Discus

[CAC]

i am hopefully getting a 48" long x 12" wide x 15" high 30gallon tank with a fluval 204 external filter, a fluval 2+ internal filter, lighting and heater and was thinking of either Mbuna or Discus of some sort.
does anyone know of any species of Discus i could keep and how many the tank could accomodate?
thanks

 

[AmberC]

Well.. You can keep a pair of fully grown discus in there.. I know people do it, but personally I would not. Discus do best in large groups and you cannot put more than two fully grown in a 30. Juvies would not do well in a 30 as they need the space to grow out and they need REALLY clean water and a BB tank to do this properly.

HTH
Amber

 

[CAC]

ok cheers for response.
an expert from one of the top websites that breed discus told me that i could keep 4 in there, up until they were adults, and he wasnt just trying to sell me his like some LFS's i know of...

 

[kev_kb]

A general guideline is to give each Discus 10 gallons of water, and to keep 5-6. Personally I'd only use your tank for a bonded breeding pair, and I wouldn't use the internal filter, they may not like the flow all that much. As your starting out with Discus I would stick to the 10 gallon rule and keep a group in a larger tank, it will make things much easier. If you plan to upgrade in the future than you could start them in there I guess but I wouldn't keep a large fish such as Discus in a tank 12" deep.

Maybe you should think about a slightly larger tank? A 4x2x2 would be ideal. You also need to think about the special conditions Discus need, mainly higher temps (an extra heater doesn't hurt), soft water (RO may be required) and slow moving non aggressive tank mates which can stand the high temps.

 

[CAC]

no room nor money for a larger tank, ill stick to what i know(sort of) and love, Mbuna
thanks for all your help