48x18x18 discus tank

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vfrstephen

Gambusia
MFK Member
Nov 8, 2007
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Timbuktoo
Hi i was going to use my 65 gallon for eartheaters but have decided against it they can stay in my 180 gallon. I want to keep discus i really like the wild strains with heckels being my favorate. Can you give advice on how many to keep can i put tetras in with them or not advised, water from my tap is very very soft but a little alkaline, whats the best conditioners to buy, whats the ideal temperature and anybody know a good aqaurium in melbourne for wild discus or even online.Also i have pool filter sand just a very light layer and one piece of malaysian red mangrove with a black back ground, for filtration an eheim 2217.
 
vfrstephen;4336400; said:
Hi i was going to use my 65 gallon for eartheaters but have decided against it they can stay in my 180 gallon. I want to keep discus i really like the wild strains with heckels being my favorate. Can you give advice on how many to keep can i put tetras in with them or not advised, water from my tap is very very soft but a little alkaline, whats the best conditioners to buy, whats the ideal temperature and anybody know a good aqaurium in melbourne for wild discus or even online.Also i have pool filter sand just a very light layer and one piece of malaysian red mangrove with a black back ground, for filtration an eheim 2217.


I'm getting my first Wild discus this week. I keep the domestics already. So I have done my research on wilds. The Heckels are the hardest being the least forgiving. They come from Extra soft water of ph 5-6. BUT the wild Green discus depending on where they are caught from can live in soft water with a ph of 7.4 at the highest. The temp in the wild is not as hot as what the tank raise discus are use to. 76-84F is the normal temp of wild amazon water.

As for your tank its not deep enough. 24" or deeper is best. 22" is ok. But 18" then add the few inches of sand and you only have like 16" of depth for a fish that will be 5-7" tall.

what do you have in your 180 gal? That would be the pefect tank for a group of wilds. But I would stay away from the Heckels since you are just starting out with discus. Geos make good tank mates for Discus and are often found with them in the wild.

Snook21 has some great wild caugh discus and comes highly recomened. I ordered my fish from him.
 
My 180 gallon has 1 red tiger oscar 14 inches not aggressive, 3 silver dollars, 2 green horseface, i red horseface, 1 orange head tapojos, i featherfin catfish and 1 bristlenose catfish. What would you recommend for my 48x18x18 i still have not decided what to put in it.
 
I would do a dwarf cichlid Community tank with that size. Maybe a few festivums. I have 3 of these guys and just love them. They are so under rated and are kind of like discus in that they do well is groups and are peacful.
 
3 dwarfes or 3 festivums? would i need a planted tank? i dont really want to plant it out.
 
Festivum eat plants but they don't need it. I have read mixed things about festivums getting to be 4"-7" but are slow growers. You could fit 4 Festivums or 1 with some dwarfs. Look into it see what works for you.

4 festivums with some tetras and Cory cats would be fun you could add a ram or some other dwarf to the mix.
 
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