??s about discus

[lilthrasher]

ok i have a 26 bow front and i want to add one discus so i was woundering if water hardness is a big deal?

 

[Dano]

Yes! Reasearch discus care.

 

[chris1932]

26 gallons is not even close to big enough, Domestic Discus may be more tolerant to hardness and temp but not by a large margin. Discus are also a very social fish. I have seen Discus mourn the loss of a tankmate that has died or been moved. Keeping one by itself is not a good idea. A smaller fish like Mesonauta would be a good choice but at least a pair. Most pictures of this fish are not flattering but this one shows a nice looking fish

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/is_that_a_festivum.php

 

[bigbird]

agree with chris,
discus are social fish and tank is too small. you need at least 3 discus. cheers jk :biggrin:

 

[rafael]

I'm agree with Chris too: your tank is small and the number of discs to maintain minimum is 3.

 

[Apistomaster]

I guess you know by now your tank is too small for discus.
The question of water chemistry has become much less important after so many decades of breeding discus in captivity.
I have bred successfully several pairs of wild Blue or Brown Discus in tap water which had a pH of 7.6 and almost 500 ppm TDS, moderately hard water.
My largest brood of discus happened to be from one wild brown pair in the water conditions described and the number of fry I ended up selling was 147.
Not even any of my domestic discus have ever come close to that mark.
Blue/Brown wilds are the most tolerant of all the wild discus to variable water parameters. Greens and Heckels are much more demanding. You aren't going to be getting wild discus as a beginner, I assume, so most tap water is acceptable.
I am currently breeding domestic discus in water with a pH of 7.5 and TDS of 450 ppm. I raise discus for the money. If I believed I would get even better results with domestic discus by using wild type water conditions I can and would do it but it just hasn't proved necessary.

 

[lilthrasher]

well thank you guys i guess its time to see what i can get from the store i work at tank wise. lol the reason i was wanting to go with the bow front is because its in my room and well to do another tank its going to have to be in the living room/spare bed room and im not there much