keeping discus?

Hi all I've got a question for any discus keepers My water parameters are PH
7.4 with D.I.Y. CO2 PH is 7.0 KH.4.48 & GH.9.52 What I would like to know
is , what are my chances of keeping Discus under these conditiones? I haul my
water in from the city in 40 gal. barrels by truck, because my well-water is
liquid stone.
As it is I already have a hot water heater element installed in a drum to bring
the temp. up to 80 f. for water changes and anything beyond that would be
difficult/imposible? to do Any comments or ideas to mull over will be greatly
appreciated I plan on setting up a 90 gal. highboy that will be planted and
water scaped like a section of amazon river or tributary I like my tanks to
look as natural as possible Some of the discus tank mates will be angels 2
pairs clown loaches and a big white spot pl*co lda33 if I can find one.
Please all those who have any experiance with these or similer conditions
respond in this forum or E-mail me. And T.I.A. and regards as always Art
P.S. downloads will be deleted untill I know you better. I have 2 worms & 3
viruses in isolation already thats enough for now

I kept 6 discus at 80f , pH 7.2 , with total hardness of 110 ppm for six
months until I sold most of them. My favorite is still in the same tank,
same water conditions, and he's been doing fine for about a year now. Of
course, mine were tank-raised. Wild caughts or F1's may not be this
tolerant. Spawning would probably require higher temp and softer water as
well.

Something to keep in mind for aquascaping is that discus ( and angels ) feel
more comfortable if they have groups of tall, thin plants to hide in. Groups
of small sticks protuding vertically from the bottom have a similar effect
if plants would be a problem.

Loaches and angels are compatible with discus, but I'm not fimiliar with the
L33 catfish . Hypostomus species and similar aren't recommended for discus
tanks, as they sometimes attatch to the side of the discus and injure them.

Keith J.

"Acgelok" <acgelok DeleteThis @aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040116095222.13140.00000051@mb-m20.aol.com...
> Hi all I've got a question for any discus keepers My water parameters are
PH
> 7.4 with D.I.Y. CO2 PH is 7.0 KH.4.48 & GH.9.52 What I would like to
know
> is , what are my chances of keeping Discus under these conditiones? I haul
my
> water in from the city in 40 gal. barrels by truck, because my well-water
is
> liquid stone.
> As it is I already have a hot water heater element installed in a drum to
bring
> the temp. up to 80 f. for water changes and anything beyond that would be
> difficult/imposible? to do Any comments or ideas to mull over will be
greatly
> appreciated I plan on setting up a 90 gal. highboy that will be planted
and
> water scaped like a section of amazon river or tributary I like my tanks
to
> look as natural as possible Some of the discus tank mates will be angels 2
> pairs clown loaches and a big white spot pl*co lda33 if I can find one.
> Please all those who have any experiance with these or similer conditions
> respond in this forum or E-mail me.