discus savaging cardinals?

[moonie]

:-[
i found a lovely ~2 inch blue cobalt at my favorite lfs and they also had a tankful of nice cardinals with not TOO many dead ones in it :-* so i bought 12 cardinals and the discus and titrated them s-l-o-w-l-y into my 10 gallon hospital tank. they did fine during the transition but over the next 2 days most of the cardinals died and some looked picked on. the cobalt is doing great and maintaining its innocence but i was still wondering if it was attacking the cardinals when i wasnt looking. i put a tank divider in for the 2 poor remaining cardinals and the next day 1 more was dead with it's tail gone but i know it was there when i divided 'em, so cant blame the discus on that one. so now i'm torn. have discus and cardinals in another tank and they are wonderful together. could i have bought a mutant savage discus? or do cardinals bite off each others tails when they die?

[oodi]

moonie,

I have found that most tropical fish are cannibals, and will pick at the remains of one that died. I don't know what your definition is of "TOO many dead ones" is, but my guess is there was a problem before you got the fish.

Judi
:)

[GulfCoastDiscus]

My guess is your 10 gal. tank. Too small. Cardianals are sensitive to water paremeters (temp,nitrite bacterial load etc.). I have Cardinals in discus tank with no problems. Some will die off because they were weak to begin with but the rest thrive with eating beefheart leftovers.

Try using a larger quarantine tank. Minimum 20gal.

Dan

[moonie]

:ooooo, beautiful pic, thanks. i love the driftwood with the plants growing on it.

I had the same prob. with Cardinals and Discus.

I have solved it with buying the new cardinals and grow them out a bit. I think 2-3 weeks was the time I had them alone in a 29gal. After they reach a bit size the Discus won't eat them anymore. I don’t know if it is just the size or simple because the jung cardinals are a bit stronger and faster.
Now I have 40 in the wild 125 gal. tank, with 9 Wilds and a pleco. I lost 2 in a period of ½ year or so.

Ronald

[Mattzilla]

great picture, i love the planted driftwood

[Howie_W]

Hi Moonie,

A couple things; 1. Dan is absolutely right, your tank was too small for them. In addition, it would have been better if you bought just the Discus and quarantined them by themselves. I’ve been keeping Cardinals with Discus for years and find they do best in a planted tank where they have areas they can stay together and avoid the Discus. Juvenile tetras are often slower moving than adults, and if a Discus feels like it he will eat them.

2. I would never ever buy fish from a tank that has dead fish in it. This is a clear sign you are inviting a disease into your home.

Howie

[hirst_cb]

As mentioned many times the tank is too small. Cardinals are a fish that will thrive for many years in an aquarium but are not too great at the acclimation process. Once they acclimated to a tank they tend to survive for many years if kept in good conditions. It is said that these fish can live for 10 years. ;D ;D

[Willie]

I've had no problems keeping cardinals with discus. The key is to acclimate the cardinals.

I once brought in a case of 500 cardinals through an importer (who won't do this any more, since don't ask). A 55-gallon tank was set aside for them. Warm clean soft water with a powerhead for vigorous agitation -- exactly the same conditions for transitioning discus. I fed them bbs 4 - 5 times a day. After two weeks, I lost exactly one!

I kept 75 of them in a barebottom 75-gallon tank with 8 large discus. No problems at all.

Key is that cardinals have very little energy reserve and they're starved for at least 2 weeks going from the wild to the LFS. LFS don't feed the cardinals either, so they keep starving. A little TLC is all you need!

Willie

[moonie]

Howie, i have never found cardinals for sale were there werent some dead or dying ones in the tank. and i live on florida's west coast where you'd think theyd be arriving by the bucketful. theyre really hard to find at all. i think because they probably die out so fast.

and Willie, youre right, those poor cardinals had concave bellies, and ate ravenously. why are they so starved?

well thanks for all your suggestions. if my house and fish survive hurricane charley intact i'll try some cardinals again separately, and in a bigger tank.

[Howie_W]

Hi Moonie,

Some of my family lives not too far from you, so I’m quite familiar with the area. I’m surprised you haven’t found a good source for cardinals close by.

I remember there’s a store that specializes in Discus in Clearwater…I think they’re on Gulf to Bay.

Good luck with the storm…I know exactly what it’s like this time of year!

HTH

Howie

[limige]

i've kept cardinals as well, it's best to establish a good school in a decent size tank to begin with, once they are acclimated add the discus.

BEWARE OF WILD DISCUS they love to eat card's.

my domestics have always done great with them!
good luck!