minimum discus tank width

[ziku1]

i was going to purchase some juvenile discus
and was thinking what the minimum tank width is to get them to their full size

I understand there is a lot of water change and heavy feeding involved but will having a 6ftx18in widex 20 inch high tank affect how big they get


( i plan to keep about 10 discus in there. will that be too many too grow them all to full size?)

[samir]

when they are adult side i'll suggest a 72 X 24 X 24. right now a standard 3 foot should be okay with daily 50% water changes. small discus get spooky in bigger tanks JMO. and doing water changes, without some kind of automation in a 6X2X2 or larger is a very very painful experience.

[FishLover]

Here is what I do for my 72in tank:
1. I fill a plastic container (45 g) with tap water using a hose connecting to the tap, treat it. I have an air pump in there to keep the water moving after the treatment.

2. Using the same hose that has a siphone attached at the end, I clean up the tank gravel and take out about 45g of water. The hose is long enough for me to put the water outside directly.

3. I then plug in a pump to pump the water from the container to the tank.

4. After that, everything goes in the container (hose, pumps water treatement chems and so on). It has a cover so I can keep all these items in. I store this container away until the next W/C

This way, I can do a 40% WC within one hour or so and keep my wife happy because no spills and everything is stored away. She does not even have to know I did the W/C. Mostly, I do this when she takes the kid out somewhere so I don't have to worry my little guy trying to turn off my pump every few minutes, or trying to drop something in the container just for fun.

I do a 40% W/C each week. 70 to 80% once a month. Maybe I need to do more but I have a light load (11 3.5" discus and 3 cories, 4 ottos) for the size of my tank. I also think the very reason for me to keep discus is to enjoy them, not to do water change everyday.

[ziku1]

since i have already purchased my 6ftx18x20
i'm a bit worried about the discus
will they be stunted in growth due to the size or is it still possible to grow full size discus if i keep the discus load low
ie bare bottom tnk with 6 discus

[samir]

10 would be okay in that tank .

[ziku1]

i was hoping to grow some big 7-8 inch ones
so is this is possible in my size tank
they will have no ther tankmates until they are grown
and will have 10% water changes tues, thurs, sat, sunday
they will be fed beefheart mixture, tetra colour bits
frozen bloodworm, live blackworms (sterilized),
and the tank will have a 200litre sump filter

is there anything else i need to consider to grow big discus

[samir]

i was hoping to grow some big 7-8 inch ones
so is this is possible in my size tank
they will have no ther tankmates until they are grown

did you mean 7-8cm ????
to grow them quick and big fast you will need 50% WC everyday

[ziku1]

well time isnt a problem for me so long as they reach big sizes
also its a 450litre tank+200 litre sump capacity
so do i really need to do 300litre water changes everyday

THe max w/c i can do is about 60litres a day
also can i do less water changes while they are small and slowly increase frequency as they get bigger