Discus Question

[PiMpPiStOl]

i have a community tank, 33 gallon, and ive had it for a while, and i was thinking about getting into discus...

right now, i have 3 black skirt tetras, 3 cihclids, 2 balloon bellys, 2 swordtails, a betta, a peacock eel, and a brown knifefish, and a bunch of ghost shrimp.

my friend just started a tank, and hed maybe wanna buy some of them. so i jus just wondering what all the discus would get along with and what id need to get rid of. mainly i dont wanna rid of the eel or knife, but i dunno. cuz they hide most of the time, except at night. but if i had to, i would get rid of em.

also, what makes some discus worth so much?? theres 1 i saw that looked like one that cost real cheap, but cost like...299. are they kinda rare or something? or just nice looking?

thanks!

 

[Truck]

no 33 gallons is no way big enough for discus, there so expensive because there pretty rare, hard to get hold of and breed.

 

[PiMpPiStOl]

no 33 gallons is no way big enough for discus, there so expensive because there pretty rare, hard to get hold of and breed.

whats a good size for em??

 

[Truck]

id say 75 gallons

and they are NOT a beginers fish have some experience with some slightly more challenging species before delving into discus, water changes every 3 days (how does that sound?)

 

[PiMpPiStOl]

what are some slightly more challenging fish?

 

[Truck]

do some research man!

look toward cichlids

 

[Jim Curtis]

Put an 8" dinner plate in your tank if you want to get an idea of what a full grown discus looks like.

Discus are Cichlids truck.

A 50 gallon would be a big enough for 5 discus by themselves.

 

[shibby]

im still unsure on discus being a hard fish there seems to be alot stronger strains of discus then inbred weak fish like most neons, guppys and the popular fish have become. sure wild discus are still hard. but discus seem strong and rarely sucumb to diesease, maybe thats just my experiance with them...

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

id say 75 gallons

and they are NOT a beginers fish have some experience with some slightly more challenging species before delving into discus, water changes every 3 days (how does that sound?)

Normally we like to recommend a 50 gallon minimum for Discus.


Discus in a way are more challenging, but not in the sense of being fragile. It does take more time and effort to meet their needs, that' the challenging part. If you can meet their needs with plenty of water changes and lots of feeding, then you shouldn't have any problems with them.

 

[Jim Curtis]

Even if they are only "as fragile" as a Tetra, they are 50x more expensive and unless money grows on trees for you and you consider $50 toilet paper, I wouldnt invest in Discus unless you are willing to devote 5 hours a week to tank maintenence minimum.