How many Discus?

[SheTankerDiscusChick]

Hey guys...Congrats to me + my brand new, finally setup, finally cycled, decored, and almost fully stocked 90 gallon!

I decided to go with no sump + no overflow, Eheim pro III canister filter, bare bottom, artificial plants...looks like tank needs cleaning every 2-3 weeks.

So far I have:
9 juvenile Discus
11 Rumy Nose
6 Rams
6 baby Bristle Nose
2 adult Bristle nose

I wanted to shop for 3 or 4 more Discus....do you think this is possible? How many more Discus can I fit? I read Discus will not breed if the tank houses 12 or more....is this true?

[joanr]

Rule of thumb is 10 gals per adult discus. Your guys are still juvies but they will grow large with proper care, feeding and water changes several times a week. I'd stop now with your 9 and gain experience growing them out. Plus you have several other fish in there already.

[SheTankerDiscusChick]

Nooooo...let me pleed my case:
I hear 8-10 gal per adult, but I've also seen 15 in a 100 gal. This is why I ask...I really dont want my babies to pair up and breed, and I've read 12 or more will prevent pairing.
I don't mind more water changes or even adding another Eheim...as long as they don't pair and breed.
The more Discus I add, the more active and social the group gets.
I plan on only keeping 2 adult bristle nose in the tank, and returning the baby bristle nose to my mother who breeds them. The 6 baby Bristle Nose and 11 Rummies were starter fish. The Rummies and Rams are beneficial because they clean up after the Discus messy eating.
So, do you still think I can't shop for more Discus? Pleeeease. Just 2 or 3 more :p

[joanr]

I don't know about preventing pairing, I've seen lots of discus pair up in crowded tanks. It's up to you, like I said it was just a rule of thumb, but it also depends on how well you take care of them, the time you have for doing water changes, and if you do decide to get some newbies, they should be in QT for several weeks. That means another tank and more equipment. I know Discus are like being in a candy store, what with so many strains that are really eye popping, you want to buy one of each of your favs. It's really hard not to want more and more fish.

[poconogal]

How experienced are you at keeping Discus? The 10 gal. per Discus recommendation is usually a good one to follow, but in the case of those who are experienced with keeping Discus, it can be stretched some. In your case though, since you already have 9 and other fish in your 90, I too agree with Joan. I'd stop now. If you want more Discus, you can squeeze in another, but then I'd get rid of all the other fish except for one or two BNs.

As far as breeding, if you happen to get a pair, they'll spawn and you can remove the eggs or just let nature take it course in a community tank - snacks for the other fish.

[hedut]

I do put 15 discus in 90 gln tank but only with 4 ABN plus 75% wc 5 times a. Week and100% other 2 :) and I put 3 sponge , 2 AC 110 and 1 canister :) they grow well :) but the thing is you will see the slowest grow very clear :)

[SheTankerDiscusChick]

Ok Ok you convinced me. Whatever is best for my babies. I'm getting rid of the 6 baby bristle nose. No loss, they were starter fish to cycle the tank anyway. The only problem now is the 11 Tetras and 6 Rams...What to do? They don't seem to produce that much waste at all (so tiny in the 90 gal).

Do you think the Rams and Tetras add that much ammonia or create a crowded tank?

[joanr]

Rule of thumb for Small Tropicals, 1", 1 gal, so I think you'll get by with keeping them, just remember that some Discus will hunt them at night, so don't be surprised if you see some casualties. The Rams OTOH might be a bit too aggressive, you'll have to keep watch on them. Glad you decided to hold off on new fish, you can always get another tank started later on if you want more.

[rickztahone]

you should chec out Derek's tanks, lol. he keeps 50 plus discus in a 100g tank. nobody would ever advise a beginner to do such a thing howeved. you have been given great advise as is. if you give your discus space they will grow to be very happy

[rickztahone]

you should chec out Derek's tanks, lol. he keeps 50 plus discus in a 100g tank. nobody would ever advise a beginner to do such a thing howeved. you have been given great advise as is. if you give your discus space they will grow to be very happy

[SheTankerDiscusChick]

you should chec out Derek's tanks, lol. he keeps 50 plus discus in a 100g tank. nobody would ever advise a beginner to do such a thing howeved. you have been given great advise as is. if you give your discus space they will grow to be very happy

I've seen! Those beauts are as big as his face!

[SheTankerDiscusChick]

Rule of thumb for Small Tropicals, 1", 1 gal, so I think you'll get by with keeping them, just remember that some Discus will hunt them at night, so don't be surprised if you see some casualties. The Rams OTOH might be a bit too aggressive, you'll have to keep watch on them. Glad you decided to hold off on new fish, you can always get another tank started later on if you want more.

Your great Joan! Thanks for the advice. Your Discus are absolutely marvelous!
Tell me more about your sweeties. What could the Rams do to the big ol Discus?

[SheTankerDiscusChick]

Good news is...my sweeties are having quite a growthspurt :D

Feeding 6Xs a day:
Flakes 2x Daily OSI Discus flakes from drsfostersmith
Pellets 2x Daily color bites
Frozen Brine (hikari), 1x Daily
Frozen Blood worms (hikari), beefheart(San fransisco bay), Krill (hikari) , are all every other day.
10% water change every other day by gravel vaccum

[joanr]

Your great Joan! Thanks for the advice. Your Discus are absolutely marvelous!
Tell me more about your sweeties. What could the Rams do to the big ol Discus?

LOL, probably nothing much, Rams are usually peaceful, just keep an eye out for any problems that may arise between the tank mates. I was thinking along the lines of water temp, don't know how they will take the 86F water temps that we keep Discus in. The usual temp for them is between 74 - 79, but don't know what kind of Rams you have. My discus have all gone to that big river in the sky, they were bought in 2001 and the last one passed on in 2007. I am gearing up for a new crew and cycling my 55gal right now. Going to get some 3" juvies in with the November shipments from our sponsers. Can't wait! I've been too long without my little discus puppies.

[rickztahone]

Good news is...my sweeties are having quite a growthspurt :D

Feeding 6Xs a day:
Flakes 2x Daily OPI Discus flakes from drsfostersmith
Pellets 2x Daily color bites
Frozen Brine (hikari), 1x Daily
Frozen Blood worms (hikari), beefheart(hikari), Krill (hikari) , are all every other day.
10% water change every other day by gravel vaccum

i honestly couldn't find the OPI discus flakes. i found some OSI flakes, were those it? or is Ocean Nutrition discus Flakes? I ask because there are some really great flakes out there. e.g., ON prime reef, ON discus flakes, many many form angelplus.com especially the vitamin flakes. Bill from Inland Empire has some really great flakes that have red enhacers/beefheart/garlic. my fish love it and it is not messy at all.
I would also add NLS pellets to their diet. you can alternate between color bites and NLS. i always soak my color bits, not sure if you do.
i was not aware of hikari making a beefheart mix. i thought only San Fransisco made the BH frozen food.

IMHO you will start to do larger water changes with all the feeding you are doing. at least 50% every 2 days.

[SheTankerDiscusChick]

i honestly couldn't find the OPI discus flakes. i found some OSI flakes, were those it? or is Ocean Nutrition discus Flakes? I ask because there are some really great flakes out there. e.g., ON prime reef, ON discus flakes, many many form angelplus.com especially the vitamin flakes. Bill from Inland Empire has some really great flakes that have red enhacers/beefheart/garlic. my fish love it and it is not messy at all.
I would also add NLS pellets to their diet. you can alternate between color bites and NLS. i always soak my color bits, not sure if you do.
i was not aware of hikari making a beefheart mix. i thought only San Fransisco made the BH frozen food.

IMHO you will start to do larger water changes with all the feeding you are doing. at least 50% every 2 days.

Thanks for all your great advice. More water removal during changes...no problem. My bad, yes OSI not OPI, thats funny considering OPI is a highend brand of nail polish. lol. My beefheart is from San Frasisco Bay...I made the chages to my thread above. Thanks for catching that. I've been ordering my food from the drsfostersmith website....should I be shopping somewhere else? Whats a good website? I tryed angelplus.com + it didn't work.
I do not soak my pellets, but I'll try and see if they like that better.

[rickztahone]

Thanks for all your great advice. More water removal during changes...no problem. My bad, yes OSI not OPI, thats funny considering OPI is a highend brand of nail polish. lol. My beefheart is from San Frasisco Bay...I made the chages to my thread above. Thanks for catching that. I've been ordering my food from the drsfostersmith website....should I be shopping somewhere else? Whats a good website? I tryed angelplus.com + it didn't work.
I do not soak my pellets, but I'll try and see if they like that better.

here you go, here's the link:
http://www.angelsplus.com/FoodFlake.htm

They carry some of the best flakes i have tried. my fish love all of their flakes and they are very well rounded. DF & S is a good place to get food but there might be others out there with cheaper prices, you would have to shop around. keep in mind that we do have sponsors that deal with food, Ken comes to mind. Also, besides selling live Black Worms, Dan carries bulk packages on bloodworms, brine shrimp and the like. soaking the pellets is not for better taste but rather for their safety, at least IMO. if you feed the pellets straight they can expand inside of their bellies. this also has to deal with how much you feed. with the NLS they are so small that i do not soak them. many do not soak but i'm one of the few that likes to take the extra minute to soak them and not risk anything. hope all of that helps and please ask any other questions you might have.

[SheTankerDiscusChick]

here you go, here's the link:
http://www.angelsplus.com/FoodFlake.htm

They carry some of the best flakes i have tried. my fish love all of their flakes and they are very well rounded.

Wow! The selection is awesome! I placed an order right away. Thank you sooooo much for that link. Do you have any more cool links? My goldfish, Bubbles, is going to love the old OSI flakes when I get a hold of these new ones for my Discus. Why are fish more expensive to maintain than my bulldog, cat, and hamster combined...but I love em' anyway :D

[tdo]

i have a very similar setup, 90 gal with plants in pots, right now i have 11 discus in there, along with 6 albino corys. i had 2 german blue rams in there, but removed them to their own tank because of them laying eggs. my fish love the ON discus flakes, pe mysis shrimp, sanfran beefheart, and the tetra color bits!

[SheTankerDiscusChick]

i have a very similar setup, 90 gal with plants in pots, right now i have 11 discus in there, along with 6 albino corys. i had 2 german blue rams in there, but removed them to their own tank because of them laying eggs. my fish love the ON discus flakes, pe mysis shrimp, sanfran beefheart, and the tetra color bits!

Reeeaaally! Will you be my friend? lol. Lets talk....How often do you change the water? How often do you feed? How old & big are they? Do they fight? any diseases? Where did you get them? come on come on :)

I don't have any plants. No sump or overflow either.

[tdo]

no sump or anything of that nature for me either. i am actually just using 2 hydro 5 sponges with power heads for filteration.

i feed 6 to 8 times a day. usually i will feed 1 cube of the sf beef heart at a feeding. they clean it up within 5 minutes or so, and then i will go with the flake, then color bits, ending with the mysis shrimp. i just alternate between the 4 at the feedings. at night before bed i will sometimes throw in some hikari fbw as a snack for them.

i change the water 2 times a week, wednesdays and saturdays. my water from the tap is a stable 7.2 so i dont age it at all. 75-80 percent of the water each time i change, and i add stress coat to the tank before i fill it back up.

my guys ages are unknown. i have had them for 2 months now, got them at the size of 2 inches from a lfs about an hour away. the lfs had a really nice set up with ro mixed water for their discus tanks, so i decided to buy there. kind of an impulse purchase, but i got a pretty good deal, getting 12 discus for 300. right now i have 2 at the 4 - 4.5 inch mark, with the others at 3.5 inches or so. I do have 2 that are slow growers at the 2.5 inch mark also. i also have 1 runt that is in qt that needs to be put down, but i just dont have the heart to do it. so 11 good discus in the display and 1 in qt. no real diseases in the display tank, solid eating. the runt in qt just picks at the food, and seems to perk up from time to time.

they are always fighting it seems. i dont really notice much schooling with the fish unless they are at the front of the tank saying hi and begging for food. otherwise they are pretty scattered throughout the tank. big guys pick on the little guys, and in turn, the little guys chase the others. kinda funny actually.

[rickztahone]

no sump or anything of that nature for me either. i am actually just using 2 hydro 5 sponges with power heads for filteration.

i feed 6 to 8 times a day. usually i will feed 1 cube of the sf beef heart at a feeding. they clean it up within 5 minutes or so, and then i will go with the flake, then color bits, ending with the mysis shrimp. i just alternate between the 4 at the feedings. at night before bed i will sometimes throw in some hikari fbw as a snack for them.

i change the water 2 times a week, wednesdays and saturdays. my water from the tap is a stable 7.2 so i dont age it at all. 75-80 percent of the water each time i change, and i add stress coat to the tank before i fill it back up.

my guys ages are unknown. i have had them for 2 months now, got them at the size of 2 inches from a lfs about an hour away. the lfs had a really nice set up with ro mixed water for their discus tanks, so i decided to buy there. kind of an impulse purchase, but i got a pretty good deal, getting 12 discus for 300. right now i have 2 at the 4 - 4.5 inch mark, with the others at 3.5 inches or so. I do have 2 that are slow growers at the 2.5 inch mark also. i also have 1 runt that is in qt that needs to be put down, but i just dont have the heart to do it. so 11 good discus in the display and 1 in qt. no real diseases in the display tank, solid eating. the runt in qt just picks at the food, and seems to perk up from time to time.

they are always fighting it seems. i dont really notice much schooling with the fish unless they are at the front of the tank saying hi and begging for food. otherwise they are pretty scattered throughout the tank. big guys pick on the little guys, and in turn, the little guys chase the others. kinda funny actually.


IMHO you are not doing enough water changes for the load you currently have. although you are getting some ok growth you could be getting better results. you could have gotten 2" discus from Bill for a lot, a lot less money and the quality would have been 10x's better. no point in spilling over spilt milk now though and you can still adjust your techniques to include more frequent water changes. just take my advise with a grain a salt however, to each his own right?

[mareshow]

i agree more waterchanges, put it this way in buildings in North America we follow the ASHRAE standards for ventilation or (air changes) and per person we are technically supposed to be at 20cfm (cubic feet per minute) this means every minute 20 cubic feet of air are supposed to be renewed wherever you are. thats A LOT of air, especially when there is lots of people in one place. so when i look at what we are supposed to get as in reference to our buildings, i'd like to give my fish fresh clean water everyday, as to what i'd expect in our buildings, when you dont change the water its like if you wouldnt exchange the air in a building it'd get stuffy and humid and CO2 and pollutants would make everyone sick and miserable. same with the fish IMO

Marek

[SheTankerDiscusChick]

So I have 9 in a 90, and WC every 3 days...which is the same regimen as tdo, but he has 11 in a 90.

So how often should he WC with 11 Juvies in a 90?

Does this mean I can't add a 10th to my tank with the 3 day regimen?

[SheTankerDiscusChick]

So, do you think 12-16 week disus approaching 3 1/2 -4 inches is a good growing rate?

[SheTankerDiscusChick]

here you go, here's the link:
http://www.angelsplus.com/FoodFlake.htm

They carry some of the best flakes i have tried. my fish love all of their flakes and they are very well rounded. DF & S is a good place to get food but there might be others out there with cheaper prices, you would have to shop around. keep in mind that we do have sponsors that deal with food, Ken comes to mind. Also, besides selling live Black Worms, Dan carries bulk packages on bloodworms, brine shrimp and the like. soaking the pellets is not for better taste but rather for their safety, at least IMO. if you feed the pellets straight they can expand inside of their bellies. this also has to deal with how much you feed. with the NLS they are so small that i do not soak them. many do not soak but i'm one of the few that likes to take the extra minute to soak them and not risk anything. hope all of that helps and please ask any other questions you might have.

WOW! These are flakes on steroids! Not a literal statment. At first, my Discus just dodged and ran away from these giant flakes..ha ha ha:p But soon enough, they gobbled them up. I bought the Garlic, Beefheart, pro growth, and Vita...Their bags are awesome too! My babies love them & can't get enough! Thanks for the link buddy!

I love this website! I can talk Discus all I want :D

[rickztahone]

WOW! These are flakes on steroids! Not a literal statment. At first, my Discus just dodged and ran away from these giant flakes..ha ha ha:p But soon enough, they gobbled them up. I bought the Garlic, Beefheart, pro growth, and Vita...Their bags are awesome too! My babies love them & can't get enough! Thanks for the link buddy!

I love this website! I can talk Discus all I want :D

those are all great flakes. i forgot to tell you to grab all of the medicated flakes. it's always good to have some of them on hand. they can always be placed in the freezer to keep them fresh. there are other flakes at angelplus that i am yet to try and would like to. their main seller is the pro growth. my fish love the triple growth one as well.