Ok first discus tank

[mr.t.baggins]

Ok lately I have been looking at the discus at the store and been doing a little research and decided I'd like to try them out. I am a little intimidated by their special needs and would like some advise. I have been in the hobby for several years mostly keeping oscar but decided i'd like a change. The tank i will be using is a 55 gallon(4 foot by 13 inches) and was thinking about a stock list of 2 discus, a small veriety of pleco, a gold ram(I already have in one of my other tanks) and a school of some kind of tetra) any suggestions of fish to add or if its already to much. For filtration the tank has a rena xp2 canister filter on it already and i have a penguin 330 if it will need more. Also I heard discus are very picky about foods what are some good foods for them. Also what is a good temperature for them?. Also are the different verietys different carewise at all? Any advise other than what ive asked for will be appreciated too

[sammigold]

You are probably better off with about 4 discus as they seem to be more comfortable in groups... the best rule is 1 adult discus per 40ltrs.

A variety of flakes, frozen brine shrimp, discus dinner and pellets is what I feed mine...

Temperature of around 28-30degrees celcius... I have heard that wild caught discus are harder to care for than the strains you find in your LFS as they usually will only eat live foods.

Tetras such as cardinals and rummynose always look nice and are able to deal with the higher temps that discus prefer.

Ph of between 6.8-7 is a good range.
they also like soft water.

In caring for discus the most important thing is regular water changes as they like their water very clean.

Hope that helps. and good luck with your venture into discus..

[nicholas76]

Sammi has pretty much nailed it on the head.

Personally I feel that tank is small, and would suggest you do purchase a group of small discus and leave it at that.

Discus dont really have special needs they just need owners that are fussy in terms of tank hygiene etc

I love Oscars and they are bullet proof in comparison. Discus do get startled, will change colour if upset and will stop eating if very stressed. So you do have a bit more work cut out for you but good luck !!!