What's the better tank for my stock list.

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swandog

Feeder Fish
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Nov 6, 2012
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For 5 Angelfish; 65g 36"x18"x25" or standard 55g 4 footer, or does it matter?

I have the 65g on order due to fitting my living room best but I can change the stock list if the Angels won't work with only 3 feet of swimming space. How about Discus? Would the 65g suit a group of them better than Angels?

Last resort will be a group of Rainbow Cichlids in a community setting.

I have a 75g but it's got 2 Severums that I can't part with. A 125g 6 footer is on the horizon but not quiet yet.
 
swandog said:
For 5 Angelfish; 65g 36"x18"x25" or standard 55g 4 footer, or does it matter?

I have the 65g on order due to fitting my living room best but I can change the stock list if the Angels won't work with only 3 feet of swimming space. How about Discus? Would the 65g suit a group of them better than Angels?

Last resort will be a group of Rainbow Cichlids in a community setting.

I have a 75g but it's got 2 Severums that I can't part with. A 125g 6 footer is on the horizon but not quiet yet.
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How long before you get a 125? If its going to be just a year or so away, just wait until then you get the 125.

If not, then I would recommend doing angels instead of discus. I have read nightmare stories of discus sensitivity and the smaller the tank, the quicker issues will build into dead discus. I am going to have 6 angels in a 55 as well with some sterbai cories.


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Probably more than a year. I have the 125g in my head but with the 75g and 65g I think I'll be happy for a while. I agree the Discus could be trouble and I wouldn't want to do more than a couple water changes a week. I don't know, I think a group of Angels might look cramped in a 3' tank. I'll keep thinking.
 
swandog said:
Probably more than a year. I have the 125g in my head but with the 75g and 65g I think I'll be happy for a while. I agree the Discus could be trouble and I wouldn't want to do more than a couple water changes a week. I don't know, I think a group of Angels might look cramped in a 3' tank. I'll keep thinking.
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I would stick with the 55 idea. The angels will get more use out of an extra foot of tank rather than an extra 6 inches on the back. Plus with cichlids, it is always better to have length than width because of the shape they establish their territories in.

Discus seem to have the same general rule that angels do, which is 1 adult needs 10 gallons. However, because discus are so sensitive to water parameter changes, I am going to do one for every 15 gallons of water and keep low bioload fish (some neons, rummy nose, bolivian rams and sterbai cories) with them so that I can get away with only twice weekly water changes like all my tanks have rather than having to worry about daily or every other day water changes. There are some dedicated people in the discus keeping hobby. Some of them do two 75%+ water changes every day, which seems insane to me. Too expensive a water bill and not enough time spent admiring the tank when you have to clean it so often.

If there ever was a big debate in fish keeping, its over discus care. I have read relatively reasonable and seemingly trustworthy advice on polar opposite ends of just about every topic regarding discus care. Guys who change water twice daily to guy who do it twice monthly, beefheart raves and rants, too much filtration to not enough when talking about the same setup, etc. Its crazy. My LFS has a 90 gallon cube shaped discus display tank (they don't sell the display fish and they only ever have about 3 discus in the sale tanks :( ) that the owner says they only do 50% water changes on twice a month. The 4-5 discus look great and they are housed with 5-6 Bolivian rams. I would think the major reason for many differences in opinions regarding discus is because of the wilds and early generation discus compared to the late generation, hybrid/color morph, tank raised discus that both have different care needs. Different needs makes it easier for some. Take me for example. I don't like doing water changes, so I would probably prefer wild discus as they tend to tolerate water chemistry change better from a standpoint of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, but their pH needs are less forgiving than tank raised discus. I don't have any issues providing lower pH water as long as I don't have to change it more than twice a week. While others have the oppose of they either can't or don't want to take the chemistry approach to lowering pH and would just prefer to do water changes, which requires less in the brain exercise department. Those people would likely do better with tank raised discus.


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Thanks for the advice Patrick. My water is a little over 8.0PH and is awfully hard (250 on one of my tests). PH would be stable though. My LFS has some very nice Discus but at $35 per fish I'll probably pass. Africans would be ideal in my water but I'm not into all the bickering in a tank like that. I have had Angels, Kribs and Cory's spawn in the past so it's not that bad.

I like to come home from work and hit the recliner which will right next to the 65g. I just don't have room for the extra foot of tank with where I'm set on putting it. Too bad there are no Dwarf Angels or the fact I need a group of them to have peace. Whatever I do it'll have a Cichlid in it.
 
then you have room for one MAYBE two angels in a 65... a 55 would be much better. with a 90 being way better... but a 65, only two angels at most..
 
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