small discus set up

[swinters66]

I just set up a 30 gallon tank so I can get 2 discus. I want to start out small, being I never had discus before. As of now, I have natural gravel as substrate, some fake plants and wood. I do want real plants but with a budget this week of ZERO (haha-between paychecks) I had to use what we already had here (we have several tanks in the house). I put a heater in and its set at 82. I put in one cory cat and 2 harlequin rasboras, so I can at least get a cycle going and add a few more rasboras this week. The PH is 7.8 (I had the water tested at the fish store). The only thing I added when I set the tank up was a regular water conditioner.

My question is...do I need to add anything else to the water? A brackish water conditioner or buffer to make the water softer? I dont know if the water is hard or soft. The fish store where I am getting my discus makes their own discus food, so when I do buy them I will get some of that since they are already eating it. I watched them eat today at the store. All I know is its frozen, and they add vitamins, shrimp, and I think beef heart or liver or something like that. But the fish went to town on it!!

Any tips or suggestions are appreciated!! Thanks....

[Dissident]

30gal is a little small for growing out/keeping discus. 2 discus is a bad number to start with as well, 1 will probably kill off the other.

Spend some time reading here on the forums and you will learn alot about keeping these fish.

[swinters66]

Well hell...they are small discus....guess Ill get three. Until I get a bigger tank, this is all I got.

[AADiscus]

When will you be getting a large tank? Depending on your wc routine on the tank and the size of the fish you get you could put 4-5 in your 30 gal. BUT......do DAILY LARGE wc's. If you will be getting a bigger tank in a few months they will be ready to move into the larger tank.