Discus friend

[Carp890]

Have a 250ltr community tank. Cut a long story short l have 1 Discus along with tiger barb's, rainbows, corys various tetra's. They all get on very well, no fin nipping. Discus feeding great, he does show stress marks.
The reason I got the Discus, he's been through hell at the shop, they had a very bad outbreak of ick a new variant, it took a long time to get on top of it but they lost a lot of fish. Most of the Discus died plus others. They managed to sort it out, my Discus was left with a few others, on its own looking sad, they said he was a bully, quite a big fish 4 to 5 inch, so I bought him home. Now I know there a shoal fish don't like other types of fish, the question is I'd like to get him a partner but would it be possible the shop said it would be dangerous as he was a bully what do you think.

 

[Rocky998]

I know discus like more of their kind and they dont like MANY other tank mates but it is doable.
This could be the reason for the stress marks.

(Also I know I will probably be yelled at but while its not good I do kinda like the look of the stress marks lol... Not that I WANT them to have it but it does look pretty)

 

[Byron]

Although discus are shoaling fish and must be in a group, adding another here is not likely to work at all. Shoaling fish need a group. And Tiger Barbs should never be combined with discus, I am not surprised it is stressed. You do not know everything is OK, no one does; fish release pheromones and allomones that other fish read and these can cause stress as much as actual physical aggression.

 

[Stan510]

He looks healthy. If you add a second hope thats its the opposite sex because a dominant male will stress the new comer as is usual with Discus.
A group solves the problem...but so does a happy pair kept to themselves.

 

[plebian]

It's possible that fish is wild, or one generation removed. Wild fish normally show "stress" bars. Farm raised fish don't show them so much because breeders have selectively bred their fish to remove the trait. His fins are erect, not clamped, and his color looks good. Stressed fish not only show their bars, they also darken their color. I think he's fine.

It looks like your aquarium is already well stocked. I wouldn't add another discus, and I would consider removing the tiger barbs. They may not be biting, but they are very active, discus are less so. Discus are totally OK with other species so long as they are not too active or aggressive.

 

[Carp890]

It's possible that fish is wild, or one generation removed. Wild fish normally show "stress" bars. Farm raised fish don't show them so much because breeders have selectively bred their fish to remove the trait. His fins are erect, not clamped, and his color looks good. Stressed fish not only show their bars, they also darken their color. I think he's fine.

It looks like your aquarium is already well stocked. I wouldn't add another discus, and I would consider removing the tiger barbs. They may not be biting, but they are very active, discus are less so. Discus are totally OK with other species so long as they are not too active or aggressive.

Thank you, good info thanks again