Discus With Other Fish?

[mikemensch2007]

I have a 125 gallon I gotta get running soon and I was planning on getting a bunch of nice big fish (not to big though). My plan was to get these fish:
2 Bala Sharks
2 Discus
1 Common Pleco
1 Bulldog Pleco
5 Clown Loaches
3 German Blue Rams (the only small ones)
1 Elephant Nose
.......

Those are my plans SO FAR... I was wondering if the discus would go good with all of these, I heard that the plecos will suck onto the sides of the discus, will that kill them though(probably right)? I also read that the royal plecos are compatible to go with the dicus, so are there different types of plecos that wont suck to the sides of the discus?

I also wanted to known some opinions on what other fish would be nice to go in with this selection of mine. I want to get bigger sized fish like the discus, balas, elephant noses and stuff like that but I dont know much more fish sized like that... Any help would be appreciated, thanks...

 

[cyprinut]

Personally I wouldn't put plecos in with the clowns, and I've heard of the horror stories of prized discus being sucked to death, too. The bala sharks might be too much even for a 6 ft tank, and the elephant fish may not enjoy the wild antics of a social group of clowns as well as the cruising active balas.
How about the clowns, a rainbow shark, 3 or 4 blue or blue-spot gourami and 15-20 cherry barbs? Nice Asian theme. Lots of color, activity in all areas of the tank.

 

[mikemensch2007]

Well see the thing is my other 129 gallon has gouramis, I dont like gouramis much myself...See too much and the get boring ... About the balas I am looking forward to getting them because I had them before In my 129 gallon but it died, I didnt know this before but I heard the bala controls algae somewhat? I think I wont get the clowns. I want some pretty big fish like the balas and stuff, cherry barbs are small arent they? I probably wont get the discus either cause I would like to have those 2 plecos I posted. I do love the bala sharks though, are you sure they wont make it in a 125 they only get like 18 inches, I had one in my other tank... How come you say not to put the plecos in with the clowns?

 

[plecoguy]

i would say no on the balas and just watch the plecos, ive had a variety of plecs with discus before with no problem. i personally would do a bigger group of discus, and a bigger group of the rams too. other than that sounds like a good plan!!!

 

[mikemensch2007]

alright, how come everyone hates my balas !?!?!?!?! What is wrong with them, they arent aggressive or anything, just tell me why you guys suggest not getting them? Other than that, how big of a group of discus and rams, and are the clowns good and plecos and the other stuff? Since so many (2) people told me not to get the balas I probably wont get them... O well..

 

[Ethos]

I've always heard a begginer in discus should practice with a speicies only tank.
You learn a lot of stuff you'd never think about.

 

[plecoguy]

discus really like fish that arent skiddish and crazy...like balas. plus when balas get big, they will be more aggressive normally...just not a good idea.other than that, the clownfish normally make a pretty good tankmate. i would say a group of at least 6 for the rams, and discus normally like a bigger group of around 6 to, but you can toy with that one.

 

[Griz]

I've been reading about discus for some time now (no personal experience) but I think that if you are going to try them, they should be your focus. They can be kept in a community, but tankmates really should be chosen with the discus as the priority. Of the other fish you listed: Rams would be fine, people seem to have mixed results with plecs, balas and clown loaches would not go well with them. You could do a nice group of discus in a 129g though

 

[annka5]

I agree with Griz; namely that the discus would be fine with rams, but not with balas (to active) and pleco (sucking) or clown loach (too active).
My understanding is that elephant nose fish are pretty retiring but inclined to be nasty too, and might also struggle with the bala and the clown loaches.
You could have 6 discus, say 3 pairs rams, a shoal of tetra (eg cardinal) and some cory.
Or else a combination without the discus which would allow you to have more of the fish you want - So you could get bala, just not with discus.

 

[plecoguy]

well...i guess ive just always had luck with clown loaches and discus. same with my bosses, and same with a bunch of other poeple i know....hmm...

 

[mikemensch2007]

Ok now that Ive read all that, I will change my plans... Probably 6 Discus, 6 Rams, 6 Clowns, 1 Common Pleco/ Will watch him with discus and if he does fine I will get the bulldog... I am not to interested in doing a species tank, just to boring to waste 125 gallons on a bunch of discus and thats it ... Ok then thats my new plan, what else is a good fish to go with discus? I dont want to get anything smaller than the rams, so what else would be good(with my new plan)? Or is what I have enough, cause if I can fit more fish in there I will

 

[big mick]

I keep discus with plecs and clown loach with no problems atall, however I have heard the stories of plecs 'sucking on the discus' and heard this was almost allways the common plecs....I keep bristlenose and they have been fine and like I say my clown loach are fine aswell.

I LOVE balla sharks but I wouldnt keep one with my discus, its true what everyone has said though, they get spooked easily and tend to zip back and forward, discus wont like that, but then many people say not to keep discus with angels but I have for years so...

 

[kat and james]

from what i have read about discus fish, they don't like skittish fish (as everyone said, bala sharks are not an appropriate tankmate for discus) so if you stick to calm peaceful fish you should be fine!

 

[plecoguy]

now, i have found that if you add somthing first before discus you are better off, once you have the discus in the tank i would be weary about adding more because of risk of getting a disease in there. sounds like to me you have a great mix of fish in mind. just watch the water quality and ph (keep it constant) closely and do frequent water changes and keep the temp up and you will have no problem.

 

[IMCL85]

there r really only 2 good tank mate for discus from ur list. One is the german blue ram and the severum as well. But the severum will get big and eventurally agreesive so if I were u only keep blue ram with discus. Other r either too attive or too danger(pleco etc like to suck fish slime from discus).