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30x18... my apologies, that does make a bit of a difference normally. Standard 29 is 30x12 so I definitely stand corrected! Not that I am any sort of discus expert, but the length of that tank (IMO) really only lends itself to a pair purchased as a pair - discus are cichlids, after all, and even a group of young fish will have a tendency to be nasty toward one another when kept in a small space. Again, jmo.
My discus never fight I have 4 and plan to add a fifth soon I always heard no less then five they are highly social so I would say u prob need a bigger or at least longer tank I'm guessing a column tank is tall right not long? They are my favorite fishies!
I would get 5-6 juvies and wait till a pair develops naturally them sell the remaining fish, add a small school of tetras and some sterbai corys and call it stocked.
Cool. I appreciate the help. I don't think I could afford a bunch. I would probably start with a couple. I most likely will have to wait a while. I am just doing my due diligence. But a boy can dream huh..?. My column tank would look sweet with some of those bad boys swimming around in there, but I want them to be happy / healthy. What about hatchets?
First I wouldn't buy from a LFS due to the ridiculous cost, I would look at local breeders and fish clubs in your area. I can get spectular juvies for $10-30 each as opposed to a $100+ and you local store.
If you're only going to keep 2 make sure you buy an actually breeding pair if its just 2 random Discus it won't result good
If you start with juvies I'd advice to go with a bare bottom tank
I wouldn't buy just 2-3 juvies only! I made this mistake before and one will just about always be heavily bullied and in my case one died and the. The other 2 fought non stop.
They can still be territorial with larger groups but it Reduces the chances of just one getting harassed.
I see. I have had angelfish before. Would u say they are similar in that regard? In that I mean pairing off and then bullying. From what I was reading I thought they were more of a schooling fish.
Not quite! None of my current discus have paired off but out of the 6 the majority can get quite territorial as they establish their pecking order.
I have been told this is common for young discus do if you get 5-6 it reduces the likelihood that just one fish takes all the bullying.
Strangely I have had angelfish a couple of times and have never had them fight with each other or anything else. I suppose sometimes it's just luck of the fish you get!
I've been seriously considering converting my 56 to a discus tank for the past few days. Glad I found this thread, ill be following. Good luck to you man. Post some pics when u get things going.