26PCS DISCUS OK IN A 135GALLON BAREBOTTOM TANK???

[chocolatefish]

Hi Simplydiscus people! I recently have 26 large discus in 3 tanks. I am planning to transfer them in a 135gallon barebottom tank with some Corydoras and Bushynose plecos. The tank dimension is 6ft x18inches x 24inches height. It will be filtered with swiss tropical 3pcs of 10x6x6blue 30ppi sponge filter and a FX5 which I will put a poret foam on the strainer to act as a prefilter and a 30inchesx12inchesx16inches sump with bioball and ceramic rings with an overflow filter. I will be using 2pcs 300watts heater.

Question is...
Is the number of discus ok in the 135gallon tank?
Can I just use 3 sponge poret filter and a FX5 without the sump? Is the filtration too much?or too much filtration does not matter its even better?

Pls advice beautiful people .

joe

[chocolatefish]

Before I forget water change will be once a week 70-80percent siphon old water and put tap water(which i only have). My tap water has no or very minimal cloramine, clorine or ammonia.

[Bill63SG]

Too many fish,and not enough water changes.Too many fish with even alot of water changes.Disaster waiting to happen.Sell some off.15 would still be pushing it with once a week wc's.

[MKD]

Joe,

my friend has 110 tank with 20 discus with most large discus. He is feeding BH with 2x WC per week and they 're fine. I dont' know what you feed them 'cause food can dirty the water quicker. So in your situation, i suggest 2x WC per week and feed something which does not fault water too quick. As far as filtertration, i would remove sponge 1 or 2 sponger filter so they have more room.

Good Luck Joe,

[Skip]

How big are they. . U put a ruler to them

[Trier20]

You can do 26 in that tank. Barebottom with extra bio filters and twice daily 100% water changes. That should be good.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Joe, what area are you in? Maybe you can sell a few and offset some expenses?

[a volar]

I have 16 discus right now from 4.5" to 6" in 120 gal tank, 3 sponge filters, daily water changes (some times I skip a day).........This is temporal while set-up my display tank, but I had 24 at one point, but they where maybe an inch smaller, and they look really happy and healthy.

[chocolatefish]

thanks guys for the input. yes water change everyday is the key.

[mmorris]

How long do you think they will survive in a power outage? An hour? 'Till morning, when you find out the power went out for a bit overnight?

[joanstone]

That's a great point, Martha. I kept my group of 16 in my 120 very temporarily and they were ok, but looked really crowded. I can't imagine what 10 more would have looked like (granted my tank was a bit smaller and only 4 feet). There's a difference between being ok and thriving IMO.

[Jeff O]

No. That's just cruel have you ever heard of a puppy mill? Yeah.. That's what your creating in a fish tank lol. It's WAY over stocked and it just wouldn't work.
-Jeff

[strawberryblonde]

I had 14 in my 115 for a week, and it was WAY too overcrowded! I had to up my water changes to 60% in the morning and 90% at night just to keep the nitrates down to normal levels, and ugh, the pre-filters were disgusting at every water change, not to mention that they were bumping into each other the whole time.

[chocolatefish]

ok simply guys....maybe i have to sell some of my discus. Or just put the half on an extra tank. would 12pcs be ok in the 135gallon? same filtration and maybe 2x watewr change pe week 70-80percent. will that be ok?

[Jeff O]

3x per week with 80% is ok with 12 fish.

[lifan23]

I have 18 Discus in a 150 5x2x2. Depending on schedule, I do once or twice a week 70-80% water change feeding colorbits, FDBW, BH flakes, occasional live BW and no problems at all. All fishes are 5.5-6" in size.

In a 135 at 6x1.5x2, you should be able to do 18 without a problem if you do twice a week WC at 70-80%. Fish tank will look kind of crowded though if you dont mind it.

[Jeff O]

I have 18 Discus in a 150 5x2x2. Depending on schedule, I do once or twice a week 70-80% water change feeding colorbits, FDBW, BH flakes, occasional live BW and no problems at all. All fishes are 5.5-6" in size.

In a 135 at 6x1.5x2, you should be able to do 18 without a problem if you do twice a week WC at 70-80%. Fish tank will look kind of crowded though if you dont mind it.

I disagree, it's over crowded and to be frank I could care less if I'm OK with a crowded tank bottom line is its not fair for the fish. 2x per week water changes with that many fish = dirty water.

[Kal-El]

If you want to put that many discus in your tank it can be done but you'll have to do 80-100% daily WC. If not you'll have major issue down the road... If you cannot do 80-100% WC daily I say keep 14 and sell the rest. In the end it''s your fish and it's up to you on what you want to do.

[0Dgreen]

I disagree, it's over crowded and to be frank I could care less if I'm OK with a crowded tank bottom line is its not fair for the fish. 2x per week water changes with that many fish = dirty water.

Jeff is correct, in my experience(I keep a 125g with around 22 fish ranging from size 3.5-5) Without daily 90-100%WC you're going to run into problems, sometimes i even have to do 150% a day depending on my feeding. Once the fish are grown in to adults yes it will be overcrowded and they wont stay....but as juvies it works, just take a look at any hatchery...they keep alot more fish in their tanks than the recommended 1fish per 10g, but they also do daily WC regiments... just my 2cents.

[0Dgreen]

Here is an example of my setup...it doesn't look overcrowded yet, but you could imagine how overcrowded it would be with adults...6ft is alot of space for these guys and they rarely utilize the whole length of the tank unless i spread food around.http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?104414-125g-quot-Growout-quot

[Elliots]

I think it is a pretty simple situation. LOOK AT THE FISH. If they are swimming, eating, fins open, good color, red eyes, not hiding, not crowding in any corner of the tank, etc. they are probably good. Look for a while at least several times a day to be sure.