37 Gallon Discus Tank Thread with Pics

EH, thanks for the compliment.

So, just to be clear, I'm not new to keeping aquariums, at one point in my teens I had 6 aquariums set up in my bedroom (55, 30, 20H, 10, 6, 2.5) and I kept all kinds of fish from african ciclids, firemouth, convicts, goldfish, betta, tiger barbs, oscars, jack dempseys, gourmis, angels, platys, neons, mollies, guppies, swordtails, danios, and even a bass I caught in a nearby river (only kept him for a few days when I got tired of his mess and splashing I put him back in the river).

The last tank I kept a couple years ago was a 29 gallon SPS Coral Marine Reef Tank. So it's not like I don't know what I'm doing or don't know research is important, I just didn't do enough research on the discus, and quite frankly couldn't believe what I had read about how much people did for them or that I would have trouble with them. Finally, I got them from a very bad LFS, they weren't in good health to start with. So if someone else reads this thread and gets to this post, keep in mind you should be ready to 50% water changes every other day at minimum and keep a dedicated barebottom tank for them with a minimum of 5 fish.

So dropping them off at the better LFS was kinda sad, I had put so much work into them, and I was letting them go. I stayed at the store while they were acclimated and then eventually added to their discus tank. As I was waiting, a guy came up and saw the other discus the LFS had. He was interested and asked the LFS sales kid I chat with about the discus. The kid smartly said that they are a lot of work. When the guy questioned how much work they were, the kid says: "this guy here can tell you" pointing to me. I told the guy he has to be ready to do a water change every other day. Upon hearing that he moved on. Yeah, this LFS is better than the one I bought these Discus from.
 
Ive been following this thread and I just wanted to say dont give up on keeping discus. I do think that taking the ones you had back was a good idea but I dont think you should give up on keeping discus. I bought my first discus a year ago and I made the mistake of buying a sick stunted discus from a bad LFS. It was a lot of heartache and alot of time and stress. I was still determined though that I was going to have a go at discus keeping. This time I went to a gentleman that had bred some discus locally. He kept them in just treated tapwater. They werent anything special but they were healthier than the LFS fish. Ive now had these discus for a year and they are still going strong along with my dream cobalt discus that I bought a few months ago after being confident enough that I would be able to keep him alive. Hes now been spawning with one of my other discus. So I say dont give up! Give them another go but this time make sure you get some better fish. They dont need to be expensive ones just healthy and you will have a far more enjoyable experience with them :)

keep in mind you should be ready to 50% water changes every other day at minimum and keep a dedicated barebottom tank for them with a minimum of 5 fish.
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This is only really true for baby discus when they are growing. Adults are fine in community tanks with fewer water changes. I do 50% water change a week. And they are happy and spawning.
 
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Thanks Alice, that's a great post. And it supports a lingering feeling I've just been having: I can't be that bad at keeping fish. It's really shaken my usually unshakeable confidence in fishkeeping. So many others seem to raise discus much like I was trying to and do it more effortlessly while I put in a ton of work and struggled. In fact on theplantedtank.com I saw some discus in 37's with substrate, plants, and fewer than 5 in the tank. So I still say, be ready for a lot of work, but set yourself to err on the side of extra work the first time a person keeps Discus. Partially thanks to your post, I won't put them completely out of mind if I get ready to set up a 48" long or better tank.

Thank You!
 
wow, I missed this entire thread till now, and its over...


Anyway, You did what you could for them.. You could tell the turquoise was stunted because its eyes are very large compared to its body. The diamond looked ok, but very stressed out.

You brought them around, they looked much better in the last picture than they did in the first pic.

Keep this in mind:
Discus are a little more demanding than some other fish, but sick discus are more demanding than anything. The fish you got weren't healthy from the start, and if they were you probably would not have had near the problems you did if they were healthy.

I have had my discus for a few years, and I love them.
I hope you try to raise some again, but be picky when you make your purchases.
 
Thats great that you havent been put off :D

In fact on theplantedtank.com I saw some discus in 37's with substrate, plants, and fewer than 5 in the tank.
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Yep I keep 4 in my 60ish gallon with plants, sand, tetras, cories and 2 swordtails, so four discus would probably be fine in a smaller tank without the tankmates or fewer tankmates.
 
I always recommend to people to find a trusted breeder to buy discus from and to generally stay away from purchasing discus at any LFS. While there are a few excellent LFS's that know of and provide the proper care for discus and in fact obtain only healthy discus to sell, they are very, very few and far between. As the Zigman said....sick discus are very demanding and very expensive to treat and stressful beyond belief to go through this. Unfortunately you had already purchased your discus in a sad state. Not one of the fun fishkeeping experiences. If you do find yourself wanting to start a discus tank again, be very, very careful of what you're purchasing. Even if you have to spend a few dollars more per fish to get healthy fish, the additional purchase cost is minute compared to the cost of purchasing meds to try to overcome discus disease and illness.
 
I think you did the right thing giving them up for now. You did a lot of work, helped them & learned a lot. When & if you decide to try discus again you'll be better prepared.

Plan on at least a 4ft tank of 75g for a group of 6. Other people have done it with smaller tanks +/or fewer fish but it'll be easier to do this way, that's why it's recommended ;). Buy larger fish if you don't have time to grow up juveniles. Groups help keep down aggression.

Adults can get HUGE! I visited a discus hobby breeder last week, some of her adults ~6 inches but a couple were 7 or 8, thick & gorgeous. It made me rethink my discus plans :nilly: LOL

Good luck!
 
I dont have discuss but this thread is awsome. Too bad they take so much time and effort. I can give them the effort but not the time. also i dont have the money.

Anyway maby there are easier to care for less colrfull discuss or fish like them you can try. Thats what i do start small/easy and work my way to the big guns. I started my first tank with nothin but 3-4 common goldfish i won at the fair as a kid. Now i have 4 tanks. one has 5 common goldfish another has a large # of tropical ish and a black moor. Also a breeder for rosy reds. Now i have a SALTWATER TANK. I havent stoked it yet and man do i talk alot. I really went:OT: for awile. Sorry bout that. lol. anyway try an easyer tank and slowly get harder tanks. GOOD LUCK.

PS: they should make a smily for GOOD LUCK. lol
 
Don't feel bad when you see that 37 gallon on TPT with a pair of discus.

No one has ever RAISED nice looking discus in a 30-something planted tank with daily feeding and weekly water changes.

You can maintain a PAIR of beautiful, large, healthy adult discus in 37 gallon tank, but you can't RAISE them there- no one can- so don't beat yourself up about it. If you have a couple hundred bucks burning a hole in your pocket, you can pick up an adult pair from a breeder that will do fine ;)

There are two ways to do discus.

1) buy the huge $200 each beautiful adults (where someone else has done all the hard work raising them) put them in your planted community tank, feed once a day and do weekly water changes

2) spend $20-$30 each for 2" juvies, put them in a large bare bottom tank, feed them 4 times a day and do daily water changes for 9 months and end up with huge beautiful healthy discus.
 
don't give up on the Discus. they are very beautiful and fun fish to have..

remember start with good stock ..you do not need a huge tank to raise babies.. you can use a growout tank to raise the young..
there are different philosophies when raising Discus..

they will require a little more work.. but the same routine should be used on any prized stock you intend to raise..
young fish need lots of food and with that comes increased waste, this equates to more water changes.

the discus really are not much different.

clean water good food.
 
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