Tropical Community to Discus/Community Conversion

[JimmyTheDriver]

Good afternoon!

I have a tropical community tank (55H) that has been up and running for approximately a year. 25-50% water changes weekly.

I am interested in making the jump to Discus. The current stock is a load of mostly tropical type fish:

4 Serpae Tetra
8 Neon Tetra
8 Zebra Danio
6 Cherry Barbs
3 "Mickey Mouse" Platties
1 Dalmation Platty
6 Peppered Cories

Two filters - one Eheim canister for 100 gal tank, and a Whisper 60 HOB.

Discus are a major leap from my current stock. I understand there to be a few things I would need to consider which include but are not limited to...
-Water temp
-Water changes
-Aggression
-Tank/filtration limits

Do you forsee any major problems adding 2-3 Discus to this tank? My initial thoughts is I need to remove the Platties and the Cherry Barbs to cut down on numbers.

Any input would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Jimmy

 

[ryansmith83]

2 - 3 discus is a bad number. Discus tend to be shoaling fish and they establish a hierarchy or pecking order. This aggression needs to be spread around so that it's not all focused on one or two individuals. The minimum number that a lot of discus people recommend is six, but you may be able to get away with four if you're lucky. You could also keep a mated pair in the tank, but those are expensive!

In most instances, if you keep 2 (unpaired) discus, the dominant fish will constantly chase and harass the weaker fish until it's so stressed that it gets sick or dies. If you keep 3, either one will harass the weaker two, or the two strongest will harass the third. Once the third dies, you're back to two discus, and then the first sentence applies again.

You're going to need to have your temperature up to at least 84F for adult discus. A lot of people keep their small discus at a warmer temperature, maybe 85 or 86F.

Young discus need really clean water to grow out properly. A lot of people have a hard time raising young fish in a tank with substrate and decorations. It may be easier to find some larger discus to start with in that type of a setup.

I would ditch the barbs and maybe the platies (I don't know how well platies do in that kind of heat?), and chances are your neons will get eaten. Discus are cichlids, after all. They will sometimes do okay with cardinal tetras because cardinals tend to be larger than neons. Unfortunately some discus will go after cardinals, too. It depends on the individual fish.

I would do at least a 50% water change weekly, making sure to vacuum as much waste out of the gravel/sand as possible. More water changes would probably be better since the tank is only 55 gallons, but I would say that 50% is you minimum. The general rule is 10 gallons per discus, so four fish plus the tank mates you listed would mean the tank was fully stocked. This is why I say you may need more water changes.

 

[3dees]

agree with everything above except I favor at least two 50% wc's per week for larger fish and much more for juvies. I also believe serpae's can be fin nippers with slow moving fish like discus. if you are going with these expensive fish you should set up you tank around them and not the other way around.