I'm new to Discus but have been keeping malawi for ages.

[catcher]

G'day all,
Glenn here I'm a newbie to Discus, Would someone please lay down the basics on Discus keeping regarding the following questions.

1. Average ph - include high and low limits.
2. Average temp - ditto for above.
3. Water hardness - gh.
4. Is it better to run all one type or do various types get along?
5. The tank I'll be setting up is a 60"L x 20"W x 18"H, What is the disired max numbers of Discus keping in mind I'll have school of Tetra's and some cats for cleaning purposes.
6. General cost, variety and availability of juvies from this forum.
7. Lastly, an honest answer from the experts please, as I said above I've kept Malawi's for ages, display and breeding. I've always found common sense is the best approach to just about everything in terms of care and upkeep. Are Discus much harder to maintain or is it "common sense" as well?
Thanks in advance
Glenn

[mcloughlin2]

Good to see someone not rushing into things!!!

1. Average ph - include high and low limits.

6.0 - 7.2 depending on whether you want to breed them or not...

2. Average temp - ditto for above.

I think they would be fine anywhere from 26-32 degrees celcius

3. Water hardness - gh.

I'll be honest, i have no idea exactely as i never test my water for hardness....Best thing to do is keep your water nice and soft...if your tap water is naturally hard try filtering peat through the water...

4. Is it better to run all one type or do various types get along?

For breeding purposes, keep only one type unless your interested in created your own colour variation...If its purely for a display tank i say go for as many colours as you can!!

All discus can cross breed as they are all the one species...

5. The tank I'll be setting up is a 60"L x 20"W x 18"H, What is the disired max numbers of Discus keping in mind I'll have school of Tetra's and some cats for cleaning purposes.

Your tank holds 93.51 US Gallons or 353.97 Liters, so i would say a max of 8 discus once you have your tetras and catfish in there...however you could get away with another 1 or 2 if you do two or three water changes a week...

6. General cost, variety and availability of juvies from this forum.

You shouldnt have much trouble finding juvies for sale...

The more common varieties go for about $30 for a 2" juvie..

What colours are you after?

7. Lastly, an honest answer from the experts please, as I said above I've kept Malawi's for ages, display and breeding. I've always found common sense is the best approach to just about everything in terms of care and upkeep. Are Discus much harder to maintain or is it "common sense" as well?

Discus are harder to look after, but once you have conditions right you should be fine...

They are more prone to suffering to bad water quality then malawi's and are not as forgiving but they are well worth the trouble....

Hope that helps,

Sam

[catcher]

Thanks for your detailed answer, I must say the water change aspect will be something to consider. I travel a lot with work so this part of the care process is a little worrying.
Thanks again for a great response.
Glenn

[MattB]

As someone who is also planning to keep discus in the near future I have also found this post very useful. Thanks a lot guys

[FishLover]

Glenn,
If you travel a lot, I would go with something else other than Discus.

You need to change you water at least once a week. More if you want them to grew bigger. Once a while (a long while) you maybe get away with less water change when you are on vacation but I would not do it all the time. In that case, I would also have a lighter load in the tank too, which means feed them less and have less number of discus in the tank.