Discus water change

[bogart]

I currently have a 50 gal community tank that I plan on converting to a Discus tank once I feel I know enough about Discus keeping. From my reading it seems most experts recommend a lot more frequent water changes than for most fish. From your experience what is a good, practical frequency and % for healthy Discus?


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[treemanone2003]

I currently have a 50 gal community tank that I plan on converting to a Discus tank once I feel I know enough about Discus keeping. From my reading it seems most experts recommend a lot more frequent water changes than for most fish. From your experience what is a good, practical frequency and % for healthy Discus?


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It all depends on the size (age) and stock (trusted source) you start with. Do you have either of those decided yet ? Juvies require much more work than adults but adults are much more costly than juvies.


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[bogart]

Probably 4 or 5 young adults

 

[treemanone2003]

I would recommend anything under 3.5" should be at least daily, at least 50% but the more the better. 4" and over could go at least 50% every other day. Adults 5.5" and bigger could go weekly, at least 50%.

I've got 5 in a 55 with 2 canister filters and still do 50% every other day and 90-100% on Sundays. 1 is over 4.5", 2 are 5.5", and the other 2 are over 6". The more you change and more often you change, the better the results.


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[bogart]

I plan on getting the smallest adults I can find in the right color. I haven't seen anything smaller than about 2-1/2". Thanks for your help. Just what I was looking for.

 

[treemanone2003]

I plan on getting the smallest adults I can find in the right color. I haven't seen anything smaller than about 2-1/2". Thanks for your help. Just what I was looking for.

You probably won't find anything smaller than 2-1/2" as those are fairly close to just above newborns. For anything that size I wouldn't use anything larger than a 20g to grow them out. Maybe a 30g at most. No reason to change half (or more) of a 50g daily for the next 4 months while trying to grow them out.


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[bogart]

If I get 2-1/2" how big will they be in 4 months?

 

[treemanone2003]

If I get 2-1/2" how big will they be in 4 months?

Provided they've come from a trusted breeder/importer and not a big box or chain store, with an excellent feeding and WC routine in 4 months time they could be around 4" or more. But that's also providing they weren't something that was meant to be culled or being sold that's already stunted.


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