How many discus? 360 liter / 95 gallon planted community tank

[Fletch]

Hello there,

I am in the process of setting up a 360 liter / 95 gallon planted community aquarium with discus.

The tank is an Akvastabil Move 360, measures 130 cm long (51 inches) / 50 cm wide (19 inches) / 55 cm high (inches) and is fitted with an Eheim 2075 external filter.

I have a ca. 2 inch sand substrate with Vallisneria Gigantea plants in the back, 2 Amazon swords and a couple of Anubias and Java ferns mounted on two roots.

The fishless cycle is now finished (took 3 - 4 weeks) and next week I am adding 15 Cardinal tetras, 10 Corydoras sterbai and 2 Ancistrus sp.

In the end of April I am going to add the discus. My question is therefore how many discus should I add?

I am thinking about adding 8 cm (3 inches) Stendker Santarem discus.

When I look at AqAdvisor - http://www.aqadvisor.com/ - I get the advice of 6 - 7 (adult) discus.

But when I look over at Stendker, they advise more: "A group of discus fish should contain at least 10-12 fish".

Considering I am not getting adult discus - what would you do and why?

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[Tazalanche]

Are you planning on growing the 3" discus out to 5" before placing them in the 95 gallon planted tank?

[Fletch]

This is something I have been discussing alot with myself, actually.

As I have undersood it, if I get 3" discus I would think I would have to feed them more and more frequently. If I get 5" discus I wouldn't have to feed them as intensively as with 3" discus. But if I get 5" discus I cannot get more than 6 or 7 in the setup I have chosen, from what I have gathered.

So when I read that you need at least 10 discus, then I think maybe I should get the 3" - because then I could have more of them, they would feel more secure, maybe even getting a spawning pair as well. As I have understood it, this would be more difficult if you have older discus - and if I get older discus they would be less than 10 for sure. As of right now I am leaning towards the bigger ones, but I am a little worried about the number being below 10.

I have read this excellent guide for discus beginners though, where even 5 discus is considered:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?86009-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Getting-Started-with-Discus

Just unsure about what to do.

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[discuspaul]

Given that you plan to keep them in the existing planted environment, definitely go with say 6 to 8 - 5" fish.
No problem with that number. No need to worry about having less than 10 - the Stendker comment about keeping at least 10 is simply a general suggestion, or guide - due to the accepted view: "the more, the merrier" - this is simply like advising that a group of 25 would be great in a 250 gallon tank. And it would.
But keeping less than 10 is far from essential, to say the least.

[BigT]

I am currently still cycling at 840lt partly planted tank. I was thinking of asking the same question.

[discuspaul]

There is pecking order activity of some extent or another no matter what size of group is kept.
It is usually concerning, and potentially harmful, when keeping only 2, 3, or 4 fish.
In groups of 5, 6 or more it is not normally of a serious nature.
It's possible there may be less serious or less frequent such activity in a group of 12, as opposed to a group of 6, but generally the difference is not great, and little cause for concern.

[Elliots]

I am suprised that no one on SD questioned your water change parameters. Also have you ever had fish, Discus or non Discus before? If you are new to fish keeping I would start with 5-6 Discus because Discus can be difficult to keep and you may lose some. Better to lose 5 than 10. If you have some experience and you buy 5" fish 10 would be OK if you change at least 50% of your tank water 3 times weekly. If you can do more, do more. Read more on SD before you make your choice. Also it is better to buy all your Discus at once. Most people on SD quarantine their fish before adding them to their tanks, will you? AquaAdviser advises one adult Discus per 15 gal of water. People on SD suggest one Discus per 10 gal. of water. These are suggestions and are not written in stone. See whast works for you.

[Yong73186]

I am suprised that no one on SD questioned your water change parameters. Also have you ever had fish, Discus or non Discus before? If you are new to fish keeping I would start with 5-6 Discus because Discus can be difficult to keep and you may lose some. Better to lose 5 than 10. If you have some experience and you buy 5" fish 10 would be OK if you change at least 50% of your tank water 3 times weekly. If you can do more, do more. Read more on SD before you make your choice. Also it is better to buy all your Discus at once. Most people on SD quarantine their fish before adding them to their tanks, will you? AquaAdviser advises one adult Discus per 15 gal of water. People on SD suggest one Discus per 10 gal. of water. These are suggestions and are not written in stone. See whast works for you.
Somehow I think he does QT new fish by how he wanna add some tetra first n wait till end of April to add the discus. Just my thought!!! Lol;)

[aquadon2222]

8-12

[winn0923]

Yes 8-12 easily, if you get wilds than maybe 6-8


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[Fletch]

My thanks to all of you for your valuable feedback. I believe I will settle on adding 6 5" fish in about one month's time (end of April). If that works out, I might consider adding 2 more.

I have had fish before, but I have never had such a big aquarium or as big fish as the discus. I am coming back to keeping fish because of my good neighbour who also keeps aquariums and as a sort of stress relief.

Since I have a better income now than I used to, I got a bigger aquarium this time around. It is certainly true that a big tank is easier to keep than a small one. My water parameters are pretty OK I would believe, and very consistent. I change about 30% once a week and I might do some smaller changes in between just to clean up the substrate. Big water changes are not difficult to do anymore since I invested in a JBL Aqua In-Out (similar to a Python in USA I believe). I can easily change 40% water in 40 minutes. The same amount of water using buckets and a siphon used to take +2 hours and was quite a work-out.

My aquarium water parameters today, before I did a 30% water change:

Ph: 7 [JBL test]
KH: 3 [JBL test]
NH4: < 0,05 mg/l (ppm) [JBL test]
NO2: < 0,01 mg/l (ppm) [JBL test]
NO3: 10 mg/l (ppm) [JBL test]
CO2: 12 mg/l (ppm) [JBL test]
O2: ca. 5 - 8 mg/l (ppm) [Tetra test]

I have done some research reading forums (alot!), watching videos (alot!) before I decided I wanted discus. But I often prefer books instead of a screen if I want to read something thoroughly or for enjoyment. I have picked up Au, Denitto & Seng: Trophy Discus (2007) and Giovanetti, Thomas: Discus Fish (2007).

If you have any other good book recommendations on discus I would be eager to listen.

[Fletch]

So, I had ordered 6 Santarem discus earlier for pick-up today. But I had some problems getting my order through.

First I was told they did not have 6 Santarem any longer, so I was offered 2 pairs instead: 1 pair of Santarem and 1 pair of Alenquer. It takes some time where I live, so when the day approached I was told what they had left was 1 pair of Santarem. So I went with that.

I received my fish today, and put them in a room with no lights on in tempered water (in their bags) for about 45 minutes. Then opened the bags and gave them some aquarium water twice in 15 minute intervals. One of them was lying on the side on the bottom of the bag, I thought there was something wrong with it. But both of them were "standing" in the bags when I was not in the room.

Then I picked them up and plopped them gently into the aquarium. I basically did what I have seen Jörg Stendker himself do with his discus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsv7w_0sLBg

The fish were soo calm. Could only feel their fins moving a little when my hands went into the bag. They were totally at peace when they were laying in my hands. This went so much easier than I thought. When they came into the aquarium they were totally fine. They were immediately cruising in front - and seems to be quite curious about their owner. So graceful. I can look at them and them at me eyeball to eyeball 1 cm of glass apart.

I am usure if my order was a little messed up - when I look at them they have a little different hues. I think I might have gotten one Alenquer and one Santarem, but I am unsure. One is a little browner and the other is more yellow/red-brownish. Both of them are 15 cm.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7398/14101498156_5270fc6937_c.jpg

I think it has been a good start :)

[Fletch]

I started my discus tank almost exactly one year ago, and here is an update on my progress.

Also I want to give a big thank you to discuspaul for all the inspiration I have gotten from your guides, your always civil and helpful advise and not least your beautiful planted discus tanks.

First my tank as of yesterday.

From left to right: No. 1 (Alenquer), No. 2 (Santarem), No. 5 (Red SS), No. 3 (Santarem), No. 4 (Santarem), No. 6 (Red SS):

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8640/16411688196_2d38f4d28f_b.jpg


I have kept an aquarium diary all the time, and here are some highlights:

13 February 2014 - Started up my 360 litre aquarium.

18 March 2014 - Added 10 Corydoras Sterbai, 16 Cardinal Tetras, 2 Ancistrus.

15 April 2014 - Added 6 Amano shrimps.

19 April 2014 - Added 13 Rednose Tetra

6 May 2014 - Added 2 discus (1 Alenquer, 1 Santarem).

The Santarem one (No. 2) is very dominant and harassing the Alenquer (No. 1). They also try mating but there are never any eggs.

12 August 2014 - Added 2 Santarem discus & 2 Farlowellas.

The first new Santarem (No. 3) has a big impact. Immediate respect, the new boss. Discus more peaceful.

11 November 2014 - Added 2 Red Snake Skin discus.

The first new Red SS (No. 5) is the biggest discus in the aquarium and is immediately the new boss.

13 November 2014 - Crisis. Fish sick.

Symptoms: Slimy strings. Dark bodies. Fins sticking to bodies. Breathing heavily. Hiding in back corner. Keeping to surface. Not staying upright but in a slanted position. No interest in food.
Was advised to treat with combination of eSHa Hexamita & eSHa gdex.

See: http://www.eshalabs.eu/europe/products.html

18 November 2014 - 5 discus recovered.

20 November 2014 - Happy. All discus fully recovered :)

26 December 2014 - Discus mating (No. 1 & No. 5), laying eggs on a leaf. Eggs lasted 3 days, disappeared.

19 January 2014 - Discus mating, laying eggs on a leaf. Same couple as last time. Eggs lasted 1 day, disappeared.

3 February 2015 - Added 2 Santarem discus. The couple (No. 1 & No. 5) keeps more to one side of the aquarium and the others more to the other side.


I'm very happy with my discus, and the overall atmosphere in my aquarium has become more and more peaceful and harmonious the more discus I added.

All my discus are Stendker discus and were bought at 14 - 15 cm size (4 - 5 inches).