How do I set up my first discus tank?

[fishtanktenderfoot]

Welcome crazyfordiscus - you will find great info here! Two things I'll say after reading your introduction... First, juvies require a lot more work than adult discus, so if you go that route, be prepared for lots of daily effort on your tank! And second, juvies grow into adult FAST. So if you think you can buy juvies today and move them when they get big, you will probably only buy yourself a month or two. They grow about 1" per month roughly, so if you start with 3" juvies, then you'll have sub-adult in 6 weeks? Assuming you buy good stock and care for them well. So it is smart to start with a tank that is sized right for adults, no matter what size juvie you buy. Good luck!

[crazyfordiscus]

fishtanktenderfoot,
Thanks for your greeting and good advice. I hear what you saying, it is saving trouble to move them tank to tank. Good tips.

[DanLFC97]

Hi Guys,

I am thinking of getting Discus and I was reading about filtration. I currently have an internal filter with two canisters. I dont have the room to put an external canister. Can I stick with the internal filter and add a sponge filter? Or are these two combined, not enough good filtration for a discus tank?

[MattArmstrong]

Dan, I don't think you've given enough information about your tank, choice of filters, etc., to get a good answer. E.g. you could be talking about a 5 gallon tank with a tiny filter and we wouldn't know. ;-) Have a look at http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...p-Questionaire, and provide the information asked for there.

[DanLFC97]

Thanks Matt!

[AndreyDaGiant]

dope!

[Joe'saquarium]

Hi I am new to the site and discus keeping. I recently about 4 months ago got a new aquarium and of course I wanted new fish, so I got a 220 gallon and I am keeping 9 angels and 5 discus, and about 20 tetras. I have a fluval fx6, 3 sponge filters, bare bottom, large piece of driftwood, a few fake plants and random rocks... very minimal. But I got a small case of fin rot and started doing large water changes, 2 75 percent changes back to back per day. Fins are improving. Tank water is 5 nitrate, 0 nitrite, 0 amonia, pH 7.0-7.2, , water is hard slightly alkaline,. Temp 84 degrees. My question is do I need more filtration? Before when I noticed the rot I was doing 25 percent a day. Should I be doing 50 percent a day when all is better? Discus are 4 inches. Just want to do right by my fish. No bullying between species either

[John_Nicholson]

I would drop your temp a couple of degrees. The fin rot is telling you that the water is not clean enough, but more filtration will not really help you a lot. You are either over feeding, over stocked, or were not doing enough water changes. From what you wrote I do not think you are over stocked so my guess is you were over feeding and under water changing. Since they are improving with water changes I think you have it figured out.

-john

[Joe'saquarium]

Thank you! Don't want to lose any!

[Joe'saquarium]

Ok here we go, I have a 55 gallon with an emporer 400 hob filter and two sponge filters on air. Hat tank is fine, however my 220 I can't seam to figure out. It's 220 gallon with an fx6 and 3 sponge filters on air. Now Ive been having fin rot problems that won't go away. I feed one time a day right now only enough for 2-3 minutes. Plus 100 percent water changes every day, again trying to cure the fin rot. The 55 is a hospital tank for the bad ones. I put them in the 55 and fin rot gets better in a couple days. I cant figure this out for the life of me I just want my discus and angels out of the 55 and in my beutiful 220 show tank any ideas?

[Joe'saquarium]

Nitrite 0, nitrate 5, pH 7. Temp 82

[Joe'saquarium]

Also I have 5, 4 inch discus, 9, 5 in angels and 20 tetras

[Jamiephilipe]

hi all i am wanting to set up a discus tank just for them could you please let me know step by step and let me know how long to cycle the tank and minimal size of the tank say for four 2 to 3 inch discus before adding discus i really want to do this the correct way i saw the video of the owner of this forum and he really knew alot and inspired me to do this but with that being said i want to do it right i dont want them to be harmed due to me not knowing what im doing ive been reading a lot about discus and researching as much as i can thank you all in advance jeremy

[tnguy161]

Hi everyone,
I'm very new to discus but have been keeping other fishes for awhile now. I know discus require a big tank since they're super sensitive to water parameters and need a lot of space to swim, but at the moment, I only have space for a small 10 gallon tank, is it possible for me to keep just 1 in there? and let say I'll do 50% water change every other day? or maybe 2 discus? I'm planning to move them to a bigger tank for sure once they grow bigger, so can I do it?

[NeonTetra]

Hi everyone,
I'm very new to discus but have been keeping other fishes for awhile now. I know discus require a big tank since they're super sensitive to water parameters and need a lot of space to swim, but at the moment, I only have space for a small 10 gallon tank, is it possible for me to keep just 1 in there? and let say I'll do 50% water change every other day? or maybe 2 discus? I'm planning to move them to a bigger tank for sure once they grow bigger, so can I do it?

I think it is not a good idea.

Why?

1) Discus fish need at least 10 gallons for each discus (so, yes you can have 1 discus in a 10 gallon tank, but...)
2) They are school fish, school fish feel safe and less stressed when they are in larger groups (yes you can have 2 discus, but they need to be a pair, a male and a female, other wise...)
3) In every school fish there is a leader (the bully one) and he will bully the other fishes, so if you have 2 males the dominant one will bother alot the other one and it will stress him, more stress less inmune power in the fish so it probably get sick, thats why they recommend at least 6 discus, so the leader bother 5 fishes instead of 2 or 3, so they will not stress them too much and dont fall ill