How many can i fit in a 100 gallon?

[salman]

The title says it all. I bought a 100 gallon tank yesterday and i want to fill it with discus. Everywhere i read, it says its best to have a school of 6-8, but can i go higher? Depending on what the store has at that time, im going to get mostly small ones and maybe a few medium sized ones. I'm not going to get 4 from here and 4 from there. I dont want a sick discus from 1 store to kill all the other ones. It's a 100 gallon long tank, so they will have a lot of space to swim in. There will only be discus and a couple of plecos.

[genitor]

You could probably fit like 4 or 5 in there, bear in mind that they get to 8 inches. Plecos don't go well with discus as they are known to suck onto the sides of discus.

[salman]

You could probably fit like 4 or 5 in there, bear in mind that they get to 8 inches. Plecos don't go well with discus as they are known to suck onto the sides of discus.

4 or 5????
People say 6-8 in a 50 gallon.

[nanaglen2001]

Forget that number Salman, Genitor is absolutely right.

Discus ar Cichlids, and the behave like Cichlids, get territorial and all.

You also will loose some space cause you need to decorate your tan, at least with some really well picked driftwood, to give them hiding places and some optical territory boarders.

[Drumachine09]

What filtration can you provide. (IE, name a/the filter/s)

[salman]

I'm waiting for the tank to get cycled, and then I'm going out to get them. I don't want to buy 5 now and then 5 later because i really don't want my discus to get sick and die.

5 discus in a 100 gallon would look really empty, especially since they aren't crazy swimmers.

Speaking of driftwood, i was in a fish store yesterday, and they had this fancy carved driftwood, it had holes and places so the fish can go through it and even hide. I'm going out to get it today, i wasn't sure if the width of the tank was big enough.

[nanaglen2001]

Of course your tank will look a bit empty in the beginning. But dont forget the size those animal can get, wait a few months, and then your maybe 7 inch animals will fill it up nicely.

What you can do, put in a nicely school of bigger South Amerircan Characins in it. Those guys are eyecatching also, and with their behavior they make the Discus feel more secure and keep them active too.

And before I forget, Corycats will fit into any tank. Funny folk, very active and there are some really colorful species like the Corydoa adolfoii.

[Lady Hobbs]

They are all correct Salman. You'll want a bunch of nice tall plants for them to swim and hide in and they are territoral. Crowding them will only cause them to be stressed. I would get bristle nosed catfish or snails and forget the pleco.

Where's the discus you submitted in your MOTM photo last month? Those look pretty big?

[salman]

They are all correct Salman. You'll want a bunch of nice tall plants for them to swim and hide in and they are territoral. Crowding them will only cause them to be stressed. I would get bristle nosed catfish or snails and forget the pleco.

Where's the discus you submitted in your MOTM photo last month? Those look pretty big?

I have 3 discus left in my 44 gallon tank now. They all died from gill fluke, i couldn't treat them right because i had to travel the next morning. I am still treating the 3 that made it, but im not sure they will make it.

[salman]

I forgot to also add,

I am going to try to find healthy ones, they all look healthy in the store, but when you bring them home, they start to get sick and die. I'm going to buy 8 so if half of them die, i won't have to go out and buy some new ones, QT them for a month and then when i add them they will kill my other fish.


EDIT!: I change my mind, im going to buy 6 and hope only 1 dies.

[Lady Hobbs]

Over crowding is one of the causes of flukes! You don't want to go down that path again.

[salman]

Over crowding is one of the causes of flukes! You don't want to go down that path again.

I'll get 5 then and hope nothing dies. If 2 die, then its goodbye discus and hello a new species of fish.


I might add some other small schooling fish that go fish discus, i forgot what they were called. arghh! To make the tank look a little busy. But, do you think i should QT them before adding them with the discus?

[Lady Hobbs]

All fish should be quarantined before adding with your stock. Sometimes it's impossible to do that if you haven't an extra tank, tho. Just check them out very good before buying them, make sure they come from a clean tank and are active and not staying alone, at the top or bottom.

I very, very seldom ever have a fish die and have only had ICK once after introducting new ones and that was nearly 2 years ago. Just do those water changes and keep the gravel clean and you'll have happy, disease free fish.

[Fishguy2727]

I recommend sand.

You should have at least 6 because they like to school and they have a pecking order. Having only a few will cause one or two to get picked on more than if you had a few more in the tank. If you really kept up with your water changes and had a lot of filtration you could have the 6-8 that you were thinking. What kind of plecos were you thinking of? Some are fine. I have bristlenose plecoes in with mine, I have heard that gold nuggets are fine with discus. There are always exceptions, worst case you move it to a different tank.

You shouldn't have to plan on any of them dying. If that is the case find a new source for them.

There are lots fo good tankmates for them. Cardinal tetras have a lot of color and do very well with discus. Rummynose tetras are also a good match to the water parameters. The previously mentioned plecos, cory cats (sterbai like the high temps of discus), rams, basically anything from the same area of the Amazon should like the same water parameters. If you are going to have other fish, I would keep the discus numbers down, but if it is going to be all or almost all discus, you could have others in there too.

You may just need to cut off a piece of a nice piece of driftwood to get it to fit.

[salman]

I recommend sand.

You should have at least 6 because they like to school and they have a pecking order. Having only a few will cause one or two to get picked on more than if you had a few more in the tank. If you really kept up with your water changes and had a lot of filtration you could have the 6-8 that you were thinking. What kind of plecos were you thinking of? Some are fine. I have bristlenose plecoes in with mine, I have heard that gold nuggets are fine with discus. There are always exceptions, worst case you move it to a different tank.

You shouldn't have to plan on any of them dying. If that is the case find a new source for them.

There are lots fo good tankmates for them. Cardinal tetras have a lot of color and do very well with discus. Rummynose tetras are also a good match to the water parameters. The previously mentioned plecos, cory cats (sterbai like the high temps of discus), rams, basically anything from the same area of the Amazon should like the same water parameters. If you are going to have other fish, I would keep the discus numbers down, but if it is going to be all or almost all discus, you could have others in there too.

You may just need to cut off a piece of a nice piece of driftwood to get it to fit.

Thank you fishguy, im going to go with 6 now.
When i buy my discus i buy them from different sources and i think that was the problem. I'm going to go to 4 or 5 different stores, and then see which are healthier and which look best. I'm only going to buy them from one place.

Cardinal tetras were what i was looking for. I forgot what they were called. I will get a dozen of them and QT them for a month then put them with the discus.

[Fishguy2727]

If you can, wait for the discus to settle in at the LFS fot at least a week if not two or three. You may want to get one or two more than you want in the end, that way if one or two are either too aggressive or get beat up you can remove them without ending up with too small of a school in the tank. Many would say that others will just fill that spot in the pecking order, but I don't necessarily agree (or disagree), but I do think it is wrong for one to be beaten up just because he is on the bottom of the pecking order or for one to beat up the rest all the time.

[salman]

If you can, wait for the discus to settle in at the LFS fot at least a week if not two or three. You may want to get one or two more than you want in the end, that way if one or two are either too aggressive or get beat up you can remove them without ending up with too small of a school in the tank. Many would say that others will just fill that spot in the pecking order, but I don't necessarily agree (or disagree), but I do think it is wrong for one to be beaten up just because he is on the bottom of the pecking order or for one to beat up the rest all the time.

I'll get 8 just in case then.
The problem here is that fish don't last too long in the shops. I've been to many stores and talked to the people there. They say that every Wednesday they get new fish. Which means that most of the fish would be sold. I'm guessing that 80% of the discus they have would be sold within a week. Then they get more and join them. I'll try to go on a monday or tuesday which means its almost been a week. But, it will depend on when my tank will finish cycling. But, i may have less of a choice on tuesday, all the nice ones would have been bought bye then. But its better to have a healthy discus then a super model discus.

[nanaglen2001]

Do you have any chance to lay you hands on privately bred Discus???

Those are animals I would recomend,

Those fish grew up in the water of your area (very important), normaly the water wasnt treated with antibiotics (most of those Asian Discus are swimming in this stuff and when they get into normal water their immunity system cant cope with all the bacteria in it, and the fish die off), you can talk to the guy, you can, if you are lucky select from different lines (which avoides inbreeding).

Maybe its worth a try to look into the local newspaper or a buy and sell website of your area.

[salman]

Do you have any chance to lay you hands on privately bred Discus???

Those are animals I would recomend,

Those fish grew up in the water of your area (very important), normaly the water wasnt treated with antibiotics (most of those Asian Discus are swimming in this stuff and when they get into normal water their immunity system cant cope with all the bacteria in it, and the fish die off), you can talk to the guy, you can, if you are lucky select from different lines (which avoides inbreeding).

Maybe its worth a try to look into the local newspaper or a buy and sell website of your area.

Nope, i wish i did. Discus are my favorite fish, but there arn't any breeders here. They are all imported from somewhere.

[Cal Discus]

10 discus, 10-20 cardinal tetras (dither fish) or split with rummy nose. Sterbai cories (do better in groups of at least 3-4 of their own kind) and bristle nose plecos (all can handle temps in a discus tank). Sand is a good idea. Up your w/c's and you will have less flukes and overall less chance for illness.

""I am going to try to find healthy ones, they all look healthy in the store, but when you bring them home, they start to get sick and die.""

Not a big surprise. Most already have disease from a central system or mixed nets and equipment in the lfs. They just dont show till later.

Always QT any new additions to your aquarium no matter what the source. 2-4 weeks is a good time to observe for problems and you could put one of your previous fish in with the new ones for a week or so to observe (sacrificial lamb per se) Most have a cull or two for this purpose.