how many discus should I get?

[happygirl65]

Hello all,
New here and new to discus but have been keeping FW fish for 15 years.
I have a 46 gal bowfront planted. I have always planned on keeping discus in this tank.
I has been set up for over 6 months and I have finally got the ferts and Co2 balanced out so I am thinking I might be ready for discus soon.

The current inhabitants are:
10 neon tetras
6 kuhli loaches
3 otto's (tiny algae eaters)
1 BN Pleco
1 dwarf african frog

I currently do 50% water change weekly on this tank and can increase if necessary.

So my question is how many discus can I happily house in this tank?

Do they need a min of 6 to be happy? I will likely have to ship them so buying a group is more cost effective than buying a couple at a time.

[Mr Discus]

The general rule that everyone uses is approx 1 fish for every 10gal of water, so if you had adequate filtration you could comfortably house 4 discus - MAYBE 5 depending on your filtration and frequency of water changes.

You have a small list of other fish that will be occupying the same space, so this would have to be taken into account as well.

What sort of filtration are you running, and how frequently are you able to make water changes when the discus come?

Also - where are you located?

Welcome to the wonderful world of discus!

[ILLUSN]

5 would be the absolute max, but 1 mated pair would be the ideal for ease of maintenance.

[happygirl65]

I have a hang on the tank canister filter (HOT Magnum) and a powerhead with a large sponge on it (I am using it to diffuse the CO2). I think the filter was rated for up to a 75 gallon tank.

The tank is a few feet from the kitchen sink so water changes are a breeze. I currently do 50% once a week but could easily do twice or three times per week if necessary.

I am a stay at home mom in Western Montana (USA) our water is well water mostly spring runoff so there is no chlorine, the water is good clean water.
Every fish I have had has thrived no losses to any fish since I have lived here.

Just incase you have any other advice to offer some of my other parameters are:
pH before co2 injection is 7.9 and the KH is 7 degrees. (6.8pH
after CO2 injection)

I have been advised to use peat in the filter to bring down the KH.

How do you all feel about this? Any comments and suggestion are welcome.

[ILLUSN]

sounds fine, peat wont hurt, but spring water will always have a bit more minerals in it.

iuf your up for good water changes (20% or so daily) go for 5 beutiful adult fish, just make sure to keep the substrate clean of any uneaten food and discus poop.

[happygirl65]

Do you recommend getting adult rather than juvies?

[ILLUSN]

adults have better color and are already a good size which makes them more resistant to diseases, and they adjust better to transport and acclimitise faster. They'll give you less trouble, also I'm not a fan of trying to grow out bubs in a plant tank in my experance they never do as well (too hard to clean with 3+ feedings/day adults only need to be fed once per day, less mess, less waste).

[happygirl65]

I had read somewhere that they often get stunted trying to "grow out" in a planted tank or in too large of a grow out tank.

So what would be considered an adult size? 4-5 inches?

[ILLUSN]

4-5 inches would be perfect, but even 8-9cm (3.5 inch BODY LENGTH) would be ok.

[albatrozz]

adults can hurt your wallet though... especially the good patterned/coloured ones. But they are great and need alot less maintenance & feeding than juvies

[Mr Discus]

Just remember you always get what you pay for albatrozz - if you pay a bit more for a larger and more colourful & healthy active discus - it will acclimatise to your tank faster and will keep looking good in the long run.

I look at it this way - my tank is a 3' x 18" deep x 24" high, and I will only ever buy discus with at least 10cm body length or bigger (I only have 2 at the moment). At least that way you know what you're getting (how the colours will turn out when mature), and they are hardy enough to be transported and acclimatised to a new tank.

[happygirl65]

So you don't have to get them all at once? I had heard that was the way to go.

I have also read that you need to have them in a group in order for them to be happy.

Any truth to those statements?

[Mr Discus]

No you don't have to get them all at once - but if you do they will develop a pecking order better than if you introduce them one by one for example.

When they are introduced one by one or even two by two they often tend to designate territories and when the pecking order is interrupted by the introduction of new fish they thend to be more aggressive to the newcomers.

And yes, they do really need to be in a group to be totally happy. For example, I brought my first discus as a single discus after my tank had matured, and I had him in there for a week on his own. He was quite boring and to be honest extremely shy for a discus being so solitary. As soon as I introduced my second discus a week later, his behaviour changed totally - a total 180 degree turn. He is now more inquisitive and braver, and they never leave each others side.

At the end of the day their stress levels will be lessened if you introduce two new discus at a time in the beginning, as they will feel safer with each other there.

Once you have two or three introduced to your tank, you can introduce them one at a time from then on, but keep in mind the pecking order thing. It is a natural part of nature and you will never avoid it, some peoples discus groups have a heavy pecking order (quite agressive and dominant discus), and others have a light pecking order (a dominant fish that is not agressive but still keeps the others in place).

Hope this helps. It is not the be-all and end-all, but it gives you a rough idea of how discus tend to work, after all they are a schooling fish to begin with, in the wild they are found in fairly large schools similar to cardinal tetras.

[happygirl65]

A large school of them would be absolutely spectacular wouldn't it? I wish there was a large aquarium somewhere near me where I could see that.

I have dreams of building a very large (8 ft long) tank one day and having a large school of them. I think that would be so awesome.

But baby steps will make me quite happy for now. It is nice to know that I can get a couple at a time and that will make it easier to afford the larger ones as well.

Thanks for all your advice. I sure appreciate it. :)