lyrical Posted June 30, 2008 Report Share Posted June 30, 2008 I know Ipiasente has discus ...but l was hoping to set my 3ft up for discus as well..............I wanted black sand and red melons ........but l was at an aquarium here called" Coburg Aquarium " on saturday and they had red melons for sale at $110 each or $200 for 2 .... I would want 4 ...so thats $400 for 4 fish let alone the sand and the light , heater and filter l'll need to buy ...ooh and plants, laterite to go under the sand and so on...Ive been told that discus are hard to keep and that they require constant water changes every day or a few times a week and that the water has to be purified water...is this true and are they really so hard to keep.do they require care thats so strict..l've always wanted discus but never been able to have them... we are saving a chunk of my husbands wage every 2 wks and saving it so we can get into a house and l work 6 days a mth for a othrondontist in his private practise....so l'm being paid once a mth and we are trying to save my wage when it come in as well.Keepiong discus sounds like its expensive sigh!!! (l should have married amillionaire ..joking) ...Does anyone know of some where l can buy discus in Melbourne and not have to pay through the nose for them and any ideas on how l can keep them and not be shelling out money constantly to keep these beautiful fish alive and healthy..??... The Tank is inside at the moment and its flithy from being in storage so it needs to be cleaned out before l can start putting it together(ideas on how to clean it out as well ...just water and elbow grease and some aquarium salt ?????) .....I was telling my mum on sunday about me hoping toget discus and she suggested making it into a marine tank if l want color ...but arent they even more expensive to keep???? and dont l need specialised equipment for salt water fish....... Anyone got any suggestions as to what else l could keep inthe tank beside the normal run of the mill tropical fish........I have thought about dividing the tank up into sections /compartments (barracks) and putting some really nice male bettas in there as well and l've also thought about dividing it in the middle and using it as a grow out tank for betta fry if l can get a spawn going....males on one side and females the other side..so as you guys can see l'm in a pickle at the moment my heart is saying discus but the wallet is saying no dont let the moths out....l've also considered making it a cichilds tank as well ............ Thanks Lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lpiasente Posted June 30, 2008 Report Share Posted June 30, 2008 I got my discus 4 for $100. He has some for $15 but they are ones that need extra attention so I wouldn't go there without experience.This fellow is in Oakleigh and specialises in Discus and imports his own. They are quarantined for a month before being put out for sale. I will find his address for you. I did hours and hours and hours of reading before buying discus and my brother has had them for years so he helps me out. Now what I am going to tell you is what I have read so anyone out there with experience please correct me if I am wrong. When setting up for discus they will not tolerate any amonia in their water so the tank has to be very well cycled and all readings 0. Ph I think is between 6-7 and water is to be soft. Temp 29 -32. Careful when buying your plants as a lot will not tolerate higher temps. Some people do water changes every day some every week I have chosen to do 2 a week as I am feeding them several times a day. They really need clean clean water. From what I have read as long as the water is right they aren't that hard. Mind you I have only had mine for a week so lets see. Now for cichlids. They are FANTASTIC fish. I have a tank full of electric yellows. I would say they are the puppy dogs of the fish world. They are sooo excited to see you when you walk in the room. Their tails wag waiting to be fed. Their colours are amazing. Once again hours of reading before setting up a tank I have had my cichlid tank for about 6 months or so and have not lost one fish so I think they are hardy little fellows. They have special water needs as well but once you have this down pat I find them easy fishies. You cant really keep plants in their tank as most plants won't tolerate the water conditions. You can make a beautiful tank with rock and a black background really shows up their colours. They aren't very expensive either.You can get electric yellow for about $12 for little ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghengis Posted June 30, 2008 Report Share Posted June 30, 2008 Whoa, Lisa! Have you been doing any sleeping, the past week?? Sounds like you have all sorts of worries!!! If you and hubby are looking for a new house, would it not be a better idea to hold off until you move? Sorry, I know that's way too sensible (and somewhat hypocritical, coming from Mr Want It Now, here), but if you move house, you're gonna have more headaches with transporting more fish. My GF and I are looking for a house, also, and I'm stressing already how my setups will survive a move. I've heard horror stories. Once you are settled, and all the saving is done and dusted, you could look at setting up a real nice tank, that could happily sit and mature with no interruptions. As for ease of keeping, I too have been researching Discus. Some say they're easy, others suggest leaving it to the Aqua-guru's. IMHO, they can't be that hard. I think the real issue is finding plants that will survive in 27*+ temps that Discus prefer. If you can suss that, then the fact that they are basically swimming waste factories shouldn't be an issue. Overfiltration is also an option. I should mention, I don't keep Discus, never have, and am only making this up from what I have read... Yes, a hundred and ten bucks sounds way too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted June 30, 2008 Report Share Posted June 30, 2008 They are sensitive to nitrate. water changes will still be necessary even if you have overfiltration as nitrates are the end product of the filtration. Plants will help, and so would a nitrate sponge, but at the end of the day you'll still have to do enough water changes to keep on top of the nitrate. I assume it goes without saying that you wouldn't cycle a tank with discus in it, so you'll need to have cycled the tank thoroughly first too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted July 1, 2008 Report Share Posted July 1, 2008 Leanne beat me to suggesting the shop in Oakleigh. It's just down the road from me on Warrigal Road. I haven't been there recently though. That guy has got a reasonably good reputation for the quality of his discus and his knowledge of them. So I think it would be worth paying him a visit and having a chat about how to care for them. Found a link http://home.alphalink.com.au/~oafi/research.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbeer Posted July 1, 2008 Report Share Posted July 1, 2008 Before I did Discus - I did angels for a year in a full planted tank to practice getting water perfect. Also got the water super stable. This was after keeping cichlids and africans for about 10 years. If you do discus you want to do it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lyrical Posted July 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions ..l've had a big think about it all ...and l'm still going to set my 2 1/2 foot tank but l think l'm going to keep african cichilds for awhile and see how l go ...been doing some reaserch online as Ipiasente suggested ..and l 'm thinking electric yellows and Tangerine peacocks .................but with the black mining sand ...............and white rocks .....against the black background ....I was looking at some video on Youtube at DIY backgrounds and these guys are making them out of Styrofoam one guy made a background using a soldering iron to created the rocks and valleys in the styrofoam and in a few spots he made holes in the middle of the artifical rocks and had a thicker piece behind the front side and hollowed it out to make caves in the styrofoam background it looks awesome. So l'm thinking thats the route l'll go for now ..l really like the idea of black sand ...black background and bright yellow and tangerine fish.... Thanks everyone for your help ...l'll post pics once l've got it all up and running.... Regards Lisa (lyrical) Akvaryum Yapımı (Aquarium made diy) ...video author is bybik http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu5a0n_o3iU...feature=related Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghengis Posted July 3, 2008 Report Share Posted July 3, 2008 Cool vid, Lisa. I'm particularly curious about the DIY PVC Canister filter shown. I've been mentally designing my own version for the past few weeks, and that one looks very similar to the one in my mind's eye... I wonder if he has a how-to on it...? Might do a little looking tonight. Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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