Took in a rough pair of Discus from pet store I work at, need advice on them

[dylhynes]

As the title says I work at a pet store. 2 days ago as we were opening up the store a guy came in with 2 Discus. He told us his tank broke open and he couldn't keep them anymore so he wanted to know if we had space. He also said they were a mated pair and had reproduced before but I am skeptical as to wether he is telling the truth or not, these fish seem to be in rough shape.

Our store doesn't carry many exotic cichlids, mostly just livebearers and tetras. I do have some experience with fish though, I just sold my 46 bowfront after my 11 year old Angels died. I had to move away for University so it wasn't practical for me to take it with me. After listening to people in the pet store ask all day if these pretty fish will fit in their 10 gallon tanks I couldn't help but take them home with me. I bought a 30 gallon tank on the way home to keep them in and moved everything over from my planted 20 gallon. Unfortunately the 20 gallon had just started cycling so the tank these Discus are in isn't cycled either. I am keeping Ammonia under 0.25 ppm though with 70% water changes daily at least.

Both of these Discus seem to have stunted growth, one is about 4" and the other about 3". Their eyes seem very big for their bodies. Their fins were also a bit ragged when I got them but they have seemed to go back to normal now. There is no clamping going on and both have been eating non stop since I took them in.

I am aware that Discus do best in groups of 5+ and that this 30 gallon tank (36" x 12" x 16") is too small for that. I don't believe that they are a mated pair, so I am guessing they would need more Discus to feel secure. I would really like to keep these fish but I don't think I can fit anything over 30 gallons in my apartment. If I got a third discus for the 30 gallon would that just cause more problems rather than fix any ? I am already kind of attached to the fish so I am hoping that its possible for me to keep them. Any advice on my situation would be appreciated. Sorry for the long winded post, this all happened pretty quickly. Thanks.

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[ericNH]

I applaud your efforts to save these poor discus.

You already know that the conditions you're keeping them in aren't ideal, so I'm not going to say all the common things that will no doubt be said by many others here on SD. What I will say is this - if you're going to try and save them given the tank space and conditions you have available then don't add any more discus to the tank. If they happen to like each other, and you can nurse them back to a decent state, you can only upset the balance between by adding more.

Good luck! Change lots of water! And keep us posted - i'd love to see you bring them around in a month or two!

[jmf3460]

if you took all the stuff from your 20gal and moved it to the 30 gal, then that must mean you have an empty 20gal??? if so, put a filter on it, leave it bare bottom and put the discus back in there as a quarantine tank until you find a bigger tank for them.

[dylhynes]

I applaud your efforts to save these poor discus.

You already know that the conditions you're keeping them in aren't ideal, so I'm not going to say all the common things that will no doubt be said by many others here on SD. What I will say is this - if you're going to try and save them given the tank space and conditions you have available then don't add any more discus to the tank. If they happen to like each other, and you can nurse them back to a decent state, you can only upset the balance between by adding more.

Good luck! Change lots of water! And keep us posted - i'd love to see you bring them around in a month or two!

Thanks for the encouragement. Yeah I am aware that the water parameters arent the greatest right now (Ammonia=0.25ppm, Nitrite=0ppm, Nitrate=0ppm, pH=6.8,
gH=4) but I am going try and get some old filter media from a specialty fish store around here to try and kickstart a cycle. They actually do regularly do carry discus and the staff is awesome there. The reason I was wondering about adding fish was because they are quite shy, but I dont wanna mess up the balance going on and overload the filter.


if you took all the stuff from your 20gal and moved it to the 30 gal, then that must mean you have an empty 20gal??? if so, put a filter on it, leave it bare bottom and put the discus back in there as a quarantine tank until you find a bigger tank for them.

I think I am going to go bare bottom with the 30 gallon instead and use that as QT. It was just plants in the 20 but I didn't want the plants to die so I put em in with the Discus. Now the plants are dying anyways with the high heat so I will just take everything out, let it float in the 20 and go bare bottom with the 30. Does this make sense to do?

[jmf3460]

I think I am going to go bare bottom with the 30 gallon instead and use that as QT. It was just plants in the 20 but I didn't want the plants to die so I put em in with the Discus. Now the plants are dying anyways with the high heat so I will just take everything out, let it float in the 20 and go bare bottom with the 30. Does this make sense to do?

yes this sounds like an excellent plan. a 30 gallon as a qt for 2 fish will work well. just keep up with your daily water changes until your filter cycles, and after it cycles too. Maybe they will grow some and later you can upgrade them to a 75 with some friends.