Tetra Neons

[wilyeo]

Can somebody enlighten me on why some hobbyist rear tetra neons as an accompaniment to discus. My tank is bare bottom with 4 discuses (3" in size).

What about the 'algae sucking' (phelco or something like that) fish. I was told to put one of them in too. If you are recommending frequent water changes, having that will not help, right.

I have a 3 feet tank at the moment. What will be the maximum number of 3" discuses to keep, to prevent overcrowding.

[adrian]

Tetras are often used in a discus tank as they provide security to discus. Discus use them as an indication of the safety of their surroundings; so if tetras are out swimming happily then your discus are more likely to be happy aswell.

Personally I would not add a pleco to your tank. As this is a bare tank and you will be doing frequent water changes there isnt going to be a chance for algae (food for plec) to grow and you would need to supplement their diet. They are also make alot of waste! If you do want to add a pleco make sure there is a piece of driftwood for it as they use it to hide and feed from. The fibres are used to aid digestion. I have heard of plecos sucking onto the side of discus. This has not happened to ours but is something to be aware of also.

Regards,

Adrian

[wilyeo]

Thanks Adrian.

What is a good number of tetras to complement the discuses.

[adrian]

If you would like to add tetras to the tank I would recommend a school minimum of 6. I dont know how happy tetras will be in a BB tank, I have heard of them in a planted tank with discus but not in BB.
Last thing I wanted to say was that rummynose tetras would be better than neons. Rummy's will fade out around the face giving you an indication that the water may be off. I personally have trouble keeping neons healthy even with good water.

HTH

Adrian

[AFTICA]

I would recommend Cardinal tetras or Rummy's over Neon tetras.

Cardinals appear to be much more resilient to, if not immune to, Neon Tetra Disease.... Which can infect other fish and for which there is no cure.

[ping]

I prefer Cardinal tetra over Neon tetra too.
Cardinal can grow bigger and live longer than neon tetra.

Regards,
Ronny

[Very Fishy]

Plecos do attached themselves to the sides of Discus and feed off their slim coating. I have seen it first hand in the LFS.

I have never combined neons with discus but be prepared once the discus get bigger. Neons will make a tasty meal for them.

[jules]

Gotta agree with you there- a Discus Snack - I have lost one neon to a 4 inch juvenile Discus. yum yum ;)

[bikhu]

Cardinals... not Neons! As mentioned Neons are very prone to carrying disease. Cardinals can act as dither fish.. distracting the Discus from aggression between each other. In terms of how many... Cardinals are so small they hardly matter in terms of bioload so go nuts if you want! Add a bunch of them. THey can be a very nice visual as they school together and swim about the tank. Yep... most likely they will occasionally disappear... and the Discus will claim they don't know a thing... but don't believe them! :o
I have had plecos in with my Discus and have witnessed the pleco attach to the side of a Discus like a remora to a shark. I have also found my Discus in the morning with white circles on the side as if attacked by some aquatice vampire or Chupa Cabra... ;)
There are certainly some strains of pleco that do great and don't bother Discus. Keep checking the posts and people will certainly tell you of specifics. In my bare bottom tanks I change H2O daily and clean the glass daily so there is no algae and no need for a Pleco...
HTH
peter

[jules]

Wilfred - it is generally one adult discus per ten gallons.

[Not2Day]

I have 43 Cardinals in my 135 BB tank along with 13 Discus. They get along just fine and do well in a bare bottom.
Dave

[Carol_Roberts]

I only keep discus in my discus tanks. My advice to beginners is to get discus keeping figured out first before you add other fish to the mix. Start with a group of at least 6 juveniles. As they grow you may need to sell some as each will need about 10 gallons as adults.

[RyanH]

I gotta go with Carol on this one. When I first started with Discus I tried doing the community, planted supertank thing and all I had were problems. If you are going to learn to keep Discus, then learn to keep them first. Then research community Discus tanks.

Take babysteps!! Keep things simple. If you don't you will just get frustrated and pissed off. Plus, its starts to get really, really expensive replacing all of those dead, sickly, or stunted Discus.

When you do decide to go with a community tank, do not put plecos in with your Discus. Bristlenose or flying foxes are much more compatible. Also, like the others have said, Cardinal Tetras work much better than Neon's. This is from personal experience. Cardinals are much better suited to the warm water that Discus require.

[Tony]

Neon probably cannot take the temp. They would just reduce the count to 0 in a month or so. (if the tank is ~28C to 30C)

I think cardinal, serpae tetra are good choice. I still have some serpae tetra with the discus. Check on rummy nose tetra whether they can take the temp. The red nose are great for indication of water quality.

I also have cory cat, pleco and bristle nose with discus. Bristle nose doesn't seems to take that high temp particular well... but if it live through it in first couple months, it would live....

Being not a purist is asking for trouble, all the issue of quarantine, temp, fish interactions... I do agree with others but the point is that it is possible.

If you go for adding other fish, make sure you set the enviroment for the discus (especially temp) as high priority. Accept the fact that the other fish may die or you may have to move them to another tank or give it back to LFS if they start to misbehave and suck on the slime of the discus.

[paniza]

I agree with Carol, if you are starting out on Discus, go with discus only for now.

Numbers wise, I've heard before 1 neon/cardinal for every 1/2 gallon.

As fair as I know, the difference between neons and cardinals tetras is that the neons have red belly and cardinals have white ones... IME, I did not like the white belly ones.

I have 4 neons(?... red belly) and 4 rummys. Lost 3 discus but none neons non rummys. ::) The neons are quite big now, about the same size as the rummys.

I had 8 cardinals tetras before but gave them away because they were to "agressive" when seeing food. Before the disucs could get any food, it would be all gone.

With the red belly guys it is all good.


HTH

[Very Fishy]

paniza,

I think it is the other way around. The Cardinal Tetras have the red bellys and the Neon Tetras have the white bellys with red on their lower tails. Neons are more common in the LFS as they are breed by the thousands at fish farms. Alot of inbreeding has occurred so make sure you buy from a good source. Cardinals tend to be live caught and are therefore less common and more expensive.

[paniza]

really? he he he thanks.

Well, I'm glad to say that I agree with everybody else then.

;D