Adding Rams with Discus

[Ariel Saxon]

I have a discus about 4" wide and I purchased a bunch of Ram cichlids to go into the aquarium. They are still in the quarantine tank but are almost ready to add to the bigger aquarium. My only worry is the size of the rams. They are maybe an inch long including tail. Are they too small at this time to place with the discus? They are going into a 220 gallon that is heavily planted.

 

[Sarah73]

I have a discus about 4" wide and I purchased a bunch of Ram cichlids to go into the aquarium. They are still in the quarantine tank but are almost ready to add to the bigger aquarium. My only worry is the size of the rams. They are maybe an inch long including tail. Are they too small at this time to place with the discus? They are going into a 220 gallon that is heavily planted.

My rule is if the mouth of the discus is bigger than the fish you are adding, don't add the other fish until they are bigger than the discus mouth.

 

[Ariel Saxon]

My rule is if the mouth of the discus is bigger than the fish you are adding, don't add the other fish until they are bigger than the discus mouth.

They are bigger than his mouth for sure but would the discus harass them too much at their size? I've seen rams aggression before when breeding but with small fish and I wasn't sure how well they could hold their own against a discus.

 

[Sarah73]

They are bigger than his mouth for sure but would the discus harass them too much at their size? I've seen rams aggression before when breeding but with small fish and I wasn't sure how well they could hold their own against a discus.

They will be fine, what kind of rams are you adding? golden? blue?

 

[JuiceBox52]

Also are you having more than one discus? They require a shoal

 

[Colin_T]

Discus only live in groups when young. As they mature they become solitary or form pairs. Each individual fish or pair of fish will establish a fairly large territory and chase out any other cichlids that enter that territory.

If the discus are 4 inches long and the rams are 1 inch long, they should be ok but you will need to monitor them for the first few days.

If you feed the discus really well just before adding the rams to the tank, the discus will be less inclined to thinking the rams are food.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Discus only live in groups when young. As they mature they become solitary or form pairs. Each individual fish or pair of fish will establish a fairly large territory and chase out any other cichlids that enter that territory.

If the discus are 4 inches long and the rams are 1 inch long, they should be ok but you will need to monitor them for the first few days.

If you feed the discus really well just before adding the rams to the tank, the discus will be less inclined to thinking the rams are food.

Huh. I didn't know that. Thanks colin!

 

[Colin_T]

They get big too. One of the customers who used to visit the shop was from South America. She showed us pictures of her catching and eating discus that were 10-12 inches in diameter. She said they tasted really good. She use to come in and ask if we had any spare discus she could have because she was hungry She was joking, at least I hope she was

 

[Ariel Saxon]

They will be fine, what kind of rams are you adding? golden? blue?

There are 2 german blue, 2 electric, 2 gold balloon, and 2 bolivians. I was worried about putting anymore to calm down on aggression. I've never had more than a pair in an aquarium before and I heard they can be territorial.

 

[Colin_T]

All cichlids are territorial, including normal blue rams and the Bolivian ones.
I'm not sure how long the tank is but all of those rams could be an issue.

Regarding the gold balloon rams, they are a genetically deformed fish that will struggle to compete with the normal fish that aren't deformed.

 

[Ariel Saxon]

The aquarium is 6 ft by 2 ft and is heavily planted with driftwood and rocks. There is a large open area in the middle for swimming. I also have tunnels I made in certain areas covered in large rocks to help with territories. But like I said I haven't had more than a pair in an aquarium at one time. The balloons are my biggest concern. I do have an empty aquarium I could set up for them permanently if needed.

 

[Colin_T]

In a 6x2ft tank, those fish should be fine together. Just monitor them and if the balloon fish aren't doing well, move them into a smaller tank.

 

[Ariel Saxon]

In reference to the discus in the aquarium, it was originally a group of 7 that I tried to rescue from someone. They were all only about 2" but were in really bad shape. Sadly I could only get 1 to survive. I was scared to put anything else in the aquarium for a while but the discus is still alive and seems rather happy to be the only one in the aquarium. I have thought about finding him a home with other discus in the past but again he doesn't hide in the aquarium and even nips at my hand when I am cleaning everything. I always felt a little guilty having him in there by himself but at the same time he seemed to enjoy itself.

 

[Colin_T]

You can try adding more discus if you like but you will need to add at least 6 more at the same time and they have to be the same size as the one you currently have. Then you have to monitor them for fighting.

Unless you want to breed them, I would just leave the 1 discus in the tank and add other types of fish.

 

[Ariel Saxon]

You can try adding more discus if you like but you will need to add at least 6 more at the same time and they have to be the same size as the one you currently have. Then you have to monitor them for fighting.

Unless you want to breed them, I would just leave the 1 discus in the tank and add other types of fish.

Having one happy healthy discus is fine with me