Interested in breeding discus

[Aphone]

How many discus is appropriate for a 55 gallon?

 

[molliwopp]

If you want to breed discus id recommend buying 8 juvis and waiting for them to pair and getting rid of the ones that dont. Or buy a mating pair. The versa would be very expensive though. Breeding discus is hard and the right water conditions say were needed to maximise thr brood. I.e soft and acidic for the best chances. Ive heard of alot of discus eggs not growing or forming properly in hard alkaline water.

 

[Aphone]

Reason I choose discus is because I like the way they look and they are the more valued fish. Angel fish have high value, yes? How many should I stock angel fish in a 55g to breed,. This is the future as I recently got a 10 gallon. I'm also not ruling out breeding discus. Just want to know my options

Edit: the African chil are now catching my eye. This is going to be a hard choice since I'm going to only have one type in the 55g

 

[Andy Sager]

Reason I choose discus is because I like the way they look and they are the more valued fish. Angel fish have high value, yes? How many should I stock angel fish in a 55g to breed,. This is the future as I recently got a 10 gallon. I'm also not ruling out breeding discus. Just want to know my options

Edit: the African chil are now catching my eye. This is going to be a hard choice since I'm going to only have one type in the 55g

Yes, Good Angelfish have value but when breeding most S. American cichlids (like Discus and Angels) they are bred best when in a tank by themselves. A 55 is not necessary to breed a pair of Angels. I've used tanks as small as 10 gals for my Angels in my hatcheries. Discus, as mentioned in an above post, are a bit harder. My ex partner was the Discus breeder in our company and he did 1 pair in a standard 55 (because that was the tanks we had). You can do them in a 47 breeder for sure. He would raise about 6 fish in the tank until they paired off then would separate down to the one pair.
If you are looking to have multiple fish breeding in the 55, you may want to go into the Mbuna Africans. They do better when in mass and don't mind the mass to breed. Just a suggestion

 

[Aphone]

If I do go with discus, how many can I have in a 55g. When a couple pair, do I have to take out the others?

 

[Andy Sager]

If I do go with discus, how many can I have in a 55g. When a couple pair, do I have to take out the others?

Answer#1- Best is about 6 to grow up to breeding size.
Answer #2- Only if you want to save them from the sometimes brutal beating they can get from the male protecting his female.

 

[Aphone]

Get 4 females, and 2 males?

 

[molliwopp]

Get 4 females, and 2 males?

Sexing discus is an extremely hard task and almost impossible in juvi fish. They have to get considerably larger before even attempting to sex them. Most people and even breeders say they have to wait for them to pair before knowing. Apparently as they grow the males have slightly wider head, thicker lips, less rounded dorsal fins and a difference in the anal fin than females, they also grow bigger.

Again buying adult discus or discus when their sex is known is going to cost you an arm and a leg, expensive in other words. Seriously buying 8 juvis and letting them pair is a cheaper way to do it. But if youre going to keep them all no matter which pair id say get 5 or 6.

 

[Andy Sager]

Sexing discus is an extremely hard task and almost impossible in juvi fish. They have to get considerably larger before even attempting to sex them. Most people and even breeders say they have to wait for them to pair before knowing. Apparently as they grow the males have slightly wider head, thicker lips, less rounded dorsal fins and a difference in the anal fin than females, they also grow bigger.

Again buying adult discus or discus when their sex is known is going to cost you an arm and a leg, expensive in other words. Seriously buying 8 juvis and letting them pair is a cheaper way to do it. But if youre going to keep them all no matter which pair id say get 5 or 6.

+1
Unless you are going to invest a good sum of money into your fish, growing them up is the best way to go (unless someone will give you sexed fish already )