Discus Fish / Tank size advise and fellow aquariumist needed for advice.

Hi,

I would like to get a discus fish tank.

I currently have a 250l 45x45x122 tank, but for discus this is to low I heard as they swim vertical.

I would like to start of with a pair and in later stage go up to 3 pairs or so, 6 fish.

What kind of size tank would be advised (dimensions?) Is 4 foot ok for two fish, just need a higher tank or would you recommend to go 5 foot and then what height.

I will use the 250L as a sump for the bigger tank.

Thanks

 

Thanks,

I saw that indeed online, however discus need a high tank I found out, ie 70cm + due to them growing in hight and that benefits their hight. So only liters is not enough in this case as my tank is 250l but just 45cm high/deep.

 

Some advice from someone that has kept and bred discus since 1988,

Your discus do not need a tank that is deeper than 50 cm, most breeders breed them in tanks that are 50 cm deep. You need at least 60 litres per adult fish, 40 litres is completely inadequate and your fishes will remain stunted in growth if you contain them in 40 litres per fish. When you start off with small fishes of minimum size 6 cm you need a minimum of 6, preferably more, perhaps 10 and then if they get to adults you can reduce the numbers, but they must first grow into adults and you need a lot of food and careful attention to detail in order to get this right. Discus are pretty, but are of the most demanding and frustrating fishes to keep.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Thanks dirk,They are beatifull. I wasnt talking about depth, sorry, I ment hight, they say higher tanks are better?is the Boyu TL-550 good enough for an adult discus pair?That one is 128L?

 

Can u please comment Dirk?

 

Hi dutchdog,

I was meaning height, depth of the water, and not depth as is front to back of the tank.

Your 128 l tank should be large enough for a pair of adult discus. Why I specifically write adults is because you must not buy 2 small discus and think that you will get two adult discus eventually. The one small discus will dominate the other one and eventually kill it, not through damaging it, but through keeping it off the food and if the fish has not eaten for a week, it just goes downhill. The absolute minimum number of discus that you should buy if you buy small 6 cm discus is 6, no less, or else one fish dominates the rest.

Kind regards,

Dirk