I think my discus ate my pandas!

[Marinemom]

:mad: Now from what I understand,it should be fine to put panda cories in with discus ansd since I thought a cleanup crew would be good for them, I put a school of six panda cories in with my discus. That was yesterday and today I only can find one of them.I know there was some chasing going on last night but nothing that was out of hand. I fed the discus before I put them in and ther are lots of plants for the cories to take cover if necessary . Since this is a fully planted aquarium and they (the cories would have it to hide in) I thought this would be fine. This morning; where are they? I can't find them anywhere. Nowhere in the tank or outside of the tank. My guess is that the discus ate the little pandas. They are my favorite cories. Will discus eat these guys? I was told that they would be fine with the discus. Should I get bigger cories? Skunk cories, green emerald cories, julie cories? I feel really bad about this.:( :( I would not have put them in the tank with the discus if I thought that this would happen.

Diane

[pcsb23]

Diane,

Ok 2nd try :) I must be losing it, thought I had already responded, damn I hate getting old....

Its possible the discus had a snack on the pandas, if they were small enough! A little while back I put 25 Cardinals in a display tank, about half an inch in size. One week later all gone, half a dozen discus thinking yummt nice snakcs here!

If the pandas were small then they may have been eaten. I have found that with pandas they need a bit of gentle acclimation. They dont seem to adapt quickly, I've just got some more as they are one of my faveourites and been a bit clumsy with the acclimation and its cost me 2 of them. Trouble is I'm supposed to know better.

Cories can hide themselves very well too so maybe thats what has happened.

If you decide to go for anther strain then peperred cories re really nice and another fave of mine.

[Dissident]

Panda Cory's are a little large to be eaten by discus unless the ones you had were really small.

[Marinemom]

O.K. Maybe I panicked. Since I put food in the tank this afternoon I found three more of the pandas. That means that I have at least four out of the six. I still do not see the other two pandas but maybe they are just hiding really well. When I purchased these pandas I made sure to choose the most active and biggest ones they had. I think they are a little too big for the discus to eat but you never know. I'll have to keep an eye out for the other two. Can I mix certain species of cories or should I stick to just one kind?

Diane

[IceDiscus]

I have green emerald cories and albino cories together and I have no problem with them:D

[pcsb23]

Diane,

They can hide real well :) I have a mix of cories no probs, pandas, peppered (nice these) and albinos. Works well for me.

As I said before, although it may only be me, I have had challenges with aclimating pandas, but once acclimated no probs at all. They are really pretty little fish too.

[swinters66]

Glad to hear you found some more of your pandas. I love those corys!! My discus dont pay my corys any attention at all. I have 2 spotted and 2 albino. I would love to get 2 pandas...they are just hard to find around my area right now.

[Marinemom]

I still haven't seen the other two pandas. They are my all time favorite of the cories. I did take a look at the peppered cories and the julie cories. I like those too. Maybe I will get some of those in a couple of weeks or so. I want to see how this goes with the pandas. I also have hareliquin rasboras in with my discus amd since I put the rasboras in with my discus the discus seen calmer and come out more for a cruise around and through the tank. Thier color is better and they are eating most anything I give them now except for flake food. They have gotten spoiled on the frozen varieties. Go figure!

Diane

[cobaltblue]

I had pandas, but i keep my tanks at abit higher temps ( 86) and they all died. I have julie corys which take the heat alot better, some peppered corys as well.

[bosher]

If they are small enough to fit in a discus mouth then they are fair game my friend - I think many community tank keepers will have a similar story. I have had cardinals rummynose and even clown loach < all go missing and by the way these were not small clown loach I know they have been eaten as I have a bare bottom tank, stripped it down and even looked in the external canister filter just in case and nope gone vamoshed vanished:confused:

Maybe the answer is to feed a little more Or look into the possiblity that you have cannibals in your tanks Ouch ! :D

P.S I am sorry to hear about your loss in respect of the Pandas by the way

[swinters66]

Hey Diane...dont you feel SO much better now that they are eating regularly? I am thrilled mine are eating, and with more gusto. They dont even wait til the food hits the bottom anymore! They just hit it!

I wouldnt think Discus would eat corys...I mean their mouths are so freakin small...how could they?!? Mine dont pay attention to any of the other fish, just each other. Even my harlequin rasboras eat the frozen food...I love that stuff!! :)

[greyhoundfan]

Look on the bright side... At least your discuses are eating..:D :D

[April]

i too love panda cories. im trying to get some wilds from south america.
think ill get a large group and just make a panda tank. : ) seeif i can grow some. i did get babies before...
well 4 out of 6 isnt bad...glad you found some anyhow..

[Jeckel]

Cory cats have sharp spines on their dorsal and pectoral fins (I think) and I imagine they might stick in the throat of any fish that tried to eat them. I wouldn't put bite-size catfish in with discus, since if I'm right about this you might lose the discus as well as the cories.

[Marinemom]

Wow! Panic city is over. I found the other two cories today. They are all hanging out togather. They are just so cute those little pandas.My discus don't pay any attention to them anymore. At first, one of my discus kept chasing the pandas and acted like they were lunch. When I could only find one the next day I thought man that discus is a pill. I guess I jumped the gun. I didn't think it was possible for discus to eat the pandas but you never know. Stranger things have happened. Thanks everyone for putting up with me in my panic.

Swinters66-I am soooo happy that the discus have called off thier hunger strike. They will eat almost anything now except for flake food. Is it bad if they won't eat the flake food? I guess I can't complain now that they are eating for me.

Diane

[swinters66]

I dont think its bad if they dont eat flake food. I havent tried that with my guys. I still toss in a few tetra color bits...but half the time, the fish ignore them. I like the frozen food...its a good variety and its easy to feed. As long as my discus are eating it...Ill keep feeding it haha...I alternate their food. One night ill feed the spirulina brine shrimp, the next night the emerald entree, etc....

And YAY on finding all 6 pandas!! Man I just think corys are too cute!!