discus tank mates

[ctmpwrdcamry]

Hello,

I recently set up my 75 gallon planted tank. I plan to get discus in a month or two once the filters cycle and the plant growth is started. What fish would you recommend to help cycle the filters that i will not have to get ride of when the discus arrive? Someone mentioned yo you loaches but i am worried they are to active for discus. Any recommendations are welcome.

Thanks

[Tek]

I recommend pull 1 to 2 comment Pelco.. Soon or later, you will need to add those to keep your tank clear.

[wolfbane]

tankmates can include cardinal tetras, rummynose tetras, bristlenose plecos, not common one, cory cats, hatchet fish.

[ctmpwrdcamry]

I think ill go try and pick up some panda corries or somethign this weekend. Thanks.

[CAGE-RATTLER]

I have 2 six inch common plecos in my tank and they dont bother anyone.
I also have a group of High Fin Serpae tetras that are very hardy fish and definately compliment my tank. They are the most colorful that ive seen anywhere.

http://www.eau12.com/exoops/modules/freecontent/content/poissons/photos/Hyphessobrycon_serpae.jpg

I was gonna go with cardinals but they are smaller than the serpae's and i also have a large Black African knife and a dinosaur eel in there so i need a bit larger fish to keep them from being eaten.

I had rummy noses but they disapeared real quick along with some smaller rose borras.

[KIWI13]

Corries are great cause they are bottom feeders and clean up the scraps and left overs.

Bristlenose & Plecos are great for algae control on panes and decoration.

Tetras like cardinals , add quantity and colour and since they are a schooling fish, they are beautiful to watch.

You can keep some angels too ( many people on here have contridicting viewpoints on this issue) I for one have never experienced any problems.

Dwarf cichlids, liek rams are nice tank mates too.

HTH

Jason

[crash]

I am still a newbie with discus 2 months into the discus bug,
But here is my 2 cents

Bolivian rams are excellent tank mates because, they like low PH like same temperature as discus. They r from the same habitat as discus.

RUmmy nose tetra, Neon tetra, same reason as above.

I have a bristol nose pleco and kulih loaches
they are a little hyper but i dont think the discus mind them.

thank you
Crash

[crash]

i did cycle my tank with 2 bolivian rams and a bristol nose pleco 5 rummy nose 10 neon tetra's

I have a 45 Gallon.

I added the 6 discus about 2 to 3 inches in size, once I was sure that bolivians were adapted to the conditions, Since they started showing excellent colors. I knew it will be a good environment for discus.

Also, in a planted tank you should add driftwood i heard it helps bring the ph down. I planted some java moss on the driftwood, looks nice.

[candyl70]

Crash,
Just be sure to check your water pm's. Adding 6 discus is a bigger bio-load and might cause a spike in ammonia, nitrites, etc. Sounds like a nice tank. do you have any pics?

Candy

p.s. The driftwood doesn't really lower the pH much, but it releases tannins in the water giving it a tea color that the discus like.

[crash]

Hi Candy,
I kinda suspected about the bio-load. Checked it with Kumar from kumlin tropical. He thinks it ok. I do regular waterchanges. Also I make sure the the top fin of the discus is streight up(might be a rookie way of checking the health) , but so far I havnt had any signs of congesion. I had a bacteria infection to one of my discus. But good help from Kumar, and his recommended furan2 cured it. BTW, ctmpwrdcamry if you are new to discus, I suggest you talk to kumar from Kumlin tropical. , Excellent source of discus and great guy overall.

I dont have any pics of the tank with discus, But if you remeber I posted my rams picture on the thread where I was consulting about my Rams which Laid eggs in my discus tank.

thanx
crash

[candyl70]

Crash,
Great to hear that they are all doing good. I do remember your rams... any more eggs?

As far as the fin being erect, i think it's a good indicator for stress, as well as the overall color.

Great to hear from you!!


Candy

[JMArtist]

Also, in a planted tank you should add driftwood i heard it helps bring the ph down. I planted some java moss on the driftwood, looks nice.

While Driftwood will not lower your pH, it will contribute to softening of the water. You may find that if you have slightly to moderately hard water, it will respond very nicely to the introduction of a piece of drift wood. Of course adding peat to your filter will help also.
If you are at the stage where you are seriously considering breeding your discus, then you can look into reverse osmosis or deionization pretreatment of your water.

[goheel]

What about gouramis and tiger barbs? Are they compatible with discus?

[candyl70]

I think that the dwarf Gourami is an ok choice for discus. They don't seem to bother each other. The tiger barbs i would stay away from because they tend to be nippy. jmo.


hth
Candy

[CAGE-RATTLER]

I have a large Blue garami & a medium size Gold gorami in my tank and they dont bother anyone but each other.

[KIWI13]

6 discus in a 45 is ok for NOW, but to grow them out as adults, its better to have a 60 giving each discus 10 gallons of water.

For light bacteria infections I use natural salt, its a safe way to treat the tank. Dose 1 tablespoon for 10 gallons of water.

Bio load is an important factor, make sure you have good filteration.

Good Luck

Jason

[crash]

Hi candy,
No more eggs,
I kept changing the tank setting since then, giving the discus less space to hide. They wouldnt stop shying away. I have to tell you it worked. they are alot bolder now. So rams havnt found another spot yet to lay eggs.


Jason,
I tried aquarium salt. It didnt seem to help as Furan-2 it quickly took the gill bacteria out. This is whats funny, the bacteria infection didnt affect other 5 only the 1 discus. I think its ok now, its got its color back.
I was glad i didnt have any loss.

Is there a preventive measure that you guys use to keep bad bacteria away.


Sorry didnt mean to take over this forum, apologies to ctmpwrdcamry

[ctmpwrdcamry]

Thats fine, the more i read the more i know what i am getting myself into. :D

I dont plan on trying to bread them, actually i have been told by the land lords(parents) no more tanks. I plan to get a 20h or 20l to put under the 75 in the stand as a hospital tank. I have had hospital tanks in the past, but they always turn into show/planted tanks.

[KIWI13]

I do it simple. I keep my temperature in the high range of 30°c and keep the water clean. Clean water is the remedy to just about all diseases. It helps.

I would like to add that gouramis can be territorial and aggressive, I would not recommend them with discus. especially the dwarf gouramis

[Kindredspirit]

I do it simple. I keep my temperature in the high range of 30°c and keep the water clean. Clean water is the remedy to just about all diseases. It helps.

I would like to add that gouramis can be territorial and aggressive, I would not recommend them with discus. especially the dwarf gouramis



Hey Brat~

Jason, what temp, ( for us blondes) is 30C? ( i dont have that little circle for the degrees..i want it...how come you have it and i dont....I want it too!lol ) And i have heard as well, that gouramis do not mix well with discus too... not sure what they are ...but have read it as well~


Marie~http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/26/26_12_2.gif

[crash]

Hi Jason,
Correct me if I am wrong.
But high temp is a good remedy against parasites but for bacteria infection high temperature means bacteria growth.

When I had the bacteria infected discus i lowered my temperature at 83 F about 28 C
It seemed to help a faster recovery.

[crash]

I dont know about gourami's either.
I mean for a fish like discus you wanna create its natural environment,
So rams ,tetra's excellent addition.
I read it somewhere that when u have tetra's, new discus sees them roaming around and knows its safe to come out.

Relieves stress.
I have neons, my discus never bother them.
Rams do sometimes pick at the discus nothing harmfull though.
Lil competion should be healthy, dont want your discus to turn in to wuss that runs away every times its disturbed.

[candyl70]

lol crash... wuss? I had a neon blue dwarf gourami in my tank with the discus (not currently) and he never bothered them. He is really not that aggressive with any fish except a paradise that i had. In fact his favorite activity is to chase his reflection in the glass... back and forth. lol anyhow, maybe that is just his personality. They are all a little different. I heard that as the discus get bigger, they will eat the neons though. Cardinals might be a better choice since they are a little bigger.




Candy

[gators111]

Hello,

I recently set up my 75 gallon planted tank. I plan to get discus in a month or two once the filters cycle and the plant growth is started. What fish would you recommend to help cycle the filters that i will not have to get ride of when the discus arrive? Someone mentioned yo you loaches but i am worried they are to active for discus. Any recommendations are welcome.

Thanks

Please do not use any fish to cycle your tank. Fishless cycling is easier and more humane. Go get unscented, non-sudsing ammonia, it should be labeled as clear ammonia. If your not sure, shake the bottle, if it foams up it, don't use it. In a 75 gal tank use 2 capfuls and test until it reads around 4 ppm. If you have another tank, squeeze some of the water out of that tank's filter media into the new tank to help jump start it. There are articles on this site and elsewhere for more info.

Also, cardinals and rams are not hardy enough generally to cycle a tank.

[ctmpwrdcamry]

I hear thats what you are suppoed to do for not planted tanks, but planted tanks i have always stuffed full of plants, then add fish, never had any deaths. I have plenty of stuff from my other filters, all the other tanks filters were rinsed in the new tank. It was cloudy for a while, now it just looks like i need to vac the bottom of the tanks really bad.

[CAGE-RATTLER]

I dont know about gourami's either.
I mean for a fish like discus you wanna create its natural environment,
So rams ,tetra's excellent addition.
I read it somewhere that when u have tetra's, new discus sees them roaming around and knows its safe to come out.

Relieves stress.
I have neons, my discus never bother them.
Rams do sometimes pick at the discus nothing harmfull though.
Lil competion should be healthy, dont want your discus to turn in to wuss that runs away every times its disturbed.


I thought i read somewhere that gouramis are also native to the same waters of the amazon as discus.......but iu could be wrong.

mine are fine with my discus.

In fact my gold gorami swims to the front and top along with my discus when i enter the room and when its feeding time.

[candyl70]

Cage,
I remember reading that somewhere as well about gourami's and rasbora species..

As for cycling with loaches, they do not have scales and the ammonia would burn them. If you aren't going to use some sort of hardy tetra to cycle the tank, then i would follow the suggestion of using a fishless cycle.

I am not too clear if you are looking for fish to cycle with or tank mates. Most fish that you cycle with don't like that same kind of water tempature wise. You will most likely have to take the cycling fish back.


Candy

[gators111]

Sorry I missed the part of it being a planted tank already.

As for the rasboras and gouramis, they are from east Asia. Although both are hardy, gouramis, I've heard can carry alot of diseases, whether those pathogens can survive in 30C water is another story.

[Y0uH0]

I would suggest that for a planted tank,start off with just some algae eating fish like SAE and otocinclus as they are hardy fishes. U can add in corys as well to help maintain the gravel area clean of fallen foodbits. After about 1 to 2 weeks,when the water has stabalised,u can add in some cardinal tetras or rummy nose tetras as these fish thrive in water conditions which are similar to what is required by discus. So u can actually use them as a gauge to determine if your tank water is suitable enough to introduce the discus in. In suitable water conditions,the head of the rummy nose will be very bright red and the cardinal tetras will display their colours very vividly. After you are sure that they are comfortable in the environment,it would more or less be save for you to introduce in the discus fish. But by then,it would have been about 3 weeks since you have started your tank so the water should be stabilised by now.

It is also advised to do regular water testing to ensure that the water quality is suitable.

[neon]

In the past I have mixed kribensis,rams,neons,lemon tetras,corydoras catfish. My tank was a 29gal tank an they live together for many years. Check for fish that like warm and acid water. Good luck