RevolutionBoas Posted July 8, 2012 Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 I am setting up another tank this time for some Discus. A little backstory, I have kept discus in the past in a 40g "breeder". I picked up my first discus from Riverfront back when they were in the old store. I had a Red Turqoise, Blue Diamond, White Diamond, and a Blue Snakeskin. I had them for a while when I was bitten by the Saltwater bug and have been keeping reef tanks ever since. Recently I shut my reef down and moved the fish I kept into a 29g Biocube. Now that my first year of technical training I got the Discus bug again. Enter the new tank. 50g Hagen Tank this is the 3 foot model. Fluval 200W Submersible heater Hydro-Sponge 4 This room is heated to 80F so hopefully this heater will hold the temps at 86. I dont want to do the big daily water changes required to grow discus so I am going to pick up adults and do 50% water changes 2x a week. Right now I am waiting for the tank to finish its cycle and I will keep track of my progress in this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprucegruve Posted July 9, 2012 Report Share Posted July 9, 2012 seems a little small for a school of discus. this would be a perfect breeding tank for a pair though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevolutionBoas Posted July 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2012 I should be able to fit 5 adults into this tank. 50 gallons, 1 fish per 10 gallons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprucegruve Posted July 9, 2012 Report Share Posted July 9, 2012 Good luck with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JORG Posted July 9, 2012 Report Share Posted July 9, 2012 I have to agree with Spruce. I have 7 adults in a 125 and it seems crowded. But I'm new to Discus keeping so am still learning. I would however suggest adding a bit more filtration to the tank. Left over food and crap ferment fairly fast at 86 degrees so I prefer to have a lot of filtration in their tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevolutionBoas Posted July 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 Thanks for the concern guys. Ive been talking to some of the die hards on Simply Discus and 10 gallons per fish seems to be the norm. If anything comes up I can bump up my water changes to 3x a week. Jorg I intend on adding another sponge filter (if I can find one no shop here sells them) or an AC 70 with only sponges and a pre filter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprucegruve Posted July 10, 2012 Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 alright,but dont listen to those guys on simply discus that tell you to feed you discus beefheart/liver,or chicken heart/liver or bison heart/liver there are many better foods,krill,bloodworms,blackworms,mysic shimp,flakes and pellets,if you want to get creative make a homemade food with whitefish and crab or prawns or shrimp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevolutionBoas Posted July 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 Thanks Spruce I have heard those are the old school days of feeding fish. Even the guys on there are starting to say to avoid the beefheart, chicken and Bison, replace with a fish based meal. I can get my hands on some high end Pacific Plankton as well as some nice blood worms. Was thinking that mixed with feedings of NLS Discus Pellets, Tetra Colour Bits, New Era Tropical Flake, New Era Discus Pellet, and Prime Reef Flake. Maybe even some PE Mysis Shrimp. Hopefully this is a nice varied diet for these fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprucegruve Posted July 10, 2012 Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 that sounds like a good diet.you could even look into red river shrimp(kensfish.com) large food but a good treat and plankton is great,also if you want to go through the trouble of live food my discus really like red wigglers once in awhile. only 2 of my 18 discus will accept flake or pellets,and even then they only take one or two bites.with the combo of different flakes and pellets your going with you should have luck getting them to eat one or two variety's. sorry if i come across as annoying,but i still believe discus need a minimum of 4ft swimming space in a school Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevolutionBoas Posted July 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 No worries Spruce I got thick skin and dont get my feelings hurt too easy. I want to go with a 4 foot tank but here is what I am dealing with. This tank is in my reptile office where I run my buisness Revolution Boas. I was having some issues with low humidity due to my space heater and set up a small tank. Now this has grown into a hobby in my snake room. The room is small and I keep boas which need 4x2 cages plus some larger racks. So here it is as soon as you walk in. My plan was to have the tank against the wall between the closet and power panel. THis is 34" but the tank will fit. At this time I cant move it there. so I moved the tank where it sits which I actually like. But if the tank was 1 foot longer I wouldnt be able to fully open that middle rack. And here from the other corner, the 20g is going up for sale soon. If my planted tank livestock sells I can use that wall to house a longer tank up to 6 feet if I really wanted. But for right now the 50G will due. What kind of discus do you have? I am on the hunt for some Albino Red Spot Greens. Missed out of a pair when I left the country, when I got back and was able to message him they had sold. So he is on the hunt for a few more for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevolutionBoas Posted July 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 Another addition here I have had to swap out heaters. The fluval 200W isnt keeping the water at 86 degrees, infact it is struggling to handle 83. Remember the room is heated to 80 degrees so I am finding this odd. I swapped it out for an Ehiem Jager 250W. Hopefully this works better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprucegruve Posted July 10, 2012 Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 oh wow you have quite a setup alreaddy.i see space could be an issue. i diddent realize you were this deep in the hobby alreaddy lol in my 150 gallon i have 8 wildcaught blues,and in my 195 gallon i have 10 wildcaught red spotted(technically both the same family of discus,just different rivers collected from) i got them from fairdeal and jorg,really nice fish in my 150 gallon im running 2X300w ebo heaters to keep it up and one slightly bigger in my 195 gallon. heat is hard to keep even with tight fitting lids Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevolutionBoas Posted July 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 Thanks! I have been in this hobby for about 20 years now. Been keeping fish since I was young and this is my 2nd venture into discus. Those sound like nice tanks wild discus are definatly a holy grail of discus. Ive always wanted a wild discus & Altum angel tank... Especially the altums! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprucegruve Posted July 10, 2012 Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 i wish i could own some altums.....maybe down the road. they are in my opinion the holy grail of fish to breed,not many have done it in the past(or heckle discus another extremely hard to breed species) good luck selling you planted setup,hopefully you can get a huge tank full of nice discus in the future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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