i want to keep some discus fish say 3 but can only really fit an aquarium of 2 feet length maybe 3 at a push?

Answer 1

Underfeeding discus and stunting them is unhealthy, they tend not to live as long and do have some abormal traits such as bigger eyes, the body shape is off etc. They should not be kept in pairs unless it is a certified breeding pair, otherwise a dominance issue will arise and the smaller one will get picked on, often to death. For most people the minimum tank size I'd recommend to start keepin discus is 55 gallons, with 4-5 discus no more. If you start off with small discus you must realize that it entails feeding them frequently with good quality food until they've reached the appropriate size. Note that a healthy well fed discus will be arround 6'' long. For more info http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_discus.php

Answer 2

listen, Discus need at least 50 gallon per fish, so you need to know how many gallons you fish tank is,to find this out multiply the length in inches X the height in inches X the dept in inches and divide the result by 231, this is the amount of gallons your tank is, then make the decision. So, lets say you tank is 36 inches L X 20 inches H X 16 inches D this is equal to 11520 divide by 231 = 49.87 so you have 50 gallons and enough space to put 1 discus.

Answer 3

Get small Discus (as small as possible) and (i know this sounds cruel) but don't overfeed them, slightly under feed them.

They shouldn't grow much bigger, most fish as long as your careful won't outgrow your aquarium but there are some species that will. Discus usually get very large like dinner plate size, but they are about $40-$50 to buy, and if they start to get too big you can always sell them later down the track and get some more small ones. Discus are worth quite a bit at a decent size.