discus and tank mates.

Question
Wayne, I recently inherited a red marlboro discus and i am keeping it in 55 gal. with emperor 400 using filter cartridges and chemi_pure two 250 watt heaters 25 percent water changes each week with the following tank mates ,one clown pleco one rubber lipped pleco one cory cat one raphael catfish 3 otocinclus 3 dwarf rainbow cichlids 2 german rams and 1 bolivian ram i also have appox 8 plants consisting of java fern java moss and amazon sword.i do not wish to make any of the residents uncomfortable nor do i wish to over crowd the tank i would welcome your thoughts.i am considering setting up a 75 gal to house the discus and perhaps three more .will the discus i have be ok for now?temp.in 55 gal .at constant 83 degrees.sorry for such a long question .

Answer
Hi Leland, Back when I was a novice I had some discus' for a year. Due to lack of knowledge the effort was wasted. I've never tried them since (30 yrs). So my experience is limited.
  Your 55 was set-up prior to the Discus arriving? Correct? Discus require 10 gallons of water per fish. The conditions are as follows: temp...84,  PH...6.5, kH...1-6, gH...2-11.  NH3, NH4 at 000. Those are the OPTIMUM readings. Temp can be higher. Water softness should stay in the soft range. Deep tanks of 18" minimum are prefered rather than long ones of the same volume.  Being Cichlids, Discus have a changable mood and have a "bullying" temper. Therefore it is recommened to keep groups of at least 4 with 6-8 being best.
  Tank mates should not be aggressive. Which to me sounds odd since they themselves are aggressors. In your tank the only problem there may be the Rams but there should be enough room.
A link....http://www.tropicalfishcentre.co.uk/chrisdiscus.htm........can give you more info as to food, etc and further links.
  It is also important that the tank be a well established one. So if you intend to use the 75 for the Discus it may be a better idea to put them in the 55. Its been running a while.
  Sorry cant give better answer. Havent had these much.