How many Discus in one tank

[shane]

Well I finally got my pair of full grown discus out of my 20 gallon and into the new 58 gallon tank. All is doing well. Some algae but not much. Most of the algae is green algae on anubius leaves. Does this mean I need more phosphates.?

Anyway, the (2) discus have been in the tank for about 4 weeks. The male is keeping the female in a small corner of the tank. Won't let her out. Not even for food. Beats on her pretty good. It seems he likes the tank swims everywhere. Has explored every corner of the tank.

I wanted to purchase another 1-2 discus to try and calm him down a bit so the other female can come out to eat and swim around. The question is, is the tank large enough to house another 1-2 discus?

The tank is a 36"x18"x20" (58 gallon). There are about 14 tetras in the tank as well. In addition to (3) cory's and a bunch of algae eating shrimp. How many can I safely put into this tank without overdoing the bioload and causing algae to creep up?

 

[Paul]

I will leave the plant question to some onw who knows better
I would add another 3-4 discus to the tank, as long as the filters ok, the fish should be...
What type of corys are they? there are not many corys that do well in a discus tank due to the temps

 

[shane]

I will leave the plant question to some onw who knows better
I would add another 3-4 discus to the tank, as long as the filters ok, the fish should be...
What type of corys are they? there are not many corys that do well in a discus tank due to the temps

They are Sterbai cory's. I have had them for 4 years. I run the tank temps in the 82-84 range.

I was thinking of adding two but was even unsure if the tank could support two. I am worried about the nitrate getting too high causing algae.

 

[Paul]

Ei works by adding nitrate, so that said, nitrate doesnt cause algae and weekly water changes should also keep the nitrates in check.

I have two eheim pro II filters on a 60 UK gall tank and have seven discus in it and sterbai are one of the few corys that can cope with high temps, most cannot - nice choice

 

[shane]

Oh cool, you speak from experience. You have a 60 gallon with how many discus? 7? I am running an Eheim Pro and an Eheim 2215. (use a co2 reactor inline).

In terms of nitrates, I wasn't sure of how many the tank could hold. I used to have the (2) discus in a 20gallon tank and I added no nitrates. All the nitrates came from the fish. I still had to do 50% water changes 3 times a week to keep the nitrates in a manageable area.

Do you think adding more discus will help the (2) discus I currently have get along better? They are actually a pair and have laid eggs once. I guess they only get along when both are willing to breed.

 

[imatrout]

I have a 150 gallon with 8 nearly adult discus, 25 green neons, 6 German Rams and 6 Coreys. I dose nitrate to 25 as my PO4 is in the 8-10 range (bad eco-complete). The real challenge is keeping a stable temperature (I use 82.5) and a weekly 50% water change. My plants grow great and I have ZERO algae of any kind for over a year now. It's been a while since I was on the discus forums, but I think the biggest problem with adding new discus into a group of adults is that somethimes they will not accept each other and territory fights result in damage or death.