Just got a 75 gallon...

[mesapod]

ya discus might not do too good in your water

[mesapod]

i think african cichlids are really cool! tha would be an awsome tank

[GoodMike]

Originally Posted by mesapod

ya discus might not do too good in your water

Discus would be fine, assuming you keep them warm, well fed, and in clean and stable water.

[xerxeswasachump]

I am positive I could pull off having discus. However, those African pictures really are making me want some tangs. How big is your tank Mike? How much $$ total have you spend on the fish in that tank? How did you acquire them (special order, LFS, aquarium clubs)?

Also, my friends and I are making an internet show next month and they wanted to use my house as a drug dealer/pimps house because of all of my tanks. I thought peaceful discus would be an amusing in-joke with that. I want a scene where the character pets my Flowerhorn and hand feeds him a live fish or something. bwahaha!

I am glad we are having this discussion over this tank. I appreciate all of you guys for taking the time out to help me with this decision. In the past, most of my tanks have been rush jobs and i want this to be doen right from the ground up. Patience in a virtue, especially in fishkeeping.

[GoodMike]

My tank is 210 gallons. In a 75 you could easily do one school of tropheus (15 of them), and some other oddballs. They arent cheap, and i aquired them through my local LFS, but you are probably looking at 15-40 dollars each tropheus, depending on the species. If you go with duboisi's (ones with the blue face) then they are normally around 20 each. you need a large school, min of 12, to keep aggression down.
There are many choices you could do in a 75, cyprichromis+shelldwellers+ tang catfish would also make a great tank :P

[xerxeswasachump]

If i did Tangs it would be a "community" tank. I don't like the idea of a species tank. I've heard tropheus ar egreat algae eaters too so i would like a few. would that be possible?

Also, shell dwellers and some calvuses would be a must. they are so cool looking.

So it would actually be cheaper for me to get discus then...wierd...

[GoodMike]

no, having just a couple tropheus is bad, cause you end up with just one . you have to have 1, or a large group. and with tropheus you have to be wary of what you are feeding your tank, they are VERY sensitive to bloat based on the foods you feed. so if you want 1 tropheus, or a group, the food you feed is very important.

[JustOneMore20]

I suggest a group of Cyprichromis, some shell dwellers, and a pair of Julidochromis. Would be an awesome tank IMO. I'm changing my Mbuna tank to a Tanganyikan community.....

[Gourami Swami]

Your not goigng to like my advice... but here it is. Move your flowerhorn up. The 75 will be just big enough for him to live for the rest of his life. I seem to remember you telling me about the flowerhorn in the 40 a while ago, and it is not nearly big enough for him.

[xerxeswasachump]

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Unfortunately, I have decided to go with the discus tank idea, simply because i already have one and then i can consolidate my tanks. Unfortunately, the heat in my house still isn't working and my heaters are working on overdrive just to get the tempterature around 80. Can heaters wear out from constant use?
Also, since that tank is no longer in production i can't get a lid for it so i am losing a lot of heat out the top of the tank. Hopefully the heat will be on in the next few weeks and i can put more discus in there. The one i have in there is a trooper, i think she'll be fine for now.

Gourami, don't worry. I am moving that flowerhorn into a 55 for the time being. As he grows, I will move him into larger tanks. I am sure he will end up in the 75 eventually. He should be moved in by the end of this weekend.

It is wierd, i never though a Tanganyikan tank would be more expensive than a discus tank. When I get the money, i will take the 40gallon the flowerhorn was in and turn it into some kind of african tank.

EDIT: Gourami. I would like to get a several hundred gallon tank someday for the flowerhorn. Will I ever be able to put it in a tank with another fish? (allowing for a suitably large tank)

[Dr_House]

Sounds like a plan, xerxeswasachump. I hope you'll post pictures of the setup so that discus-enviers like myself can stare at it for hours and wish we had a discus tank.

[xerxeswasachump]

Originally Posted by Dr_House

Sounds like a plan, xerxeswasachump. I hope you'll post pictures of the setup so that discus-enviers like myself can stare at it for hours and wish we had a discus tank.

Lol, what's keeping you from making a discus tank? It is so much easier than everyone makes it out to me. I had one of my discus living in a 10 gallon by herself for like 6 months. she did fine.

[Dr_House]

The expense of getting quality discus here is what keeps me from it. I'd basically have to order them online. Plus I have a hard time committing to such an expensive fish. Of course the hit to my pocket book is not what causes me to give my fish proper care, but when it impacts it to that magnitude, it's definitely a factor. And my water is not really good for discus. I know they can adapt and that my water can be altered to meet the requirements, but until I'm ready to do that (which I'm currently not), I'm just staying away from them.

[GoodMike]

chances are you wouldnt have to change a single thing about your tap water..stop freaking out about it! discus THRIVE in most ph's and hardness.

[xerxeswasachump]

Temperature is the only real problem. I got real lazy with my discus in that 10 gallon. She'd go weeks without a waterchange and she's still kickin'. Then again, this could just be a hardy discus.

Update: The girlfriend crushed my dreams of a discus tank. I made the mistake of telling her i was about to spend $125 on fish and she freaked out. I went to petco and bought a couple of mollies and swordtails instead. I'm radically dissapointed right now.

I think i'm gonna go buy some $5 angelfish and call it a day.

On the bright side, the discus i do have is doing quite well. Although one of her side fins is a little wierd. I will post a pic as soon as she'll sit still long enough for one.