How many discus in a 55 gallong tank

[soundtweakers]

sorry about this yet again another "how many can I...." question. But this is my first real posting in this forum so please give me a break. I have a two year old girl who demands alot of attention from her daddy and I can't really spent so much time on the computer reading searching for threads(so far I browsed this forum and it looks like a ton of info for me to soak in, can't wait!!)

I have successfully kept my discus alive for a month in my treated NYC tap water, the fish are from a local dealer(they get asian imports, not local bred). I currently have three Sunrise discus(3 inches) in my planted community tank housing 18 black neon tetras, one blue ram, three SAEs, 5 Corydoras, 12 Otocinclus cats, and one angel(sorry!!).

I have contacted a local breeder, and I believe her discus is much much more superior then any asian imports, and I'm planning on getting a few of her discus and was wondering how many more I can add into my current tank?

I will be setting up two more 29 gal. for the "later on" grown up discus or "hooked up" pairs.

I've been a planted tank guy for a couple of years, and the discus bug had just recently bit me....so go ahead and call me a newbie, it's all good!! And I think this is gonna be the final stop for me in search of a good Discus forum.

billy

PH 7.0 Temp 85F Nitrate 5ppm No ammonia or nitrite

[lhforbes12]

Billy,
In order to answer that question we would need to at least know what your water change schedule is. It would also be helpful to know what you feed your fish and how heavily planted the tank is. Do you use CO2?
Without any of that information, I would have to say that you are already over maxed out, however that could easily change with different info. It's always a good idea to have at least 5 discus btw, they are schooling fish.

Larry

[soundtweakers]

DIY CO2(insufficient amount for my tank, but it works fine, airstone at night)
Med/Heavy planting:
4 Med. Amazon sword plants, 2 large Amazon Sword plant
Anubias nana covers 1/4 of the substrate, crypto. wendii covers 1/4 of the the substrate. about 10X6 area cover in hairgrass. Few bunches of stem plants(new)
Med/Large driftwood

Two water change weekly(both with gravel cleaning)50% and 30%.
canister cleaning every two weeks.

I do feed them quite heavily since I feed them twice a day only(before and after work).
morning: Omega Flakes and Tetra ColorBits
night: Hikari frozen blood worms, Ocean Nutrition Wattley formula with garlic(they are not used to it yet, only the dominent discus eats it).

I used to have four, one of them(second in command) one day started freakin out and died(all within 10 minute, I'm still confused about that)

thanks Larry

[MeauxJeaux]

they are schooling fish

Is this true? They school in the wild? Thats a pretty awesome image to imagine.

[lhforbes12]

Billy,
If it were me I would not be putting any more discus in that tank, especially juveniles. Your wc regime is just not large or often enough to support more than you have already, sorry. hth

[hexed]

Billy,
First Welcome to Simply!!
How big are your discus in that tank? The reason why I ask is if they are small (juvi) then two feedings are not enough. I would suggest that you put them in a BB and feed them about 4-6 times a day. This is the reason why it's not good to grow out small discus in a planted tank. All that food that they don't eat just sits at the bottom of the tank plus all the poop from ALL the fish is also just sitting there in and under the substrate. In a BB you can do daily water changes of 50% and watch them grow to nice big discus instead of ending up with stunted ones. I know this sounds like an ugly tank but it is the easiest way to grow them out. Once they are adults then you can move them back into the planted tank. If you do it this way you should be able to house 6 adults in your tank without problems. Please feel free to post a picture of your tank. To upload a pic click onto the "manage attachments" on the reply page. The pics cannot be bigger the 85kb

HTH,
Frank

[soundtweakers]

thanks for all the info.

Today they're acting a bit strange, all hiding and not active even at feeding time, I did saw them eat never the less. I'm a bit worried since I've only had them for about a month. Also regarding feeding, I can only feed them twice a day(before and after work), and there are only two days in a week that I can feed them more than that. What can I do?
They are about 2.5 to 3 inches in length(not including tail fin)
I'm planning on a 20(tall) or 29 gal. BB tank, how many juvs(2-3 inches) discus can I keep in each tank?

here is a pic of my discus

[Timbo]

I can only feed them twice a day(before and after work), and there are only two days in a week that I can feed them more than that. What can I do?


http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products/KW/F23AX/Class/Aquarium+Automatic+Feeders/T1/F23AX+0013+0133/EDP/2288/Itemdy00.aspx

[architect1]

Id say 6 If you had a rena xp3 cause theres about 5 gollons of water in there so you'd have 60g hypithetically. But Id do maybe 3 water changes every week.