Discus Tank Help Please...!

[Bathi]

Hello, I'm planning to create a 150 gallon tank with the following dimensions: 3 feet in height, 2 feet in width, and 3.5 feet in length.

Previously, I had intended to build a 180 gallon tank with 6*2*2 measurements. However, due to house renovations, I am unable to build the tank . The only choice I have is to build a tank in my room. Because of some limitations, the maximum length and width are 3.5ft and 2ft .* However, I need a 150 gallon tank too. As a result, I also planned for a 3ft height. There are 15 discus that I need to put there.

Is it possible to put the 15 discus in a tank with these dimensions?

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Bathi, you might want to consider a shorter height. Ask yourself out you will maintain a 36 inch tall tank.
Pat

[Bathi]

Hi Bathi, you might want to consider a shorter height. Ask yourself out you will maintain a 36 inch tall tank.
Pat

More than 2ft height, harder to maintain. Anyway if i managed to maintain.. Is this dimensions ok for 15 discus...? can i expect the normal behavior other than the lot of aggression...?

[andy77]

Hi Bathi,

A rule of thumb is ten gallons/discus. I saw one post where the writer suggested 15 gallons/wildcaught discus. According to the posts here growing juveniles are often grown with less than 10 gallons/fish then moved to a larger tank as needed.

Aggression seems to be influenced by a number of factors eg. number of fish present, amount of cover, type of discus, square footage, food, maybe even water quality. The magic number for stocking seems to be at least between 6 and 10 fish per tank. In your case with a high tank aggression may be greater than in the same volume with more "floor space".

Hope this helps a little. There are MANY, MANY good threads here.

Enjoy and good luck,
Andy

[Bathi]

Hi Bathi,

A rule of thumb is ten gallons/discus. I saw one post where the writer suggested 15 gallons/wildcaught discus. According to the posts here growing juveniles are often grown with less than 10 gallons/fish then moved to a larger tank as needed.

Aggression seems to be influenced by a number of factors eg. number of fish present, amount of cover, type of discus, square footage, food, maybe even water quality. The magic number for stocking seems to be at least between 6 and 10 fish per tank. In your case with a high tank aggression may be greater than in the same volume with more "floor space".

Hope this helps a little. There are MANY, MANY good threads here.

Enjoy and good luck,
Andy

Thank you very much for the reply. according to these replies can i assume as this dimension is ok .........? otherwise i have to wait another 3 or 4 months to build 6*2*2 tank..

[Bathi]

Thank you everyone to replying this thread. Looks like its really hard to maintain if i'm going to add some plants. So i will reconsider the height of the tank.

[bluelagoon]

Some say 1 fish per gallon. This is not true for a tank that has not much surface area to maintain good O2 throughout the tank. Most of the O2 comes in the tank from the surface due to barometric pressure. Best to have a tank with more surface area. You will need the surface water flow/movement to be quite strong at the top. Just thought I'd mention a down side to a tank that shape.

[number1sixerfan]

I have a 90g tall tank and I personally will never have a tall tank again. It really is a pain to maintain.. outside of that however, the discus seem to enjoy the extra height and it looks great.

[Bathi]

Some say 1 fish per gallon. This is not true for a tank that has not much surface area to maintain good O2 throughout the tank. Most of the O2 comes in the tank from the surface due to barometric pressure. Best to have a tank with more surface area. You will need the surface water flow/movement to be quite strong at the top. Just thought I'd mention a down side to a tank that shape.

Thank you for the comment..

[Bathi]

I have a 90g tall tank and I personally will never have a tall tank again. It really is a pain to maintain.. outside of that however, the discus seem to enjoy the extra height and it looks great.

I changed my mind, after seen the maintenances videos.

[Vinni Smith]

I was going to do a 30" tall tank and I am SO glad Nancy talked me out of it.
We would have never been able to keep that thing cleaned very well.
Unless you have gorilla sized arms.

Vinni

[Bathi]

I was going to do a 30" tall tank and I am SO glad Nancy talked me out of it.
We would have never been able to keep that thing cleaned very well.
Unless you have gorilla sized arms.

Vinni

hahah.. yes those tall tanks are not for me.

[Bigdave]

Hi to all; I'm new to this forum and this is my very first post on simply discus. I'm new to discus but not new to the hobby. I have had all types of fish for 40 years, including salt. I recently turned my community tank (getting ride of all fish except for Cory's and pleco's) into discus only and I am so happy I did. My tank is a 150 gallon Xtra high. Dimensions are 48"x24"x31" and I added a 40 gallon breeder approx. 30 gallons of water in it for a sump and man it wasn't easy adding that to a full 150 because I had to take the tank apart and rebuild it inside of the 150gal cabinet stand..so my point is I find it so easy for me to maintain this tank and sump. As for the discus I see no aggressive behavior at all other then when they were establishing their pecking order..I to was limited as to how long of a fish tank I could have in my newly finished basement and the wife didn't want a long tank so this tank fit perfectly where the wife wanted it...I say go for a tall tank and make it work for the space that you have...thats just my opinion..good luck and hope this helped..

[Moreetta]

I was going to do a 30" tall tank and I am SO glad Nancy talked me out of it.
We would have never been able to keep that thing cleaned very well.
Unless you have gorilla sized arms.

Vinni

Wow, that must have been a pain in the butt.

[Bigdave]

Python sells a 30" siphon, makes maintenance in my 31" tall aquarium so easy..best thing ever for tall aquariums..