New To Discus

[Jords]

Hi everyone,

I have had american cichlids for a while now and have a big tank with them and now I would like to start a planted discus aquarium and I am just looking for some advice with what is best for Discus what best for me to put in the tank with them and how many would you recommend to put together.

Thank you in advance
Jordan

 

[Lajos_Detari]

What is your tank dimensions?
And what is your water GH and pH?

 

[Jords]

my tank is 210 liters and and I have not finish the landscape of my tank as of yet so the water hasnt been added just yet to know the ph and gh

 

[Jords]

I am looking to see if this will be big enough otherwise I may sell that one and get a slightly bigger tank, however as I have quite a lager tank already i didn't wanna get a much bigger tank due to the upkeep as I do work full time an looking after both of these tanks is basically a full time job already ?

 

[OliveFish05]

Hi! What are the dimensions of your tank? I believe 210 liters is right around 55 gallons, so if it has the dimensions of A standard 55 you could easily keep six adults! I think the minimum recommended is 2 if it is a bonded pair, and it is good to have 5 If you are not keeping a single pair. In your tank size, I would not try to keep more than one bonded pair!

If you start out with young discus, I would get like 8 to 12, as they age some can show aggressive behavior and having a few “extras” gives you the ability to rehome any that aren’t working out


You can test the GH of your tap water!

 

[Jords]

Yes it the standard dimensions of a 55 gallon tank I believe Im at work atm so I cant double check, I am so new to Discus and so worried that I will do something wrong especially because how beautiful and expensive they are!

 

[Lajos_Detari]

55 gallons is a good size for small to medium size Discus.
You can try to start with at least 6-8 Discus.
The fewer the Discus, the more difficult to keep them due to aggression issues.

For fully grown adult, usually it's recommended 8-10 gallons per Discus.
You can upgrade your tank when they grow bigger in future.

Sometimes you may even have to remove some if they get too aggressive.
And when they paired up, you may even need to separate them if you want the fry to grow well, else they may get eaten.

But most importantly, you need to find out your water GH and pH.
Discus need soft water and lower pH for them to grow well and breed.

By the way, take note of the challenges in keeping Discus:
1)They grow large, eat a lot and need more frequent water changes.
Some people change water every day or once every 2 days.
But if you can change at least 80-90% or more of water once a week, probably it might be ok.(my opinion).

Bare tank is preferred than planted tank due to the difficulty to keep the tank clean.

2)They often have gill flukes and internal infections when they first arrive due to live food that are fed in the fish farms or fish stores.
You have to get ready to treat them when the first arrive.
It will be easier to treat them if you have a bare tank rather than planted tank.