Discus Tank Mates?

[shaz-killie]

Last week I decided to purchase two discus which has settled well in my tank along with, 2 small silver sharks, 3 small silver dollars, 6 kribs and a big angel. however I am looking to bring in some colour to the tank so ideas appreciated. I went on a few sites and got this list

Gold Nugget Plecotomus - Baryancistrus sp.
Imperial Zebra Plecostomus
cories
pictus
bristlenose
Blue Peacock
Red Peacock
Yellow Peacock
Yellow Tail Violet
Kribensis
Keyholes cichlid
Blue Rams
rummy noses

however I have past history of not 100% trusting this kind of information.

I know all these wouldn't go in the tank, i'm just looking to know if they would be compatible with the discus, anything else in my tank at the moment can be moved

thanks

 

[rabbut]

to TFF

OK, the current stocking needs to be given attention before trying to avert disaster by adding many of the "surgested" companions.

Discus need a 55g tank and a group of at least 5 as a minimum requirement. If you cannot provide this, you'd be best getting rid of your two now, before you don't have them alive to return . If you have a breeding pair, they should be kept alone in a 30g tall. Discus in small groups will kill each-other one by one untill there is one left that will stress and starve itself to death

Silver sharks grow to 18" and anything larger than Discus will stress them. First issue Second issue, if it is fast moving, it will stress discus, hence Sliver Dollars and Silver sharks are no-no's The Kribs I'm not shure on, but the angel should be OK unless it is larger than the Disucs.

I'll be back to go through the list of possible new fish and Discus care basics soon for you, but there is something on TV now that I want to watch Anyhow, some starting points for consideration

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Davo86]

Hi and welcome,
I think Rabbut has pretty much covered the problems with your stocking so far so i'll just give you a general run down of the species on your list

Gold Nugget Plecotomus - Baryancistrus sp. - slihtly rarer pleco which should be ok with Discus
Imperial Zebra Plecostomus - needs special treatments and is not suitable for anything other than a species tank
cories - suitable bottom feeders that should be kept in groups, however some species won't tolerate high temps required by Discus
pictus - too quick and active to be kept with Discus, will eat small fish
bristlenose - commonly sold algae eating pleco, may learn to stick onto the Discus
Blue Peacock - all Peacocks should be housed with other similar african cichlids, they aren't suitabe tankmates and will most likely harass or kill the discus
Red Peacock - same as blue peacock
Yellow Peacock - same as blue peacock
Yellow Tail Violet- guessing this a common name for a species of african cichlid, so like peacocks aren't suitable
Kribensis - may be ok, but as an african cichlid they require a much different setup to that of discus so wouldn't really be suitable
Keyholes cichlid - pair of these dwarf cichlids should be fine with Discus
Blue Rams - same as above
rummy noses - ideal shoaling fish to go with Discus,


provided tank size is adequate you could go for something like this

5 Discus
1-2 smaller angels
1 pair of dwarf cichlids such as rams or keyholes
1-2 shoals of tetras, e.g. 12 Rummynose, 12 black neons
6-8 Corydoras species
1 Gold nugget pleco

 

[shaz-killie]

thanks, i've got 7 tanks in the house so plenty of places to off load those fish and tbh the dollars were on the possible move with the tetra the other day, think i've created a naughty tank for anything that doesn't get on with discus. kribs haven't went near the discus and are feeding at different levels so i'd imagine they'd be ok. but then my discus knowledge is very little

 

[shaz-killie]

provided tank size is adequate you could go for something like this

5 Discus
1-2 smaller angels
1 pair of dwarf cichlids such as rams or keyholes
1-2 shoals of tetras, e.g. 12 Rummynose, 12 black neons
6-8 Corydoras species
1 Gold nugget pleco

thanks sounds prob what i'm looking at, I doubted the list immediately as there was also convicts on it. just want to add subtle colour without detracting from the discus. i will be adding to there stock, just wanted to check 2 would settle before doing so

 

[rabbut]

Sorry Davo, but I've got to dissagree with a few of your comments

Gold Nugget Plecotomus - Baryancistrus sp. - slihtly rarer pleco which should be ok with Discus

Being a Baryancistrus species and and having to have a lot of Protien in their diet, they are actaully one of the most likely fish to latch onto Discus. This has happened to me with an L18 before, and L81, the most common nugget, has an even higher latching rate

Imperial Zebra Plecostomus - needs special treatments and is not suitable for anything other than a species tank

agree

cories - suitable bottom feeders that should be kept in groups, however some species won't tolerate high temps required by Discus

Agree again. Adolfi and Metea (spelling?) are fine in mine, and Sterbi (spelling?) are commonly kept with Discus. Peppers, Albinos and Pandas will not tollerate the heat and should be avoided.

pictus - too quick and active to be kept with Discus, will eat small fish

Agree again

bristlenose - commonly sold algae eating pleco, may learn to stick onto the Discus

Though some do latch, this is the excaption to the rule, and fairly unusual

Blue Peacock - all Peacocks should be housed with other similar african cichlids, they aren't suitabe tankmates and will most likely harass or kill the discus
Red Peacock - same as blue peacock
Yellow Peacock - same as blue peacock
Yellow Tail Violet- guessing this a common name for a species of african cichlid, so like peacocks aren't suitable
Kribensis - may be ok, but as an african cichlid they require a much different setup to that of discus so wouldn't really be suitable

I'm not shure on these, so I'd advise following all Dave's advise to avoid any

Keyholes cichlid - pair of these dwarf cichlids should be fine with Discus

I got rid of mine when I got Discus as they can be agressive to them apparently...

Blue Rams - same as above
rummy noses - ideal shoaling fish to go with Discus,

I'll agree with those, both fine

I'm feeling lazy tonight, so please excuse me copying and pasting my 7 "rules" of Discus keeping from another thread that I've replyed in...

1) Keep their tank and water clean. Aim for twice weekly 50% waterchanges on juviniles and weekly 50%'s for adults with bare tanks for juviniles as a beginner keeper

2) Keep them heavily filtered. Aim for a turn-over of 8X and hour minimum through canisters. Some will tell you to avoid flow, but I don't find it a problem with mine. If you find a problem with it, play with the outlet, aiming it in different directions and towards objects to break it up, rather than reducing the flowrate.

3) Keep them well fed on a varied and high-protien diet. I feed mine Vipakraft Discusin (Tetramin ATM due to a shortage but they aren't as fussed for it so I'll be switching back when it's ran out) and Tropical Quintette frozen food. Go with a 50-50 split where possible with 2 feeds daily minimum. Mine usualy get 4 feeds a day

4) Keep them warm, between 28 and 32 centigrade, 30 being the ideal.

5) Keep them in groups of 5+. This will spread the agression and reduce stress. A stressed Discus will starve itself to death over a few months

6) Keep them in a mature tank, that has had other fish in for 6 months or more before adding the Discus wherever possible, unless you are well precticed in their care. (This is a new one)

7) Research untill the Cows come home. Don't fall into the same trap I did, and jump in feet first. If you do this you will struggle and wonder why all your fish are dieing. When you can answer every Discus question that comes up on here, you are ready to try some People that call these fish hard to keep usualy do so because the fish went over due to their ignorrance in failing to research these fishes needs properly (also a new "rule")

HTH some more
Rabbut

 

[shaz-killie]

well luckily most has been done or in the process.

1, well thats been luck as i've been stealing alot of water from the main tank while setting up others. but will now continue to do.

2, i'm running an external and internal filter so i can't see filteration being a prob

3, there on the frozen discus food at the moment and flakes but was going to run pellets alongside frozen

4, eh will be done in the morning, just launched my dollars and sharks out the tank at the moment. (angel needs a tank setup for him so will do in the morning)

5, also in the process of increasing this (and i see what you mean about bullying although they are both feeding, if anything the bully is eating less)

6, tank has been running years, just changed the conditions

7, you'll get loads of daft questions during my learning and research

 

[ALW]

A Panaque will be fine so long as there is plenty of bogwood in the tank. As said above Rams (either Bolivian or German), then a shoal of Tetras IMO (Lemon, Glowlight, Neon, Cardinal, Black Neon)

 

[shaz-killie]

that is one strange thing, I had rosy, bleeding hearts, black phantoms and lemon tertas and they were scaring the discus so they got evicted but everything i've read say they'd be ok.

as you may guess I much prefer gaining keepers advice than the guy in the shop trying to sell me dodgy fish

 

[rabbut]

Well, most slim-bodied tetras are fine usualy Most frozen Discus mixes are rubbish, to a point where all the hard-selling LFS's arround me advise customers against them. They are usualy based on almost all poor quality Beef Heart. Beef Heart alone in a diet can caurse al sorts of Dietary deficiencies. There are limited numbers of people who think beef heart caurses fatty liver disease (like me) and hance I do not use it in my diets. If you do use it, it needs to be in moderation and only part of the diet. Beefheart should be home made from quality meat Mine get Tropical Qunitette frozen food, Vipakraft Discusin pellets and peas wherever they get fed to the family

All the best
Rabbut

 

[shaz-killie]

thanks again, tbh I fell into the first time discus owner and wasn't in my local shop so picked the standard discus food instead of asking.

think the additional discus will need to be done asap as the bullying has massively increased since the original post, pos related to the removal of the other fish

 

[rabbut]

Watch the new fish. I made the same mistake, adding just 2 when I started out with Discus. My 2 established fish pinned all 4 new ones into the top right corner for the best part of a week after I introduced them. All hell will look to break loose in there when you add the new ones. Don't remove them unless they are genuinely getting hammered by their new mates with fins e.t.c in a state. They will settle down sooner or later. Give them the best chance by ensuring they are well fed before introduction and re-arrange the tank literaly moments before the new ones go in to break up teritories

All the best
Rabbut

 

[shaz-killie]

thanks, well after logging out, the smaller one just wasn't getting a break so decided to seperate them, not sure this is a good idea as it is now one discus to a tank but thought it might calm them down and add more later in the week while re-introducing the removed one? if this is totally wrong please say as I know they are not meant to be kept alone, just didn't want one of them getting bullied for the rest of the week

 

[rabbut]

If it's short term it should be OK, but you may well find that both refuse to eat while alone....

 

[shaz-killie]

well at the mo they seem to be feeding fine, but will keep an eye on them. guess this is the hard lesson of starting discus i now have fish everywhere that probably shouldn't be togther but are getting along. fingers crossed everything should be settled by the weekend