Discus?

[Porky p]

Hi, I'm planning on putting discus in my community tank, I currently have neon tetras, danios, guppies, platies and a ruby shark! My aquarium is quite large and I was hoping to introduce some discus fish (2/3)
Anyway all my water qualities seem fine for the keep of discus! The only things I'm not that sure of is temperature and ph!
My ph at the moment is 7.5
My temperature is stuck at 80-81, if I'm right this is slightly colder than the perfect discus environment but most discus now are not wild caught and will adapt, or so I'm told! Anyway I was wondering if all these water parameters would be ok and if the fish I have would be compatable?
Cheers

Josh

 

[Chad]

I'm not a discuss expert by any means so hopefully someone who is will post. However, you are right, they do like to be on the warmer side (84ish) and they like slightly acidic water. I also worry that these other fish would stress it, especially the rainbow (ruby) shark.

 

[Porky p]

At the moment the ruby is only very small, I was wondering if I gt young discus they may get used to the other fish therefore not eating them or being stressed by them in the end, but I know they aren't easy to keep, especially in a community aquarium

 

[Chad]

I've had experience where a fish was fine when it was small but once it got big enough to take a meal it did no matter how much time it had spent with the tankmates. Like I said I have limited experience in this area. The main reason for that is that I like community tanks and have always read that discus aren't good in community tanks.

 

[Porky p]

Ok cheers

I may try it and see what happens

 

[Chad]

Well...give it a bit more research first. It's not something I suggest just experimenting with.

 

[JenCliBee]

My aquarium is quite large

How large is quite large?

 

[Porky p]

70 gallon

Also if not, can anyone recommend a suitable larger community tank fish! I've thought gourami etc

 

[JenCliBee]

70 gallon

Also if not, can anyone recommend a suitable larger community tank fish! I've thought gourami etc

Size wise sounds ok, amount fish you want probably isn't... you really need 4+ but i would say 6 being better.

Unfortunately, the other fish are just not suitable...danios need cooler water than there already in, the ruby shark can be quite a skittish, quick fish and with discus this can make them a little uneasy. The neon's as the discus grow would potentially be snacks for them.... and with the temp needing to be increased further, it wouldn't be ideal conditions for the rest of the inhabitants.

A discus only tank would work well though, adding a school of cory's like sterbai would be a nice addition.

The other side would be filtration, it really does need to be spot on, not to much flow but enough to cope with the twice maybe 3 times a day feeding regime.... feeding things like beefheart can be very messy and polluting also, so.... another reason filtration needs to be at it's best.

Discus can be quite finicky fish and if not in complete optimum conditions they can go downhill very quickly.

Other fish could maybe angels?..... again the snacking of the neon's as they get older could be a potential problem but for temp, it can be alot lower so the other inhabitants would be fine...... others, maybe rams?...... i'm not really much help with some of the larger cichlids, some can be very aggressive and a potential danger for snaking on other fish.

However if your set on discus, give them a try but you really could do with addressing the other issues mentioned above first.

 

[Porky p]

Ok cheers, I'm going to leave it a while and research it properly!
I'm sure ill find some larger attractive species to add! I wanted cichlids but I know they are semi aggressive towards other fish!

 

[Electric Warrior]

If you do try keeping discus, a lot of them seem to be bred in pretty standard tap water now, and as a result, seem to be a bit hardier regarding ph, but if you were planning on breeding them, the ph would definitely need to be lower I think. But yeah, they should really be at 80F+, more like 85F, so you would have to choose tank mates accordingly. I dont think that they ruby shark would be a suitable tank mate either though. But yeah, you need to make sure that your parameters are perfect, and that your filtration is great, and if it is then why not? Everyone that keeps discus started as a beginner at one point. You don't want to make any mistakes because they will be expensive ones. Also, you have to decide if you want to shell out for a good pair or group of adult discus, or grow out juveniles, which will be much more time consuming. If you decide to get juvi's, they will be much cheaper, but you will really need to be prepared to be doing very large water changes everyday, feeding many times a day, and cleaning all of their mess, every day. Adults will not require as much work, but they will still need larger than normal and more frequent water changes.

 

[Porky p]

Thanks for all the information

 

[Electric Warrior]

You will also notice a lot of people use bare bottom tanks for discus. This may or may not appeal to you. The reason being that when they are growing, they create massive amounts of waste and mess, and a bare bottom tank makes cleaning the tank easier since most people raising discus will be cleaning the tank a few times a day. Obviously, it's much harder to do such massive daily cleaning on a planted tank. The problem is that if you do buy juvi discus and don't do large water changes daily/weekly, and aren't feeding them 5-6 times a day like they need to be, they can become stunted, develop problems, etc. You are looking at £150-ish to buy a quality breeding pair of adult discus, £70+ a single adult discus from a reputable breeder, so they are not cheap! If you are serious about it and like having a tank with a lot of decor/plants, I would personally look into buying adult discus, especially if it's your first time. But hey, if you have a lot of time, less money, and really want a challenge, go for growing out juvi's in their own bare bottom tank., and do the planted thing when they are adults.

 

[Jay-93]

Hi, I'm planning on putting discus in my community tank, I currently have neon tetras, danios, guppies, platies and a ruby shark! My aquarium is quite large and I was hoping to introduce some discus fish (2/3)
Anyway all my water qualities seem fine for the keep of discus! The only things I'm not that sure of is temperature and ph!
My ph at the moment is 7.5
My temperature is stuck at 80-81, if I'm right this is slightly colder than the perfect discus environment but most discus now are not wild caught and will adapt, or so I'm told! Anyway I was wondering if all these water parameters would be ok and if the fish I have would be compatable?
Cheers

Josh

Hi, you'll need quite a large tank to have these fish in mind. Not sure on the numbers of the smaller fish, but close to 40-50 gallons. They like water anywhere between 81 and 85 ideally. Ph is too high really, should be in the 6's, however some of the Discus that have been bred in aquariums for a few generations have been known to adapt to higher ph, so I've heard.

The ruby shark I feel is too active and stressful for the fish, not to mention could before long start picking off the smaller fish. Your tank should also be about 2 foot high if you're going to keep Discus