Discus Discus Discus Discus!!
 
 
 

When I first got into Fishkeeping (see main aquapage) I saw some pictures of Discus in some of the aquarium books I started getting..I was immediately drawn to them! I bought many books on discus. But unfortunately, the more I read about them, the more I was drawn to the conclusion that I just couldnt have them..yet.
Because I live in an apartment and I simply dont have the room for a proper Discus tank! (55 gallons or larger..) so, I was just going to wait until I *someday* have a house and can do it properly..I wanted to start out with a 90 gallon tank!
but meanwhile, I started reading all the discus forums on the internet, getting more and more discus books, etc etc...I just couldnt take it anymore!! ;) I NEEDED Discus! I was slowly become obsessed! (even *before* I got the fish! a bad sign! ;) it might be another 3,5,10 years before I buy a house! I cant wait that long! :)

So..my apartment has these built in bookcases, the tops of which just happen to be EXACTLY 12X30 inches..which just happens to be the EXACT dimensions of a 38gal tall aquarium! so I thought about it...I knew it was just a hair on the small side, and I knew the absolute minimum amount of Discus to start out with is 4 fish, and you need 10 gallon per fish, so that means a 40 gallon would be the absolute minimum size tank for Discus..I could fit a 38 gal .... so I rationalized, tried to talk myself into it..."if I go with a bare-bottom tank, do LOTS of water changes, keep it VERY clean, in short, do EVERYTHING as RIGHT as I possibly can (except for the tank size)..:(..well, it should work ok!"  so...I decided to go for it!
 

Here is what the space looked like before the tank.
 
 

 and one month later..!
 

I searched every single LFS in Rochester NY, and couldnt find a 38tall tank!
So on March 11 2001, I drove out to Buffalo to my favorite BIG lfs ("The Fish Place" in Tonawanda) and got my 38tall in Cherry red!
 

Here is the tank being installed on March 11.
 

And being filled!

 all set up!   now the waiting begins....

 
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any questions or comments?? e-mail me at [email protected]

Scot Lawrence 2001