How many discus or altums in a 90g tank?

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if your afraid to try discus then don't even think about Altums. the hard part is finding them. acclimating them is'nt the easiest thing to do either. I would do six wild discus. I have eight adults in my 120 gal. this tank is my first try with discus. been running for about 15 months and I have never medicated them for anything. I think they are much hardier than domestics. give any discus very clean water, quality food, and the right tankmates and you won't have any problems. if your willing to spend a little more time caring for these fish, then you will find that they are not hard to keep. one tip; get them from a reliable source. very few lfs have quality discus. also remember that juvies under 3" are much harder to care for than larger fish.
 
I depends on how they get along. I would say it could be anywhere between 5-10.
 
I have 11 3-6inch discus in a 95G. They're not hard to keep at all once you get the pattern down. But I do change about 80% of the water every 2 days FYI..............
 
Its not that I'm afraid to do it, it's that I want to know what I'm getting into before I buy the fish.

3dees said:
if your afraid to try discus then don't even think about Altums. the hard part is finding them. acclimating them is'nt the easiest thing to do either. I would do six wild discus. I have eight adults in my 120 gal. this tank is my first try with discus. been running for about 15 months and I have never medicated them for anything. I think they are much hardier than domestics. give any discus very clean water, quality food, and the right tankmates and you won't have any problems. if your willing to spend a little more time caring for these fish, then you will find that they are not hard to keep. one tip; get them from a reliable source. very few lfs have quality discus. also remember that juvies under 3" are much harder to care for than larger fish.
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ok, sorry. hesitant would be a better word. I wanted to have discus for many years, but all those people saying that they were so hard to keep and best be left to experts. they need very soft water, low ph, R/O water, blah, blah, blah. it's just not true. I'm talking about keeping discus, not breeding. just ignore all the myths and half truths. listen to the people who actually keep these fish on this site and others. my tank has been so easy that I'm getting a bit bored and thinking about selling everything in the tank and going salt water.
 
Discus really aren't too hard, as others have said, u just have to pay attention....My first try with Discus is with 11 in a 125 and I have not had any issues yet. Just do ur water changes, and pay attention and you should be good. Post pics once u get it set up....
 
Not sure what I'm going to do. I'm a student, a full time nurse on busy brain injury unit, and expecting a baby in August. Plate is kind of full. Not sure if i can keep up with the WC schedule.
 
3dees said:
they need very soft water, low ph, R/O water, blah, blah, blah. it's just not true.
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I agree. PH is only important if you're trying to breed. Aside from that, don't worry about it. But with wild discus, I think TDS is important. I certainly wouldn't recommend keeping wilds in TDS of 200ppm+. My experience is, they just don't do well. Every since I've started using RO my wilds have been doing so much better, with TDS of 50-70ppm. After all, they come from water that has TDS of 10-30ppm. It all depends on your tapwater. Some folks have perfect tapwater that's 120ish ppm or less. Others have liquid rock, 300ppm or even higher. Not everybody's water is the same.
 
Diogenes said:
Not sure what I'm going to do. I'm a student, a full time nurse on busy brain injury unit, and expecting a baby in August. Plate is kind of full. Not sure if i can keep up with the WC schedule.
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Water change numbers are not to be applied universally across the board. It all depends on your stocking. I tell this people all the time, but some still insist on repeating only what they hear; discus need huge daily water changes etc etc etc. Buy adult discus, they're easier than juvies. Keep the stocking light. A minimum of 4-5 discus. If you want more, get a bigger tank. That will keep your bio load down. You may find that you can keep ideal nitrate levels (10-15ppm or less) with just one large weekly water change. Or you may need more frequent water changes. It all depends on your setup. In my 190g, I have 5 large discus and lots of other smaller fish. I change 40g of water every other day, and nitrates are 0-5ppm. Also, think about setting up an automatic or semi-automatic water changer. It takes more work upfront, but it will make your life easier. My water changes consists of pushing two buttons on a remote, one to drain, and one to refill. I can be anywhere in the house, or watching tv. It's a thing of beauty :)
 
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