Best temp

[Sheila]

What is the best temp to keep young discus at? 84, 86? I currently have mine at 86 and have noticed an awful lot of harrassing each other, would a lower temp make any difference? I know in larger south and central american cichlids, sometimes decreasing the temp can decrease their aggression a bit. Does this work in Discus? Or is this just a matter of settling pecking order? Everyone looks good and is eating well.

[Disgirl]

How many fish in what sized tank? I raised my 12 babies at 86 for the first year. Now they are 84. How old are yours?
Barb

[ShinShin]

82-83F is fine for all discus. For some reason people keep juveniles at 86F. Never made sense to me for the reason they state.

Mat

[Keith Perkins]

IMO all the temps mentioned so far pretty much define the best range to keep discus in, 82-86. Seems like here in the states most people tend to be on the higher end of that range, but it seems like in Great Britain they tend to be on the lower end. They're not quite that fussy, pick your spot in there and try to keep it consistent. Consistency they do like.

[wgtaylor]

Shelia
I keep my young discus between 80 - 82. Appetites and aggression are still typical cichlid.
I hatched a batch at 78, my mistake, but raised them at that temp and saw no difference in appetite, growth or disposition.
Dropping the temp from 86 to 82 they can slow down for only a couple days then return to their normal personalities, if they are healthy.
Bill

[Sheila]

Thanks guys

[Jhhnn]

What is the best temp to keep young discus at? 84, 86? I currently have mine at 86 and have noticed an awful lot of harrassing each other, would a lower temp make any difference? I know in larger south and central american cichlids, sometimes decreasing the temp can decrease their aggression a bit. Does this work in Discus? Or is this just a matter of settling pecking order? Everyone looks good and is eating well.

When they're harassing each other, that means they're healthy. That's particularly true of juvies in my limited experience, and a big part of why they do better in larger groups, where aggression gets spread around. 82-86F is the generally accepted temp range. People who keep discus with other fish in communities generally hold to the lower end, and have to be careful to select tankmates that do well at discus temps...

[Sheila]

I don't have to worry about other tankmates as it is just the juvies. 7 in a 150g tank. I may add some tetras/cories once they are adults, but my main focus right now is growing these guys. I made a lot of mistakes the first time I did Discus and I want to do it right this time.

[Keith Perkins]

Wow, that's a lot of tank for 7 juvies. I'd be a little afraid they'd feel insure with all that space, especially depending what size juvies they are. You don't see this advice very often on this forum, but you might want to consider having more discus in that tank.

[Disgirl]

Or if you don't want to go Keith's route, which is a good idea, just put some sort of divider in the tank to make their space smaller until they grow more. Plastic egg crate works well and water goes through it well so the whole tank is still well filtered. Even though others have nothing but water and fish in their tanks I have always had either plastic or real plants attached to some wood, looks better and gives the fish someplace to hide or call their own if they want it. But BB is the way to go for sure!
Barb

[Keith Perkins]

Barb makes excellent suggestions here on all counts. I use plastic/silk plants and driftwood in all non-breeder tanks to give fish some structure and comfort zones. Comes in handy if the pecking order stuff gets a little intense and someone wants to duck out for a while. If the fish are healthy, they won't spend a lot of time in those areas. The egg crate idea for minimizing space is a great inexpensive suggestion, but not as much fun as buying more fish. :)

[Sheila]

Well, more fish are tempting, but I may have to wait a bit. I do have egg crate dividing the tank right now. I'm also trying to decide how many fish total I eventually want in the tank. I am thinking 10 or so.

[Keith Perkins]

Well there's always the old 1 discus per 10 gallon rule, but 10 adults (at least eventually) in a tank that size with driftwood, schools of tetras etc. is not bad. Anxious to see pics from you some day.

[Sheila]

Is 10 ok? Should I do more? I would like to add a nice school of tetras as well as maybe some cories. The tank isn't much to look at right now, just a lot of empty space with a big white divider lol. I have some pics of the discus in the photography section. Once it looks better and they grow a bit I will post more.

[Keith Perkins]

Ten is fine, but you likely could easily do a few more. Just sort of depends how much driftwood, other community fish, etc you plan to put in the tank. Better to be under capacity than over, and you're bound to find some discus down the road you just can live without to add. :)

[Sheila]

yeah thats why I thought 10 would be an ok number, still leaves me the ability to add more if I want later.