Need advise on discus "breeding" pair

Hello!

One hell of a ride. Started keeping discus about a year and a half ago and learned so much in that span of time. My babies are now big'ish and approaching 7"! Had 1 death so far due to bullying which is kinda sad. A couple paired off and they started to stress my biggest, most passive, friendly fish. I blame my inexperience - should've separated these 2 at the earliest sign and did have plenty of time since the bullying started a few months ago. I thought being the biggest meant that the bullying wouldn't really stress him out).

Back to the topic: I want to do a little experiment but in need of an opinion(s)! I separated these 2 before they can kill another fish. They are currently in my old 36g (30x18x18) tank. And since I am NOT really trying to breed them, I am thinking a biotope set up for the pair, which I wanted to do at the very start which was never quite realized.

Tank: 30 x 18 x 18

* Setup: blackwater with leaf litter (indian almond/catapa and oak leaves). Tannin to be replenished by rooibos tea
* Filtration: 2 pcs canisters each rated for 250 gph
* Maintenance: 2x 60% water changes per week. Every 3rd week I do a 90% water change and a 50%.
* Substrate: caribsea white sand
* Decors: Lots of big spare blackwood / saba wood.
* Tankmates: I added 6 sterbais (down to 5. When I added the sterbai shoal the discus pair sadly killed one. They no longer bother the other 5 since they figure that even if they did kill another it cant fit in their mouths). There is also a pair of Apistogramma macmasteri here.

Questions:

1. Given the current stock levels (5 sterbai, discus pair, A. macmasteri pair), filtration, tank size, do I still have room for dither fish? Say 7 silver hatchfishes to help clean out floating food in corners discus cant reach or fit into. Discus would want 10 gallon of water each per fish. So that leaves me with 16 gallons to spare on other fish. I wanted marbled hatchets but they are smaller than silvers and given the history of this pair Ill just end up buying more marbled hatchets. They also eat rummynoses, cardinals etc. so I am staying away from those.

2. So assuming all is set, the tank is tea-colored, and there are beautiful rotten leaves at the bottom, how do you go about vacuuming the bottom? I cant quite find articles about biotope cleaning. They all say they only change the water, but makes no mention of substrate maintenance and they just ignore mulm build up, or at least ignore what they cant siphon out.

I think those are pretty much my questions. Trying out new things always has to start somewhere. It is only via trial and error that we learn what to do, and what not to do. But its always good to ask people who might have had the same unpublished experience in the past.

Thank you!

Hi, I think if you did the setup you are planning in 55 gal you could probably make it work nicely. The tank you are thinking of using is really too small for an adult pair of discus and everything else. That 10 gal per discus really is not accurate. Part of a biotope is to enjoy the fish swimming naturally in its native environment. .. they need space to do that.
Add to it the fact these are a breeding pair.. they will not take kindly to other fish when they spawn.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by brewmaster15

Hi, I think if you did the setup you are planning in 55 gal you could probably make it work nicely. The tank you are thinking of using is really too small for an adult pair of discus and everything else. That 10 gal per discus really is not accurate. Part of a biotope is to enjoy the fish swimming naturally in its native environment. .. they need space to do that.
Add to it the fact these are a breeding pair.. they will not take kindly to other fish when they spawn.

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Thank you for your opinion! Ill definitely take that into consideration. I still havent added hatchetfish for that reason.

Its quite hard to pinpoint the most correct approach. What I know is just agglomeration of what I have read and gathered on the internet: forum posts about what people are doing, their experiences on overstocking, youtube videos, their practices etc. So far what I have gathered: lots of people using 20 gallon breeding tanks, some would advocate for 40 or more, a select few in even smaller tank which I do not quite like. There are also keepers claiming that too big a tank might make it feel too spacious or empty which would scare the discus and that smaller tanks might encourage spawning, which I also considered but is not what Im after.

I can understand your confusion. Unfortunately the internet is full of alot bad advice. I honestly don't understand why people will blindly believe and regurgitate things just because someone made a video or read it in Facebook group. But it happens all the time and confuses the issues for someone like you looking for advice on how to make this work.


If you want to see your discus swim.. go with a longer tank... if you are okay with them hovering in the same spot.. then a 30x18x18 tank will do the job. Once you put some stucture like wood in it its going to be very cramped.