set up now for 6 months...but I have had other aquariums in the past.  

I stopped by my LFS and they told me that the Eclipse Hood and filter combination would be a good idea for my new tank...matter of factly they have a 29 gal tank set up w/ that hood and 3 or 4 discus in it. The fish look great and the tank looks awesome w/ the all-in-one hood on top...anyone agree or disagree?

I am thinking of cycling the tank w/ some cardinal tetras and otto's..good idea ??? ???

Thanks once again
~Phillip

Personnally I would never ever cycle with fish and especially not cardinal tetras and ottos for a number of reasons. #1- especially not with cardinals and ottos is because they are a little more sensitive than ....lets say white cloud minnows. You will find that the cardinals will die and probably your ottos too. Cardinals also tend to be a little more expensive than white cloud minnows.
#2 - when using a fishless cycle, you can build a larger bacteria culture than the traditional cycling. This is the one reason I love fishless cycling. When the tank is done cycling, you can add the full fish load without having to worry about the tank cycling over again because of the increase fish load.
#3 - fishless cycling does not kill any fish
#4 - fishless cycling is much quicker

Read some of these articles:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/faustus/nicoldaquaria/cyclingmadness.htm

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/faustus/nicoldaquaria/fishless.htm

I used fishless cycling in my 90G. I now have 6 Discus and 1 German Blue Ram in it. The tank was set up in April. Cycling took me 5 weeks (most of which I didnt know what I was doing until I read the above mentioned articles). When I did start the fishless cycle, it took about 4 weeks. The first week I tried with 20 whitecloud minnows (which lived through the whole thing). I hope it helps.