Discus Fish

[wint3rz]

Hi newbie to forums here
Ive owned a juwel vision 180 for around 6months now, stock is 4 cory cats, 6 guppies, 3 2inch bristlenose catfish and 8 neons and there all doing fine, and i came across Discus fish and they look stunning and im starting to do my research so i was wondering would i be able to get discus in my aquarium and if so then how many.

Many thanks
Ash

 

[wint3rz]

 

[waterdrop]

Hi wint3rz and welcome to the beginners section!

Discus are a specialty fish, often kept in a "species specific" large aquarium, but not always. I'd have two concerns for you to consider. First I believe that your guppy livebearers are fish that will prefer hard water (water with higher mineral content) whereas the neons you already have are fish that prefer soft, acid water. The discus are even more of an extreme in the soft, acid direction I believe, so the mismatch in your community stocking would be getting even wider. Secondly, I believe many consider discus to not really be a good beginner fish to help you acheive success and growth in your first year as a hobbyist (if indeed that is your situation.) I could be wrong about this and the members here are great at bringing out details, but lacking other input, those are my thoughts. You might be able to stumble upon some of our discus hobbyists in the cichlid specific forum(s).

You have a wonderful large tank and I'm sure the members here will enjoy helping you in whatever way they can.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[wint3rz]

Hi thanks for reply, ive been doing alot of research on them and ive read they arnt much of a beginners fish and i see they grow upto 8" and i would want a bigger tank for them and as ive seen more experience

My Ph is around 7.2 and i was told by fish shop that it would be fine for my current stock

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, pH is not something you want to alter from what your tap water gives you except under a lot of duress. I think the majority of discus people have tanks in the range of 3 to 500L. --wd--