What's the smallest number of Discus I can have?

[s2002]

I've heard you should aim for 6, and definitely have more than 3. But how bad is it to have, say, 4 or 5?

I'm putting together a 125 gallon (6 ft) bare bottom with adults (5.5+) and maybe a school of rummynose (20) and cories (10).

Due to my schedule I would like to do a 50% water change a week, thus my efforts to keep the discus numbers low. Will be running a FX6 cannister.

[Willie]

You can get away with 3, 4, 5 adult discus. Lots of talk on this forum about bullying, but that's far less of an issue with 1) adults and with 2) adults in a large tank. Your issue is the lack of large frequent water changes, which is completely unrelated to filtration. If that's all you can do, definitely get the biggest adults you can find.

Good luck, Willie

[LizStreithorst]

You can get by with just 2 adults, if they are a pair. With your WC at 50% a week you'd be asking for trouble with more. In that size tank 2 pairs would be perfect but you would have to change water more often.

[danotaylor]

disclaimer: I am a newbie discus keeper...
I (now) have 7 x 5-6" adult discus in my 125 gal. I have had them 4 weeks. No other fish. I have 2 pairs (1 proven, the other just laying but no wigglers) which paired up after I received them. The pairs have been laying every 4-5 days or so and the pecking order was fairly brutal until recently. I lost 1 x 5" Red Panda to aggression last week when the one pair had wigglers for the 1st time, this fish was 8/8 in the pecking order. I have a BB tank with a minimalist wood & stone scape. I added a divider to separate the proven pair and the other 5 fish happily co-exist in about 4.5' of the tank The aggression has all but stopped since the Panda exited stage left...permanently I feed a small feeding of BH/seafood mix morning & evening, do a 50% WC every 3 days, and so far water quality is great. Everyone is happy...especially me!