My first discus

icemanx23

icemanx23

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Nov 30, 2008
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I bought one marlboro discus about 2". I know people suggest 5 or more in a tank. But in my 15 gallon ther ain't much room. My discus is living happily with 3 corys, a male guppy and a female betta in a heavily planted 15 gallon tank. Can i grow it into adult in 15 g or will the tank stunt my fish?
 
a 15 is definitely not optimal conditions for a discus.

you may want to read up on discus.. a 2" is a juvenile and will require several feedings per day... it will also need to have daily water changes as uneaten food= waste and will pollute the water.

usually it is best to remove uneaten food. which means a water change. even small with every other day a larger change you can get by..but remember you are looking at 4-5 feedings daily(small feedings)
 
your discus will outgrow that 15 gal tank in about 6 months,
you really should have at least 5 in a tank no smaller than a 75 ...

I would suggest you return that fish, he requires a water temp of about 85F that your other fish will not tolerate. not to mention the water changes, and several feedings per day. You should have done a little more research before you got that fish.. Sorry..
 
Wow, I think I've never heard of anyone putting one in a 15 gallon tank.:headshake2:
He should be 4" and nice and round by 6 months of age, should be 5-6"by 1 year of age. It'll never work. He will get stunted, heaven only knows how him and the betta will get along, he'll be lonely for more of his own kind, if water quality is not kept up to par he'll be at risk for a number of serious ailments, and did I mention he'll get stunted? I understand not being able to resist temptation when people see them in the fish stores, and even if you could only keep one because of the expense of them, keeping in that small of a tank is defeat before you start. They are definitely not a fish to be picked up, plopped in a tank and kept hap-hazardly.:headshake2:
 
I'm thinking of trading my male flowerhorn in 50g. I'm planning on keeping a planted discus tank. I also have 150g which house a flowerhorn pair. I'm thinking of moving onto discus. First i want to try with 50g. Don't worry the first one is just an expirement. Now i know i like discus and it's easy to keep them. Water temp in all my tanks is about 28C. I also have heaters in my tanks. Can't i raise a single discus in my 50g tank?
 
They are one of the more social fish. There will be less stress on it if it is kept in a group and will exhibit better color and behavior patterns when it feels comfortable.

The folks above are giving you very reasonable advice. You state above that it is easy to keep them. That may be true if you do your research up front, which it seems you neglected to do since you purchased one and put it in a 15 gal tank with other fish that it is not compatible with.

Your stating the first one is an "experiment" causes me to doubt you should ever get any more.

You could probably get away with three in the 50 gal tank..but I would not recommend it.
 
icemanx23 said:
IDon't worry the first one is just an expirement. Now i know i like discus and it's easy to keep them. Water temp in all my tanks is about 28C. I also have heaters in my tanks. Can't i raise a single discus in my 50g tank?
Click to expand...

So....how do you know it's easy to keep them? You posted 2 days ago that you just bought your first discus - so you've managed to keep it alive for a few days to a week, therefore it's an 'easy' fish to keep?? I would really do your research...discus are very sensitive and very prone to stunting as juvies if their tank is not large enough and the water quality is not pristine. As others said, juvies should be raised in groups of 5+ with a bare-bottom tank to make daily cleaning easier, since you need to feed 4-5x a day, as discus are foragers. I do not believe a single discus will thrive for any decent period of time (by this I do not mean days or weeks, but several months to years) as they are a very social fish and very easily stressed. Regardless of if this is some live animal 'experiment' or not, unfortunately I do not think this discus will survive long term unless you do a lot of research and overhaul your plans. :headshake2:

Pics?
 
This is my discus. I do research about discus. That's the reason i'm afraid to get these guys. I've kept hardy fish for more than a decade. I just want to try something challenging. Anyway my 15g is like a quarantine tank. I don't want to change my 150 into discus tank yet. It's hard to maintain 150 so i'm trying to start with 50g and i don't want to overstock.
And i don't see my discus stressed, it's really active and greet me when i come infront of the tank. So discus also may have a personality cause i heard people have problems with the discus being shy. I post some pics. I'm now planning on setting up my 50 and when the tank stabilize i will put him in. So he got to stay in 15 for a while. I think my female betta is compatible with my discus. They don't fight and get a long pretty well and corys doesn't bother them. So i'm confuse about incompatability in my tank:confused:. Thanks for the replies.

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lucy42083 said:
So....how do you know it's easy to keep them? You posted 2 days ago that you just bought your first discus - so you've managed to keep it alive for a few days to a week, therefore it's an 'easy' fish to keep?? I would really do your research...discus are very sensitive and very prone to stunting as juvies if their tank is not large enough and the water quality is not pristine. As others said, juvies should be raised in groups of 5+ with a bare-bottom tank to make daily cleaning easier, since you need to feed 4-5x a day, as discus are foragers. I do not believe a single discus will thrive for any decent period of time (by this I do not mean days or weeks, but several months to years) as they are a very social fish and very easily stressed. Regardless of if this is some live animal 'experiment' or not, unfortunately I do not think this discus will survive long term unless you do a lot of research and overhaul your plans. :headshake2:

Pics?
Click to expand...
Thanks for the comment. I've kept flowerhorn and i know about stunting and i also hate to see stunted fish. I've got one foot flowerhorn raised from an inch. But with discus my aim is not to max out the size. I'm keeping plants to help filtering the waste so i have to understock to reduce water change to once a week. And i don't want just one or two more discus cause i heard they are like tiger barbs, keep more than 5. If kept 2 or 3 and u ends up with 1. So i think single maybe better than having two three discus fighting each other. Any of u try to raise discus single? Please share some experience on keeping single discus.
 
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