catfish and dicus

[lukenat]

what cats are good for discus setups aprt from cories and bajno;s i would like to keep some jaguar catfish but iwll they eat cardinals pls help

 

[Doggfather]

Why not try some plecs

Apart from a Jaguar Cat's size, it's activity is a problem. They can move quite fast and are nocturnal which will porbably spook the discus. This is true for most other synodontis cats too

How big a tank is it going to be?

 

[Teelie]

Plecs are no good either unless you don't mind doing the extra work cleaning the water more often. Plecos are messy, messy fish and they'll foul a Discus tank in no time.

 

[Doggfather]

Plecs are no good either unless you don't mind doing the extra work cleaning the water more often. Plecos are messy, messy fish and they'll foul a Discus tank in no time.

I don't know where you found information which classed all plecs as "messy, messy fish and they'll foul a Discus tank in no time." but for the most part, it's not true.

The more common, and cheaper, plecs such as commons and sailfins create huge amounts of waste since they grow quite large and need copious amounts of food to suntain themselves but the smaller, less messy plecs, such as clown, bristlenose, peppermint, gold nuggers, leopard frogs...(and the list goes on) would be fine in any large enough discus tank.

 

[CFC]

Sorry Dogg, i have to agree with Teelie that all plecs are messy poop machines, clowns, gold nuggets and bristlenoses especially fall into this category.
Out of all the fish in my 200 gallon which one do you think creates the most mess? You might think it would be one of the fish over a foot long but no, its 5 inch royal plec.

 

[Doggfather]

Quote from another discus/plec thread:

Plecs would be fine. However, I would get a plec that grows any larger than 8" or they may take a liking to the Discus and suck on its side, I have seen this happen with Royals. Take a look on Planet Catfish. For example -

Golden Nugget L177
King Tiger L066
Leopard Frog L134
Zebra Plec L046

and so the list goes on.......................

In all other threads i have seen nobody has ever voiced problems about discus/plecs being kept together, providng proper tank sizes, filtrations, etc, but then again it could be a question about how much work and effort somebody will put into keeping them together (water changes, tests, etc)

 

[ryan]

As CFC and Teelie have both said, its not just the larger Common and Gibbiceps Plecs that produce heavy waste loads. Plecs with a more vegetable based diet like Bristlenoses may produce more visible waste amounts but the Plecs with more meatier diets still produce plenty of waste. However, this does not mean that they can't be kept with Discus providing good filtration and tank maintenance apply.

 

[Teelie]

I like Plecs and they're great fish but they don't go with everything and with a sensitive Discus and the way Plecos produce waste, I wouldn't put them together without putting in extra time to make sure the water is maintained. It's like the odd couple, the super clean freak and the dirty, messy, slob who leaves a mess where ever they go.

 

[sonota]

The royal pleco waste is going to mainly sawdust, not a huge source of ammonia, IMO. They gnaw their driftwood for the lignins in it, but it's not exactly a rich food source. There are quite a few Hypancistrus types that stay small, don't make large volumes of waste, and do very well at the higher temps that are going to keep discus happiest.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi lukenat

Please don't think that any cory can thrive in a discus tank, because it is not true.

Certain corys, such as C. sterbai and C. adolfoi do well because they can tolerate and thrive in the higher temperatures discus require. Others, need cooler temperatures and some can even do very well in unheated goldfish tanks.

 

[cory]

Flagtail Porthole Catfish are perfect for Discus tanks. One FPC does the work of 10 cories and they're more than comfortable at those higher temps.