How many discus in a 75 gal?

[Orange Crush]

I was thinking about just getting a breeding pair of discus, I'm not wanting to breed them but I was not sure if my 75 gal could hold a school of discus since I will also have 1 bristlenose pleco, 9 diamond tetras, and eventually 4 adult apistos (1 male, 3 female). I currently have one adult pair of apistos and at least 7 baby apistos in another tank but I was going to only keep two female babies and sell the rest to a LFS.
Can my tank handle more than a breeding pair with the other fish? My biggest priority is that the discus happy and healthy.

[Lady Hobbs]

I see no reason you couldn't have 6.

[Orange Crush]

If I added 6 adults will they be happy? I thought they prefered to be in a group of at least 8 to avoid "personality" issues becoming too much of a problem.
How much and how often would I need to do water changes with that many adult discus?

[3dees]

6 will be fine. I have 8 in a 120 gal. and could add a few more if I wanted to. if you but adults then one wc per week of a minimum of 50% would be ok. I do one 70% every 5 days and my fish are healthy. some do more and some less with good results. I had a bn pleco and it produced more waste than all the other fish. best thing I did was to give it away. tank is much cleaner now.

[fishguy66]

I was thinking about just getting a breeding pair of discus, I'm not wanting to breed them but I was not sure if my 75 gal could hold a school of discus since I will also have 1 bristlenose pleco, 9 diamond tetras, and eventually 4 adult apistos (1 male, 3 female). I currently have one adult pair of apistos and at least 7 baby apistos in another tank but I was going to only keep two female babies and sell the rest to a LFS.
Can my tank handle more than a breeding pair with the other fish? My biggest priority is that the discus happy and healthy.

75gl is too small a tank for 6 discus. Maybe as juveniles, but as adult discus are a large cichlid, they need ROOM. I would personally go w/ @ least a 120gl for that many. I've seen adults as big as a large dinner plate! You will more than likely get a pair eventually, & once they spawn,the other discus in the tank will get picked on. Also, be prepared to do a lot of water changes. When I had them a few years ago, I did 75% 3X per week, & probably could have done more. You can never change the water often enough for discus. Most breeders change the water on a daily basis! :22:

[3dees]

take a look on simplydiscus.com. for all the info you will ever need. the general rule is 10 gals per fish for discus. your tank is fine for six. on wc's, breeders do change a lot of water every day. you must for raising discus fry. as I said, a large weekly wc is enough for ADULTS.

[Fishguy2727]

6 is far from too many in a 75. I have seen breeders with 11 in a 55. Obviously this all requires adequate maintenance to keep the nitrate concentration under 20ppm, but 6-8 in a 75 is fine.