Advice on Water Change Frequency on 30 Gallon tank

[fishatheart]

Hi,

I am new and I have just started my 30 gallon discus tank with 3 new discus, 1 clown loach, and 8 cardinal tetra. The discus are about 1 1/2 to 2" they are starting to grow. Any suggestions on how often I should change the water daily? I was thinking 30% once a day. Also how long would you need to do a large % water change until you can back off to every other day water changes or even weekly water changes?

[jmf3460]

Hi Fishatheart, welcome to SD, I love your username. I hope you have thick skin because what you may hear as a response to your thread will be a little negative and possibly not what you want to hear. you have many issues with your discus tank and haven't really set yourself up for huge success. I will take the first lead and list you some issues below. Please understand that I am only trying to offer some advice and am not attacking your tank at all.
1. First and foremost, 30 gallons is not at all big enough for a discus tank. The minimum size tank to keep discus in is 75 gallons. These fish get very big and have large territories they need to establish.
2. Discus are a schooling fish and feel most comfortable in groups of 6 or more. Your plan to keep 3 in a 30 gallon does not sound good. You could keep a mated pair (alone) in a 30 gallon just fine, if your intent is to raise fry that is
3. Clown loaches aren't a suitable fish for a 30 gallon either, they grow to be very large, like 8" long large. Clown loaches are also not a great tank mate for a discus tank either. They like cooler water if I am correct. I do not have personal experience with clown loaches, only repeating what I have read.
4. 30% per day water change is suitable more for adult 5"+ discus. At juvenile age, you should be changing a minimum of 75% water per day, many people change 100% if possible.

You may not have done all the proper research before jumping into discus. It is not too late to change your plan though. Is it possible for you to get a bigger tank? You could turn your 30gallon into a quarantine/hospital tank for if you ever have to treat sicknesses??

Again, just offering some advice in hopes for you to have the best success possible. Hopefully you don't take it to critical.

[fishatheart]

Hi Fishatheart, welcome to SD, I love your username. I hope you have thick skin because what you may hear as a response to your thread will be a little negative and possibly not what you want to hear. you have many issues with your discus tank and haven't really set yourself up for huge success. I will take the first lead and list you some issues below. Please understand that I am only trying to offer some advice and am not attacking your tank at all.
1. First and foremost, 30 gallons is not at all big enough for a discus tank. The minimum size tank to keep discus in is 75 gallons. These fish get very big and have large territories they need to establish.
2. Discus are a schooling fish and feel most comfortable in groups of 6 or more. Your plan to keep 3 in a 30 gallon does not sound good. You could keep a mated pair (alone) in a 30 gallon just fine, if your intent is to raise fry that is
3. Clown loaches aren't a suitable fish for a 30 gallon either, they grow to be very large, like 8" long large. Clown loaches are also not a great tank mate for a discus tank either. They like cooler water if I am correct. I do not have personal experience with clown loaches, only repeating what I have read.
4. 30% per day water change is suitable more for adult 5"+ discus. At juvenile age, you should be changing a minimum of 75% water per day, many people change 100% if possible.

You may not have done all the proper research before jumping into discus. It is not too late to change your plan though. Is it possible for you to get a bigger tank? You could turn your 30gallon into a quarantine/hospital tank for if you ever have to treat sicknesses??

Again, just offering some advice in hopes for you to have the best success possible. Hopefully you don't take it to critical.

Thanks so much Jacklyn. I really appreciate your feedback and I take it as additional knowledge to myself. I know it is a small tank. I was not intending to keep the discus once they out grow the tank size. I was going to take them out once they out grew the tank. My father had discus in a 30 gallon and they did great so I was naively following in his footsteps. I know people do serious water changes for juveniles I guess I was a bit hesitant because I've heard also not to change such a huge amount cause it can stress the fish but I guess it is not the case for the discus

[Filip]

I agree with Jacklyn's advices all the way Fishheart .
The only possible scenario here would be to purchase a grown up pair of discus , and still you might have to do more Water changes then just 30% daily to keep them healthy and thriving.
And you can't grow them here , most likely they will have health issues because of the Jacklyn's above mentioned reasons.

[Hart24601]

Hi Fishatheart, welcome to SD, I love your username. I hope you have thick skin because what you may hear as a response to your thread will be a little negative and possibly not what you want to hear. you have many issues with your discus tank and haven't really set yourself up for huge success. I will take the first lead and list you some issues below. Please understand that I am only trying to offer some advice and am not attacking your tank at all.
1. First and foremost, 30 gallons is not at all big enough for a discus tank. The minimum size tank to keep discus in is 75 gallons. These fish get very big and have large territories they need to establish.
2. Discus are a schooling fish and feel most comfortable in groups of 6 or more. Your plan to keep 3 in a 30 gallon does not sound good. You could keep a mated pair (alone) in a 30 gallon just fine, if your intent is to raise fry that is
3. Clown loaches aren't a suitable fish for a 30 gallon either, they grow to be very large, like 8" long large. Clown loaches are also not a great tank mate for a discus tank either. They like cooler water if I am correct. I do not have personal experience with clown loaches, only repeating what I have read.
4. 30% per day water change is suitable more for adult 5"+ discus. At juvenile age, you should be changing a minimum of 75% water per day, many people change 100% if possible.

You may not have done all the proper research before jumping into discus. It is not too late to change your plan though. Is it possible for you to get a bigger tank? You could turn your 30gallon into a quarantine/hospital tank for if you ever have to treat sicknesses??

Again, just offering some advice in hopes for you to have the best success possible. Hopefully you don't take it to critical.

A very nice way to start! Well done!