New Discus fish

[julioarca]

I have a Juwel 180 setup.....4 black mollies, 1 flying fox, 2 plecs, 1 sptted cat, 1 honey gourami, spotted gourami, 1 female fighting fish. All seem not to bother the Discus

Ph 6.6-6.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0 - 0.25 ppm
Nitrate 10
temp 80-81

I took the plunge and added 2 Discus fish to my tank 24 hrs ago. They seem very very shy, crouching down in one corner of the tank, seem scared of any other fish.
Fed bloodworm last night, they got a coupe of pieces each.
Fe bloodworm tonight, and some Discus Quintete, again whatever fell close / infront they ate, but scared / shy when other fish approached for some food. Its a well planted tank and they choose to sit under leaves etc, keeping well out of the way of other fish.........is this normal for Discus recently introduced to a cmmunity setup ?

 

[bugsy66]

Let me give you some very very much important info I have encountered with my first Discus. Firstly to me they are the "king" of the aquarium hobby like they say.

At the moment I am fighting and praying my Discus pulls through all the ailments of my ignorance of a fish keeper and the ignorance of my lack of knowledge of these beautiful fish.

I am very angry with myself.... and only hope that no one else will encounter what I am going through right now.

To start with I am not going to tear apart what fish you have in your tank right now. I will only give you my opinion on what I would do differently if this fish pulls through.

There is little room for error with these fish in my opinion. Clean, clean water is of the most important thing. Good food(s) is the next thing. Don't buy that bagged "no name" food to feed discus. Pick you tank mates very carefully. Good filteration is also very important. Live plants always a plus.

Never do what I did....

Skipped my water changes for one time
Fed cheap crappy flaked foods
Did not quarantine a new fish before adding it (ich)
Do not under any circumstances think that any type of freshwater dwarf puffer fish will be okay with your other fish. It is a horrible experience, believe me.

The best setup

A few cory cat fish
Nice school of small fish (rummy nose tetras, cardinal tetras, neon tetras)
Bristlenose plec for cleaning
I do have an angel with my discus they are the best of buddies

Discus are shy as you have found. If their tank is full of very active fish they will remain shy and not display their beauty to their full potential. You have 5 fish which I would never have with a discus now that I know what can happen.

Hope this helps a bit, good luck with your fish.....

 

[freddyk]

Discus are finicky, and you need to do all the research you can to prepare for them. They need extremely pristine water (frequent changes, low stocking levels), calm tankmates (no flying foxes), fellow discus tankmates (they're group fish), and although they can be kept in a bare aquarium they really appreciate lots of plants.

 

[ryan]

It is most likely that they are scared of the other fish. As I think bugsy66 mentioned, they like to be in charge of their tank and large active fish like Gouramis and Flying Foxes will put them off if they are introduced to the tank with these occupants already present. If these fish are flying around competeing for food left right and centre newly introduced Discus will want to stick well away and will rarely compete for food. It is also best to leave the aquarium lights off for at least 24hours after arrival so the fish can adjust to the parameters and settle in as peacefully as possible.

 

[julioarca]

forgot to add, this is a well planted tank. One discus seems to chase the other around at times

 

[cichlid]

well mollies will need brakish/marine waters... and i dont think they or gouramis would get on too well with the discus

 

[pnyklr3]

The brakish/freshwater molly debate is still up and running. I wouldn't worry about that at the moment.

 

[Discus man]

as i can remeber i have all ready helped you why have you posted again?
Get rid of the mollies and all will be ok.

 

[julioarca]

this is my first and only post in this forum.

 

[Discus man]

no as i can remember i gave you alot of advice on getting rid of the mollies did you post on discus fish UK then?

Discus man

 

[wrs]

it is the tank mates.

discus can only be kept with a few species. Three, apart from corydoras, says Jack watley, a discus expert. He recomends blue/gold rams, small tetras like cardinal tetras or rummy noses, which he calls canerys of the tank so that if there is a probelm you will notice it first with the rummy noses and be able to fix it before your dicus get affected by it.

 

[Discus man]

No there is a lot more you can keep them with

plecs
tetra
cory
LOACH
cardinals
scissor tails
1 male siamese fighter (Betta)


all those are in my experiance

 

[ryan]

Generally a few of these fish are not advised to be kept with Discus, most Corydoras (with the exception of C.sterbai) and Bettas can't withstand the high temperatures Discus require for long periods of time. This also affects the Loach species which have high oxygen requirements and with the raise in temperature oxygen levels are reduced so heavy planting or extra oxygenating is needed. Alot of Discus keepers have reported larger Plec species like Gibbiceps and Common Plecs sucking on the slime coating of Discus, but I believe smaller L-numbers are compatible. Cardinals which are a species of Tetra are the classic partnership fish with Discus and very effective aesthetically and practically. Some other Tetra species like Neon Tetras find it very hard to survive the high temperatures for a long period of time and fully grown Discus can often see smaller species as food as their diet in the wild would consist of small fish.

 

[wrs]

No there is a lot more you can keep them with

plecs
tetra
cory
LOACH
cardinals
scissor tails
1 male siamese fighter (Betta)


all those are in my experiance

cardinals are tetras. And do you mean scissor tails rasboras?

You should only keep them with the fish that have been mentioned. Not what you keep them with.