The Discus are absolutely beautiful and majestic. And they are very expensive and fragile, requiring a lot more care than your average aquarium inhabitants.

Some people do 50% water changes for their Discus each day and keep them in bare-bottom tanks with no plants, decorations, or tank mates. I would not be happy with such a tank and have chosen to have a gravel substrate and plenty of decorations and tank mates for them.

The Tiger Barb appeared in the tank one day as a fry. I am guessing it was left over from the previous inhabitants of the tank, but did not show himself for almost 6 weeks! He also weathered a gravel change as well prior to his grand appearance. I intended to take him out once big enough because I feared he would bother the Discus, but after several months he is full grown and has behaved quite well.

The Skunk Botia has found it's way out of the tank several times during water changes. It must cling to the plants when I pull them out. Once I found it mostly dried out and barely alive on the carpet, I dumped him back into the aquarium and after swimming funny for a few minutes he was back to normal.