(new member) appropriate tank size and conditions for discus.

[greenphantom1994]

hi guys, this is my first post on this forum :D im not a completely new discus keeper, but nor am I very experienced. I have a approx 100L tall tank that measures around 60cm long, 50cm tall and 40cm width. I have 4 live plants which are keeping very well and 2 pieces of large drifwood. I have 3 discus ranging from 4.5 inches to 5.5inches. they have been living together now for a couple of months and have all been bought from the same aquarium. the largest one does tend to chase the smaller ones, some days worse than others. there is no damage to any of their fins, so I know they are not nipping eachother.
I just want to know if they will stay happy in this size tank??? they share it with a gold nugget and green phantom pleco. water conditions are perfect for them (ammonia 0 - nitrite 0 - nitrate 0 - ph 7 ) and keep it a temperature of 83F. I also have been doing 25% water changes twice a week... hope some of you can tell me im doing things the right way, or point me in the right direction if im not. thank you :)

[Quintin]

Hi and welcome to the forum.You are going to pick up some flack here so let me try put it as nicely as possible.Your tank is to small general rule of thumb is 10 gallons per discus.And discus being schooling fish are better kept in minnimum groups of 5-6.and ideally about 8.Secondly you need to up your waterchanges to 50 -80% daily for juvies.Remove other fish from tanks especially the pleco as they tend to latch on to the discus and eat thier slime coat.And i think you not doing your tests correctly as its practically impossible to have a Nitrate reading of 0.Amonia and Nitrite could be 0.Hope this helps and good luck with your discus.Post some pics soon please.

Quintin

[greenphantom1994]

thanks for your reply. I have no juviniles in the tank. the plecos do not even acknowledge the discus, they have never latched on to them. and not only myself doing the water tests, I bring my water to a fish farm and they do the checks for me on occasions and those are the correct readings. nitrate may be a very small amount above 0, but practically nothing. I will upload pics as and when possible :) my plan is to eventually get a larger tank. and if I feel my current tank gets too cramped I will most certainly remove fish to accommodate the others.

[Quintin]

Ok cool.Nitrite should be 0.Nitrate of say 0.1 mg per litre would be like saying 10ppm.Which is perfectly fine.Nitrate can be really low but not 0.Its good that you gt adults as they are hardier than juvieswhich area of the world are you in?

[greenphantom1994]

I live in the UK. ok that's cool, thanks.

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi greenphantom1994 and welcome to Simply. I too think you need to increase the percentage of your water changes, the size of your tank and group of discus. I suggest you read some of the stickies in the beginner section, look at pictures of other members fish and perhaps re-access your situation with your tank and discus. A little edification could be a eye opening experience. There is also a UK based forum which you might consider joining http://www.bidka.org/
Pat

[greenphantom1994]

hi pat. thanks for the reply. I will most certainly upgrade to a bigger tank as soon as I have the chance. what exactly will happen to the discus if they are kept in a slightly smaller tank? the filteration is very good and I will maybe up my water changes to 40% 3 times a week??

[Second Hand Pat]

hi pat. thanks for the reply. I will most certainly upgrade to a bigger tank as soon as I have the chance. what exactly will happen to the discus if they are kept in a slightly smaller tank? the filteration is very good and I will maybe up my water changes to 40% 3 times a week??

They are more apt to grow properly, stay healthy and show less stress. You posted a picture in another thread. The one fish with the tiny, black spots is a PB of some sort. The dusting of black spots is called peppering and can be a sign of stress in a PB for example.

[greenphantom1994]

thanks pat. the fish came from a 300L tank and already had heavy peppering on it. supposedly had it since it was about 1.5inch long im told. the colour of the fish has really increased since moving to my tank. he looks a very strong and healthy fish. then again, he is the boss of the tank.