oh the options of a 55 gallon.... well for the first time ive decided to try something new. Discus!!!!

i have a few questions to start, how many can i keep? i plan on buying them all at 3in

how should i aquascape the tank?

some basics for care?

and breeding? is it hard?




also i want to start looking at what type ill want so please post your images of discuss here as well

Discus, from my own research and from just going to hang out with a guy that breeds them is you should keep them in a school of at least 5 (Yes, Mike D that's why he sent you 5, I saw your order on the wall too btw.) otherwise they get wiggy and stressed. They get a decent size too, actually bigger than I expected. When I was looking at one of his breeding pairs he had just the two and the babies in a 55.

I don't know any other fish that would work in a school with them. Angels might, but I just recently rescued a batch of angels and they're alot meaner than I expected something so delicate looking to be. I tried them in with some random tropicals, and they picked at everything except the pleco in with them.

So long as the decorations aren't sharp or pointy you could get away with mostly whatever. Some places to hide are good and I prefer real plants over fake.

I don't know much about breeding but, I'm sure it's similar to most other larger Cichlids. If they breed like Convicts, they wouldn't go for as much money as they sell for now.

I have 8 discus now! I hope they breed!

Discus need very clean water and at that size they will need to be fed 4-5 times a day. I do 50% water changes everyday. I think I wrote a profile on the discus here check out the species profile section.

The thing with discus is that everyone makes keeping discus out to be hard when in all actuality its rather easy. Just keep up with the wc's, make sure your ammonia level is 0 and feed them with a good quality discus food and you should be fine.

As for aquascaping I do plants and driftwood. Plants arnt hard to keep as well. all you need is a good light and if you want to use co2 and ferts you can.
Like saint_felony said nothing pointy or sharp.

My angels are fine with with my discus infact the female angel adopted all of the discus as her own babies. I was worried about My larger discus picking on the little ones, but they have taken a shine to the juveniles and my alpha discus actually guards them.

Discus breed just like angel do. If you are going to breed them I would do a little reasearch, talk to local breeders, read a few papers about breeding discus online, talk to people online about breeding them.

John is a very knowledgeable person and he helped me out when I was getting my tank ready for my 5. Once I get my 72g set up I'm going to move the discus into there new home.

ive come up with what i seem is a decent stock, remember the tank is a 55 gallon

6 Discus ill let them pair up, because im buying them all as juveniles, ill keep hopefully 3 pairs but mostly likely only 2, im going to keep the tank at 83-84F and then 3 water changes a week each being 20%

Sounds like a good Plan!

Where are you getting them from?

Poppops im a good friend of his.... and let me tell you the angels and discus he has are healthy, strong and beautiful

I was just up at his house tonite, and he got some new ones in and they were awesome looking. Ask him about the wild caught one he has too. It's gorgeous.

Just don't mention the 3 water changes a week to him. He thought I was nuts for only considering doing once a day.

haha hes a good guy.... just wish i lived closer to him

He's a good guy and all but I totally don't want to live any closer. Reading is scary.

id love to live right next door to him hahaha how far do you live from pops?

Totally depends on 422. Going out to his place today took me over an hour, getting home was 25-30ish. Westbound 422 has some crazy construction going on out by 662.

We have two seasons around here, Winter and Construction. Maybe it will be better in the winter.

Haha I just got 5 in from john last week and they are eating like pigs! John is a great guy!

Mine have only been in the tank a few hours now and are still in the "oh crap it's different here" stage. I think I'm going to have to move the snails in the tank with them. One of the bigger apple snails just did it's usual I'm to lazy to walk to the bottom of the tank so I'll just fall routine, and the 3 discus near that side of the tank all crapped their collective pants.