Ddiscus in 30g ?

[Arsh Ramgarhia]

hello every one.. im new to the forum. I want to keep discus and i have a 30g tank. I was thinking that is it alright to keep 2 discus in a 30g ? Well its a sand based tank with some driftwood and no plants. Thanks in Advance :)

[Clawhammer]

Hi Arshdeep. The only scenario I could see this working would be with an adult pair. Otherwise, two discus will have a lot of aggression toward eachother. They are ideally kept in groups of 5 or more and require a minimum of 10 gallons (40 liters) of tank space per fish. Good luck!

[Arsh Ramgarhia]

how about adding some dither fish to reduce the aggression? Would it work ?

[Clawhammer]

Unfortunately no. Discus are a shoaling fish and require a group unless spawning. Dither fish won't help spread out the aggression and the smaller of the two will likely be bullied to death (prevented from eating).

[bluelagoon]

Only if you have an already formed pair or looking to form a pair.You wouldn't want any other fish in with them;that size tank wouldn't allow it.Large daily WC's would be needed.

[Candydiscus]

It depends, two discus that have been with eachother for a long time will be fine. I noticed my discus which have been together for years and grew up with eachothers dont care if they are alone in a tank or in a tank with just two of em.

Two adult discus ina normal 30g tank i think would be fine, just dont get anymore.

As for the comment above me... large daily water changes.. lol ppl suggest large daily water changes in 100+ gallon tanks. So it doesnt matter... 10 discus in a 125g tank and 2 discus in a 30g tank the bio load is actually higher in the 125g.. Do the math

[atlantadiscus]

Way back in the 1980s,I kept 5 Discus in a 35 gallon hex tank.They did ok,but never got much over 5". We were pretty dumb back then,feeding live foods daily which always seemed to introduce parasites and bacteria,despite running a quality UV sterilizer.

[Filip]

Hi Arsh and welcome to the forum and discus keeping .
As already said above , 2 discus in a form of proven pair would be your best option to keep in a 30 gallon tank .
You can add some diether fish along with them bit don't go overboard because the bioload would be already on top . Regular , at least 3 times a week of maintenance and Water changing would be needed IMO .
Good luck and keep us posted with pics if you do decide to take the plunge in to the discus world .