Discus Alternatives......what's On Offer?

Well, after many posts, lots of helpful and highly technical and quality replies I've pondered long and hard.........my time with my discus has run it's course.
It's not that I find keeping them particularly difficult, it's not. I tend to go a little over the top and get obsessional, seeing issues that probably don't warrant any attention.......and bot is it easy with moody, sensitive, sometimes shy, other times  very aggressive discus
What is difficult when working 50-60 hrs per week is water changes and water prep, heating it overnight, matching temperature, hardness and ph. Rigorously cleaning, plant trimming etc. As much as I love them, and watching them spawn almost weekly, I just need a little "easy time" without 2 x weekly water changes and all that comes with them. I'm never at my best 8-9pm, which is normally when I have time to do it.
 
 
So, the snowflake plec (L177) and zebra pekoltia, sterbai corys, cardinals ammano shrimp along with a dozen or so ottocinclus will be staying....... any suggestions for a focal point, at the moment I'm considering a Peruvian angelfish, but I'm open to suggestions please, thanks.

beautiful discus ... It would break my heart to watch such beautiful fish go
 
When I lost both my rams and was thinking of what to get I considered Discus myself. I have natural soft water from the tap and so for me, not so much hard work. But ... and it's a big but ... I didn't feel ready to tackle something that felt complicated.
 
So I considered other fish. One of which was getting a Severum as a centrepiece fish. They are apparently the gentle giants of the cichlid world. In the end I saw the angels and decided to go with them for now. Perhaps a Severum or Discus are in my future... I need to do a lot more research first.
 
I think what ever you go with it has to fit in with the water you have naturally. That way you don't have to do too much hard work. Fish keeping should be enjoyable not stressful and hard

Spot on Akasha. In the past I've had port acara, blue acara, brown acara, Oscars and tinfoil barbs (both paired and over 8") a red tailed catfish, mixed community, Jack Dempsey, several others including severum. I guess without a doubt my favourites are discus, closely followed by rams, but only the "true" ram, not all those modifications out there.....balloon, golden, long finned etc. then there's emperor tetra, cardinals, down on the substrate for me it's corydoras sterbai. Shrimp are fascinating too. As you've said, it should be fun, and watching my discus pair off and spawn has been the most rewarding experience I've had in fish keeping, the pictured fish is one of the pair. Unfortunately my tap water is 7.8 and on the hard side, ideal for a tank of malawis, not so for my discus, and that's where the hard work comes in from. I'm fully aware of many imported ones being kept in the same kind of water parameters as my tap water. On contacting the suppliers of my current stock all were reared in neutral and lower, the red marlboroughs coming from ph 6.2.
I'm sat looking at them now, recovering from surgery, and it's gonna be a real wrench to let the 7 of them go. the decision has been prompted mainly due to me finding the constant adjustment of water for changes and the associated testing all the time tiresome, detracting from my enjoyment. There's also an upcoming big overhaul of the room there in, flooring, walls, decorating etc, so the tank has to be moved, twice in fact, once out of the room and then back in. This would cause them no end of stress as its a complete drain down in order to move it. So, now is the time for me to say DISCUS, been there, done that, mastered them, bred them, enjoyed them, learned so much in doing so..........maybe marine in the future, who knows, lol For now, a little quiet, simple time again

if your water is perfect for malawi why not go down that route? Some of the African cichlids are just awesome and if I had the right water ... I would have gone there by now! 
 
I think it's like most things in life - we always want what we can't have! I like cichlids but my water is soft so I'm stuck to the South American kind even though I'd prefer to be able to have the African kind!
 
As for tank moving - I don't envy you. My living room really needs a new carpet but I just can't face moving the tank. I've got myself a nice big rug instead but it's not the new carpet I really need. The only way my tank is getting moved is the day I move out of this flat ... and that day can't come quick enough lol

A fair point regarding the Malawi's. I forgot to mention my love of the planted aquarium, as you'll see in my picture above. Linked into that is the equipment. TMC co2 valve and solenoid, in line ceramic diffuser, specialist plant tubes, £120 worth of substrate, not to mention the cupboard full of dry goods, ferts etc. I know, I can hear you tutting now, and you're probably right, I should just do it lol.

no tutting here! If you love a planted tank then malawi's are not the answer. It is a shame given that you have the water requirements that they need. Do you have an option for more than one tank? Perhaps one to keep planted with community fish and another for some malawi's? Just a thought 

Unfortunately not, as much as I'd love more tanks. As it is my wife "robbed" my 20 gallon quarantine /breeding tank as she fell in love with some pearl scale orandas. However, my cogs have been ticking over the last couple of hours..... I may go for some coral sand, tufa rock, a bit of artistic creativity.....then flip a coin to see if its Malawi's or Tanganyikan.

well keep us posted with what you decide

I will, thanks. Such a hard decision. Watching them feed before, god I'm a ditherer. Decide man!!! Lol
Watch this space Akasha, you'll be the first to know the outcome

Aww akasha beat me to the severum suggestion. Anyways, 95% of african cichlids are not meant for a meticulously kept planted tank unless you wanna see a wasteland the next day haha!