Research...stocking a 55-56g tank ... Discus ?'s

[Matt30]

Hey Folks!

I have received a lot of feedback regarding my thread on researching how to stock a planned 55+gallon tank. I am still several months out and doing my research. Again, keeping bettas right now as I am resuming fish keeping after 20 years! (And I thought I was infatuated with keeping fish in my teens!!!...What's the phrase...'Boys never grow up. Only does the size - expense- of their toys...LOL) At any rate, I was considering a BGK, but the feedback I have received is that, due to the fishes adult size, the size tank I can accomodate at this time will not be sufficient. I can probably on max at about 65/70g. That said, a fish that I have had recommended in feedback on this site is the discus. These are beautiful fish indeed! I would consider these for sure, but I have a few questions perhaps I could get some answers to. First, how hard are they to keep? Second, how many could one comfortably keep in my prospective tank size? And lastly, I see there are many variations in color. Would it matter if I "mixed and matched"?

Thanks again everyone for helping make this such a wonderfully educational site, especially for newbies and those getting back into the joys of keeping fish!

Sincerely,
Matt

[12 Volt Man]

in my experience, discus are fairly easy to keep IF you maintain good water quality and keep them nice and warm (84-86 degrees).

I used to water change mine twice per week and feed them two small feedings a day as they were growing up, generally switching to once per day for the adults.

the catch with discus is to allow 10-15 gallons per adult discus and try and treat the tank as a discus tank only with only a few other compatible tankmates, rather than a community tank with a few discus thrown in :)

for something like a 55 gallon, 4 is a good number to go with.

for a 75 (would be much better) you might be able to get away with 6. but no more :)

I tend to like schools in even numbers :)