55 Gallon Grow out - 13 discus

[jeff12]

Drove out to Kenny's today to pick up my Golden Lollipops and thought I might as well make a thread for my tank! I have been patiently(not really LOL) waiting for these since December, Kenny was sold out when I tried to get some so I ended up picking up 5 Marlboros in January instead cause I was itching for some of Kenny's fish. Finally February came...

Growing out discus for the first time. 13 discus in a 55 gallon BB with potted plants, will be doing 100% daily wc's with aged water. Feeding FDBW, BH, BW flakes. The goal is to get at least a pair from each of them. I don't plan on keeping all of them in this tank, just for grow outs until they pair up, maybe 5-6". The rest will eventually be sold.

3 Giant Floras - 4-4.5"
5 Marlboros - 3-4"
5 Golden Lollipops - 3.5"

They do not cooperate when taking pictures...most of the time they are looking at me and asking for food LOL

[Phillydubs]

Nice looking stock... I have to say though that's an odd footprint and while a "55 gallon" I'm not sure it's all going to be used the right way and they are going to be quite crammed.
Take it from a guy with an overstocked 55 and some big discus. Once these add some size you may face some issues.

[Filip]

Beautiful fish Jeff. Good luck raising them.
If you withstand the above stated daily routines I'm sure they will turn out to grow big and healthy.
You may encounter aggression problems once they start maturing like Philip said because your tank lacks lenght.

[Bill63SG]

Nice looking stock... I have to say though that's an odd footprint and while a "55 gallon" I'm not sure it's all going to be used the right way and they are going to be quite crammed.
Take it from a guy with an overstocked 55 and some big discus. Once these add some size you may face some issues.

Ive got to agree on the odd footprint.A "normal" 55 imo is too small and I think with your tank your going to have issues.100%wc's will help.

[Dhavalsp]

nice fish...would love to see how they turn out....long vs tall tank does not matter too much with discus, with african's yes, but very little with discus, they scale entire height of the tank.

i m growing 4 from hans in a 55 with the same footprint. my tank has substrate and is lightly planted, and i m doing 50%wc every other day, mine are at 2.5 inch though. Lets see how effective 55 balls are with raising discus....

[Bill63SG]

nice fish...would love to see how they turn out....long vs tall tank does not matter too much with discus, with african's yes, but very little with discus, they scale entire height of the tank.

i m growing 4 from hans in a 55 with the same footprint. my tank has substrate and is lightly planted, and i m doing 50%wc every other day, mine are at 2.5 inch though. Lets see how effective 55 balls are with raising discus....

I have to disagree with you about long vs tall.Its not about the space they use in the tank but your actuall surface area.Smaller surface area less fish,dosent matter on gallons.

[Wes]

Nice fish but with that bio load you may want to add the lift tube and diffuser to your sponge.

[Dhavalsp]

I have to disagree with you about long vs tall.Its not about the space they use in the tank but your actuall surface area.Smaller surface area less fish,dosent matter on gallons.

Apologies, but I am a little confused. so tall vs long makes a difference, and you support that discus grow better in a long tank?

Well, I am sure that it is the case with lot of cichlids, my point is if you put a tangiyankan cichlid like tropheus in two separate tanks, one long and other one tall tank of same volume (same source and all)you will see a vast difference between the growth rate in the two tanks. On the other hand if you do the same with discus the difference MAY be to a lesser extent.

However, if you have solid proof or documentation proving otherwise please let me know. Thanks, Dhaval

[rickztahone]

I have personally witnessed discus be a lot more territorial with a smaller footprint 56g bowfront (36"), than a standard 55g (48"). Throw in the surface area to boot and there is no comparison.

[Rapture]

Pretty fish! I feel like it's probably hard to appreciate the size of this tank from front view photos vs in person. However, I am growing out just 6 discus in a standard 75 gallon, and I personally wouldn't want to go any smaller, just from my observations of the fish.

[jeff12]

Nice fish but with that bio load you may want to add the lift tube and diffuser to your sponge.

I use to have a lift tube but when I was cleaning the filter it came off and I never put it back on, its at the bottom of the airline.

Since I am overstocked, I have considered adding another filter but the filters take up a lot of space. The ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite levels are all fine now so I am not sure if another one would make difference. The other option would be to add an air stone to increase the DO. Higher DO equals better growth right?

The reason why I overstocked would be if I had 6 discus, I would do 50%. IMO doing 100% for only 6 would be too much work for a small amount and also when they are so small. There will always be 50% of the old water in the tank. In this setup, they would be getting new, clean water everyday .

[Bill63SG]

Apologies, but I am a little confused. so tall vs long makes a difference, and you support that discus grow better in a long tank?

Well, I am sure that it is the case with lot of cichlids, my point is if you put a tangiyankan cichlid like tropheus in two separate tanks, one long and other one tall tank of same volume (same source and all)you will see a vast difference between the growth rate in the two tanks. On the other hand if you do the same with discus the difference MAY be to a lesser extent.

However, if you have solid proof or documentation proving otherwise please let me know. Thanks, Dhaval

Plenty if you google,heres one example......


What Your Stocking Level Results Mean This calculator uses "surface area" to determine fish stock levels rather than gallons or litres. This is better than a calculator that uses volume alone, such as the common how many fish per gallon rule. (Reference: The Complete Aquarium by Peter W. Scott.) The surface of your aquarium is where oxygen diffuses into the water. The more surface area, the more easily oxygen diffuses, and therefore the more fish your aquarium will support. For example, a tall, narrow 29 gallon aquarium cannot maintain as many fish as a standard rectangular 29 gallon tank because less water surface contacts air. NOTE: Calculations assume the use of an air stone or a filter that disturbs the surface. Adding more air stones will not increase the number of fish your tank will support - See more at: http://www.howmanyfish.com/#sthash.9x7XOcTo.dpuf

[Phillydubs]

Nice example Bill...

OP- It may be working now as they are young and immature, but I still foresee an issue... Is this supposed to be a perm home or are you growing out to move?

Have you seen much aggression? Once the aggression and chasing starts there is limited area to go as well....

[Dhavalsp]

Bill, thanks for that reference. it is definitely helpful. with my 4 discus in 55 Tall, I am just under the limit.

[Bill63SG]

Its not hard and fast,especially with our water changes.I have a 65gal,75gal,and a 90gal,all with same footprint.I use the 90 because even with same footprint,I like to be able to change a larger volume of water.