Can I use a discuss

[able]

I recently saw a discuss for sale at my local pet store I've been setting up a 55 gallon tank and am in the final stages of setting it up (just need to plant it) I am already doing Cody's and kuhli loaches I was researching about the discus and came across the video on them and was wondering if I would be fine keeping a single one in my 55 with the bottom dwellers and maybe a few tetra, guppies, or gourami (probably going with the guppies or neon tetra) most places I've checked have all said a group of six in a 75 to 100 but a few have said that one or two should be fine in a 55 i would probably just be going with one if it would be fine by itself 

[Tony s]

According to Cory. You can keep one discus. Yes they are schooling fish, but they’ll be okay.  His reasoning, dogs are pack animals. Not very many people keep dogs in pack. People as packs don’t quite count.

the problem you’ll have is discus like very clean, very warm water. Around 86 degrees. Which is hotter than most other fish can tolerate. Only a few corys can tolerate it. Sterbae is of the few. Kuhli’s won’t. Cardinal or rummynose will. Most other tetras won’t.

Discus also need very soft water. My lfs keeps them in RO water only. That could work, but you’d have to add trace minerals back in for long term health.

the next thing is price. Discus are really expensive. I’ve always been afraid of not quite getting everything just perfect and losing it.

iv’e been thinking about this a lot. My wife would like a discus tank. 300 $ for a school and no discus experience. Think I’m trying German rams until I get used to very clean hot water.  I’ve tried once and failed with them. Need to learn more. Or maybe just a red spot gold severum 😀

[able]

Thank you I'm still researching a bit but my local pet store is one of the chain ones they want 70-80 after tax for it

[Tony s]

On 1/19/2024 at 2:39 AM, able said:

Thank you I'm still researching a bit but my local pet store is one of the chain ones they want 70-80 after tax for it

I love the appearance of discus  very beautiful. But very specialized care. Makes me very nervous. If it comes in sick. Or worse, I accidentally screw something up and lose it. 

[Lennie]

I got me a pair but sadly lost my male due to a disease which no treatment method Ive tried worked against. So I have my female in a S.American community tank and she is the only discus there

 

To be honest, if I knew I could find her a great home I would probably rehome her. I don’t think these guys are meant to be kept alone. She was also not happy being with her partner in a tank as a pair all alone without any fish around too in 180 liters. I am not experienced enough to say much, but I think these guys want a community tank, ideally a big one, and a couple discus buddies around. 

 

@Fish Folk has a discus tank and that’s a 55g if Im not mistaken.

Well ofcourse bigger is better. But if you really want discus you can keep a small group at least rather than a single fish imo. but what cories do you have rn?
 

Also when I got mine they were kept in 28C. I don’t think need to go 30C exactly. That makes it very hard to find tankmates for in those temps and many people I come across keep them at a temp lower than 30C in my researches. 
 

But yea long story short, I wouldn’t suggest keeping one alone as a person who is kinda obliged to keep one in a community tank right now

[able]

I was thinking emerald corys I really just want some greens and purples if I can but I'm fine without the purple worst case

[jwcarlson]

Do yourself a favor and don't just plop one discus into a community tank, you're unlikely to have a good outcome.  Discus can handle down to 82, but they do seem happier warmer and will even take up to 93 without batting an eye, I grew mine out at 85 but have dropped them down to 82 now that they're adults.  If you think of a fish's ability to adapt as a boat and every little tick against their ideal circumstances is a hole in the boat.  Eventually it sinks if you don't compensate somehow, it just limits your sweet spot drastically.  There's people who basically have perfect discus water coming out of their tap and they can "get away with murder" (in my opinion) compared to my circumstances (very hard water, high pH).  To compensate, I change A LOT of water on them.

I've isolated a discus temporarily a few times and it's very stressful for them.  

[Fish Folk]

I kept 7x in a 55 gal. for awhile. I think that a 75 gal. definitely would have been better. But it was lovely just the same…

I water change only about 30% once a week. I just use two large sponge filters

[Robert K]

On 1/20/2024 at 12:55 AM, Fish Folk said:

I water change only about 30% once a week. I just use two large sponge filters

Do you remember what nitrate levels you had before the weekly water changes?

[Fish Folk]

On 1/20/2024 at 6:09 AM, Robert K said:

Do you remember what nitrate levels you had before the weekly water changes?

I’m not sure exactly. I may have tested it at ca. 40 ppm when my Rams were breeding in there. The tank has been going for a few years now. I sold off a few Discus, and added several more. 

[Robert K]

On 1/20/2024 at 12:36 PM, Fish Folk said:

I’m not sure exactly. I may have tested it at ca. 40 ppm when my Rams were breeding in there. The tank has been going for a few years now. I sold off a few Discus, and added several more. 

Ok, thanks. I'm just curious because I think I'm going through a bit of a nitrate phase right now. 😅 Trying to figure out how much I put in vs. take out, what affects the levels in my tank etc.

[Lennie]

On 1/20/2024 at 5:33 PM, Robert K said:

Ok, thanks. I'm just curious because I think I'm going through a bit of a nitrate phase right now. 😅 Trying to figure out how much I put in vs. take out, what affects the levels in my tank etc.

Try floating plants and stuff like pothos roots in the water. Fast growing plants and direct access to light and co2 helps a lot 

My tap reads 40 ppm nitrate. This is my way to cope

Edited January 20 by Lennie

[Fish Folk]

On 1/20/2024 at 9:33 AM, Robert K said:

Ok, thanks. I'm just curious because I think I'm going through a bit of a nitrate phase right now. 😅 Trying to figure out how much I put in vs. take out, what affects the levels in my tank etc.

Since Discus like hot water (ca. 82-87 F), not all plants survive well. My floating plants do not last. I use Hygrophila species instead.

[Robert K]

On 1/20/2024 at 3:44 PM, Lennie said:

Try floating plants and stuff like pothos roots in the water. Fast growing plants and direct access to light and co2 helps a lot 

My tap reads 40 ppm nitrate. This is my way to cope

I don't inject co2 and haven't planned on doing it anytime soon. But yeah, I'm sure it would give the plants a boost.

I did get some frogbit like a week or two ago and it's just beginning to get established. I hope it helps.

[Robert K]

On 1/20/2024 at 3:48 PM, Fish Folk said:

Since Discus like hot water (ca. 82-87 F), not all plants survive well. My floating plants do not last. I use Hygrophila species instead.

Ok. Yeah, I also have hygrophila but it's not growing as much or as fast as I would expect from a stem plant. I wrote in another post that I suspect that my phosphates are low. I just started dosing phosphates, so we'll see if it does any difference. 

But also, there's another reason I'm asking about the nitrates. Like I said my nitrates are on the high end and I have a geophagus that's having a bit trouble with hole in the head. I read that geos can be susceptible to HITH if nitrates are high, so I suspect that my nitrates are the culprit. Also from what I read it's not uncommon for discus to get HITH. My guess is that it's one of the reasons discus require very clean water.

But you haven't had HITH issues with your discus?

I have managed to get my nitrates down a bit and the geo seems to be doing better, but I want to lower them further.

[Lennie]

On 1/20/2024 at 6:50 PM, Robert K said:

I don't inject co2 and haven't planned on doing it anytime soon. But yeah, I'm sure it would give the plants a boost.

I did get some frogbit like a week or two ago and it's just beginning to get established. I hope it helps.

I didnt say inject co2 tho. I have never did it in my life. Floating plants like frogbits salvinia water lettuce etc has direct access to co2. Thats what I meant. They suck the from the water and grow very fast.

Same applies to pothos

[Fish Folk]

On 1/20/2024 at 11:03 AM, Robert K said:

Ok. Yeah, I also have hygrophila but it's not growing as much or as fast as I would expect from a stem plant. I wrote in another post that I suspect that my phosphates are low. I just started dosing phosphates, so we'll see if it does any difference. 

But also, there's another reason I'm asking about the nitrates. Like I said my nitrates are on the high end and I have a geophagus that's having a bit trouble with hole in the head. I read that geos can be susceptible to HITH if nitrates are high, so I suspect that my nitrates are the culprit. Also from what I read it's not uncommon for discus to get HITH. My guess is that it's one of the reasons discus require very clean water.

But you haven't had HITH issues with your discus?

I have managed to get my nitrates down a bit and the geo seems to be doing better, but I want to lower them further.

I have never gotten HITH with my Discus. But fins snd body issues can build up as excess bacteria begins to attack. Their entire body has a unique slime coat (it’s what Discus fry eat off of as a first-food). In higher temperatures, bacteria has a way of multiplying fast and posing a risk. This is why many expert Discus keepers have a robust water-changing schedule.

Edited January 20 by Fish Folk

[Robert K]

On 1/20/2024 at 5:08 PM, Lennie said:

I didnt say inject co2 tho. I have never did it in my life. Floating plants like frogbits salvinia water lettuce etc has direct access to co2. Thats what I meant. They suck the from the water and grow very fast.

Same applies to pothos

Ah yes, I understand.

[jwcarlson]

On 1/20/2024 at 10:03 AM, Robert K said:

Ok. Yeah, I also have hygrophila but it's not growing as much or as fast as I would expect from a stem plant. I wrote in another post that I suspect that my phosphates are low. I just started dosing phosphates, so we'll see if it does any difference. 

But also, there's another reason I'm asking about the nitrates. Like I said my nitrates are on the high end and I have a geophagus that's having a bit trouble with hole in the head. I read that geos can be susceptible to HITH if nitrates are high, so I suspect that my nitrates are the culprit. Also from what I read it's not uncommon for discus to get HITH. My guess is that it's one of the reasons discus require very clean water.

But you haven't had HITH issues with your discus?

I have managed to get my nitrates down a bit and the geo seems to be doing better, but I want to lower them further.

How hard is your water, @Robert K?  

[Tony s]

On 1/20/2024 at 11:03 AM, Robert K said:

Ok. Yeah, I also have hygrophila but it's not growing as much or as fast as I would expect from a stem plant. I wrote in another post that I suspect that my phosphates are low. I just started dosing phosphates, so we'll see if it does any difference. 

But also, there's another reason I'm asking about the nitrates. Like I said my nitrates are on the high end and I have a geophagus that's having a bit trouble with hole in the head. I read that geos can be susceptible to HITH if nitrates are high, so I suspect that my nitrates are the culprit. Also from what I read it's not uncommon for discus to get HITH. My guess is that it's one of the reasons discus require very clean water.

But you haven't had HITH issues with your discus?

I have managed to get my nitrates down a bit and the geo seems to be doing better, but I want to lower them further.

There Is a YouTuber that has had HITH and documents how he got rid of it, Ben Ochart. might be of some use. Seems to me that Geo's and Oscars are the ones highly susceptable to HLLE (head and lateral line erosion) = HITH

[Robert K]

On 1/20/2024 at 6:42 PM, jwcarlson said:

How hard is your water, @Robert K?  

GH is around 7 and KH at 5

On 1/20/2024 at 6:43 PM, Tony s said:

There Is a YouTuber that has had HITH and documents how he got rid of it, Ben Ochart. might be of some use. Seems to me that Geo's and Oscars are the ones highly susceptable to HLLE (head and lateral line erosion) = HITH

Thanks, will look him up.