How many / what colors?

[Yoimbrian]

Hey all!

So here’s my situation. I have a 180 gallon corner pentagon aquarium (the square sides are 43”, it’s 30” tall). I currently have 10 giant danios, 10 clown loaches, 4 bushy nose plecos, and a L114 leopard pleco.

The tank is filtered with an in tank Matten Filter box that I made, with way more filtration capacity than needed. Current water changes are 50% / week, but I have a drip system plumbed and once I finish the plumbing to water my garden with it I’ll do 100% per week automatic changes.

The permanent aquarium plan is a 400 gallon in wall tank, which will happen somewhere within 6 months and 5 years - whenever we pull the trigger on finishing the basement (everyrhing to do with houses is insane right now, tradesmen have literally doubled their prices in the last 5 years).

The “finishing touch” fish I want to have is Discus. Which leaves two questions:

-How many? I plan to buy at the 3-4” size range.

-what colors? My more specific question is do people prefer all one type, all one color (ie reds but different patterns), all one pattern (ie snakeskin but different colors), or just a total random assortment of everything?

Attached is a current picture. It’s yellow because of driftwood, it’s been over 4 months and slowed down quite a bit - maybe a few more months it’ll be clear.

 

[Lilyann]

Colors are a matter of preference, of course, but after years of keeping discus I have come to prefer all one color/variety in a tank and the more subtle colors of wild-types such as Alenquer and Tefe.
I started out in the hobby purchasing many different colors of discus in a tank, but found the combinations too "clashing" for my taste. But, again, it is a matter of preference.
I do see some temperature/incompatibility issues with your current stock and discus. Danios require temperatures between 70-75 degrees and discus require temperatures between 82-86 degrees. This is a big temperature difference.
Additionally, I would be a bit careful combining clown loaches with discus. This is from personal experience... I had a group of clown loaches with my discus and they harassed them due to the thick mucus that the discus exude. However, another discus owner I know has no problem with his group--- just be aware and watch for any problems.
If cost is not prohibitive I would go with the 4 inch size discus with the water change schedule you are planning... there is a big difference between the immune system of a 3 inch discus and that of a 4 inch. If you haven't kept discus before, go with the largest size that you can afford. Each inch in size greater will make you much more successful starting out.
As far as how many discus... clown loaches get huge and you have a lot of them. Due to this, I would do no more than 8 for the 180 capacity.
Good luck to you!