Single juvy Discus

[romosoldier]

discus are social fish. they do best in groups of six or more. can it be done? yes, as long as your willing to have a stunted and less colorful fish. if you put it in a tank with fast moving aggressive fish then it will wind up getting sick and die. you asked for advice and I'll give you mine. find another fish.

agreed. plus discus dont go with any fish that goes in a community tank, they are harder to please and if your second guessing yourself on it, chances are you probably shouldn't. IMO discus isnt a community tank fish anyways, a tank with discus in it should revolve around the discus and their needs, not the other way around.

 

[jcardona1]

find another fish.

This.

 

[Greg31]

I am going to go ahead and say discus are a no for you. I think the previous posts have proved that. If you can help it, try to get a fish you can keep happy, in turn it will make you happy by not dieing and have more personality and color.

 

[busterbrown]

Yep pretty much just get another fish. 25 gallons every other day isnt a lo at all. I dont have a huge tank but i change 70 gallons every other day in my tank. If you cant take care of it dont even bother with it. Think of it in the perspective of the fish. If you wanna get six and keep them healthy than do it. Do lots of water changes and get good filtration.

 

[CORVETTE]

I agree if he doesn't want to look after them then don't buy them. But on the other hand if he is willing to try then i say go for it. Thats what this hobby is based on is learning....I lost the first couple of discus i kept and since then, bred, and raised them. I had to learn. I believe we look after fish better if they are the fish we want.
Also i disagree with discus not being a community tank fish mine are in a 230 gal with alot of tetra's and other fine little fish,pleco's, cory's. Everything they are found with in the wild with, with out the predators. I even keep them with geo's.

 

[ryansmith83]

Your big issue is the temperature. You're going to want to keep young ones fairly warm, at least 84F.

I kept a single discus once. It was a little cobalt that I saved from an LFS. I put him in with some nickel-sized angelfish and he was great -- very outgoing, social, and an aggressive eater. The problem is that not all discus will respond that way. Sometimes as a single fish they will be very shy and skittish.

You don't necessarily end up with stunted fish if you keep them alone. It's just that they'll be more secure and friendly if they have friends. If you're only doing one discus with some tankmates, you wouldn't even need massive water changes. You could probably get away with one or two 50% changes a week.

Personally, I wouldn't keep them as individuals. They are much more interesting and interactive when they have a group to hang out with.

 

[Snowflake311]

I just want to point out a few things. Discus and Cory cats are not found together in the wild. Discus are found with other large fish not many small fish make it where discus are. If they do they are lunch. I agree there are a few fish that make good tank mates for discus but not too many. You really need to pick tank mates around your discus needs.

Another thing angel fish are also social fish and they are found in large groups in the wild. So it makes sence that your discus fit in with them and did not feel alone. I had a discus alone for a month and he was ok but 10x better when with others. They are more active and outgoing with friends.

On this subject of getting discus. You could try 5 discus and just do the best you can. Feed them well and do as many wc as you can. If you have a python to do wc then it is really no big deal. It's easy to do large water changes every other day or smaller ones everyday with the python. You can always find them a new homes for the fish if they are too much work. I am a mom of a 2 year old I work take care of the house. I still fit in wc every day or everyother day for my discus. No reason for you not to give them the best care you can. Disus are like chips. Once you have one you want more.

These are not a fish for the lazy.

 

[ryansmith83]

Corydoras cats are fine with discus as long as the chosen species can take the warm water. A lot of discus keepers use them to pick up food scraps. Cories, like discus, are also social fish and do best in groups. If you go the bare bottom route, you really have no need for cories.

There are a lot of tankmate possibilities, but the size of the tank is going to be what limits you. You could easily do six young discus and raise them to adult size, but it'd require frequent water changes and you wouldn't be able to keep them with other inhabitants.

 

[jogo]

Your big issue is the temperature. You're going to want to keep young ones fairly warm, at least 84F.

I kept a single discus once. It was a little cobalt that I saved from an LFS. I put him in with some nickel-sized angelfish and he was great -- very outgoing, social, and an aggressive eater. The problem is that not all discus will respond that way. Sometimes as a single fish they will be very shy and skittish.

You don't necessarily end up with stunted fish if you keep them alone. It's just that they'll be more secure and friendly if they have friends. If you're only doing one discus with some tankmates, you wouldn't even need massive water changes. You could probably get away with one or two 50% changes a week.

Personally, I wouldn't keep them as individuals. They are much more interesting and interactive when they have a group to hang out with.

I figured if I raised one single 3 inch, I wouldn't need more than two 25% water changes a week. I'm back to the drawing board with this though. Since the wife and kids are now moving out, I don't need to be concerned with water usage now. I pay for water and after a certain amount, the price goes up. But now those 10 loads of laundry and showers can go to the tank.

I have been looking around and educating myself. I'm really not sure what I want now. I have a 55 long, dual 48'' t5HO, XP3, 7.8 to 8.0 ph -my api ph test goes to 7.8, 200-300ppm GH, around 6 KH, somewhat stable possibly chlorimine water.

 

[phillykid]

my friend bought 3 discus at 2-4in and he had them in a 55 with 2 angels a school of 10 rummy nose tetras and 6 cory cats and they grew pretty quickly and very nice colors also.he cleaned the tank every week not sure how much water he took out but he had a magnum 350 with a top fin 60 filter on it if i can get pics ill try posting them on here.