Impossible?

[rummynose]

I have always wanted Discus, it was the main reason I bought a 75 gal tank 6 months ago but the constant care and water changes has kept me away.  I travel some for work,
I'm in Spain right now, and there's no way I could get my girlfriend to do 50% water changes twice a week or anything.  I was in a bar here last night that had a 100 gal tank with beautiful adult Discus and now I have the Discus fever again.  If a bar can handle them, surely it can't be that tough.  So I'm wandering if large water changes and constant feeding schedule is really neccessary because sometimes I'm working nights, sometimes I'm working days, sometimes I'm out of the country.  (I'm really hoping someone will tell me go for it!)

My tank: 75 gal, pH: 6.8, KH: 6, heavily planted, 15 rummy nose tetra, 4 german rams, 2 breeding Angels (that would be moved to a vaccant 30 gal), 6 cories.

Thanks  *celebratesmiley*

 

[qc]

I say go for it
Just do a 30 - 40% water change weekly.. if you cant do that and you cant find someone to do that when you aren't there then make an automatic water changer!

Then you don't have to do it..

only thing you will have to do is gravel vac occasionally!

The every day sorta thing is for babys in small tanks but i have been told by a breader that you don't need to be that scrupules when the animals are just for the home and not for show and also when you want to bread spacific strains (Like the REAL expansive ones)

I am told that the discus seem happyer when you do many smaller changes (Its apparently not as noticable) but one bigger one every week creates only minimal stress!

 

[RedTurquoise]

qc,
How about 90-95% daily?  ;D But again that is because I have babies!

Discus are imo the best fish! They do require tlc but on the other hand, they are tough fish providing you give them consistant water parameters. In your case rummynose, being that you can not do regular maintanence because of working schedules, Id buy adult discus. Why? If you buy small discus, they will not grow or grow very little/slowly. Baby discus require lots of food to grow (4-6x a day) and that leads to massive water changes(very clean water). Adult discus on the other hand do not require so much food therefore the food will not foul the water as quickly. Since you do have a planted tank, that helps consume the nitrates therefore lessening frequence of water changes. Id recommend doing a 20-30% weekly water change feeding once a day.

But then again, that is only my opinion. Many people do not believe planted tanks and discus mix!

 

[rummynose]

I've never thought about buying adults, I'll have to look for them.  Its hard enough finding any Discus around where I live.  

So how many discus do you think my tank (minus the Angels) could support? I would like 4, but that may be a lot if they are Adult sized.  But I've read that they like to be in groups so maybe 2 is to few?

I'm going home tomarrow and afraid to see how overgrown my tank will be.      

 

[RedTurquoise]

Go with 4 minimum but do put the angels in with the discus. Angels are carries of disease that will kill your discus!  *thumbsupsmiley*

 

[qc]

The angles carring desisease that will kill you discus is hogwash. with proper care and quarintin and careful monitoring at the begining they will do fine together..

Yes discus are more sucetable to illnesses then other fish but discus and angles actually live together in there natural habitat

 

[RedTurquoise]

The angles carring desisease that will kill you discus is hogwash.

Well, its not hogwash! Sorry! Its been proven over and over that angels carry disease that they are immune to however not the discus. If you quarantin the angels 100% (which is impossible), maybe. Most people do not and do not have the experience/knowledge to quarantin properly. I'd rather not take the chance and put your discus that cost you a fair chunk of money together. Better to be save then sorry.  *thumbsupsmiley*

 

[clothahump]

Are you in the UK rummynose?
We have some good quality Discus available delivered by Courier to your door.
http://www.eheim-uk.com/nshop/default.php?cPath=21&osCsid=82ab98b46c5a1fc836ec999c5c7c3359

 

[Dave C]

Of course Angels carry disease that they are immune to.  So do Discus, so do all fish.  There are parasites on all of your fish and they all carry disease of some sort.  But if they're healthy they're able to withstand these parasites.  That's why when they stop eating or are harmed by other fish they can break down really quickly and die.  It's because they are no longer able to keep the parasites at bay.  That also explains why fish can get Columnaris when you have added nothing to the tank... it was there all along and something weakened the fish so the Columnaris was able to take hold.  That's also why I wouldn't keep my fish in a planted tank... too many variables to go wrong and harm the fish.  

The real issue (for me at least) with mixing Angels & Discus is their feeding habits.  Angels will eat the food the second it hits the tank and continue to eat until it's all gone, usually that takes seconds.  Discus will come to the surface to eat as well but they tend to let a lot of food hit the tank bottom and eat from there rather than surface feed.  If you put Angels & Discus together I find that the Angels will get the lion's share of the food and the Discus will suffer from underfeeding.

Dave

 

[RedTurquoise]

I was under the impression from research of other discus keepers from their experience with mixing angels and discus that angels carry cappilaria.

Fish compatible with Discus must be docile and not carry parasites that affect Discus. For example, some say you can keep Angel Fish with discus, since they are also cichlids, but most of what I've read says "NOT!!" Mostly because Angels can be carriers of "cappilaria" which is a parasite that doesn't bother the angels, but is very bad for Discus.

Taken from http://members.aol.com/bgdiscus/discus.htm

However, I went to dph.com and read the article by the late Jim Quarles. Very interesting!
http://www.dphnet.com/sub-article/cat-01/angels.shtml
Live a learn! Would I mix them! Nope!

 

[rummynose]

No I'm not in the UK (wish I was).

I've been planning on separating my Angels anyway into a 30 gal so I could maybe separate their eggs easier without the tetra going into their feeding frenzy. But now the g-friend is talking a puppy, so I might have to put the discus on the back burner for at least a few weeks.