New here, how do these tank mates sound?

Hey Everyone I posted in the beginner section if you would like to see tank specs.

In my 72 gallon tank I have the following:

10 orange head geos (one inch)
3 cory catfish(3/4 inch)
1 rainbowshark (1 inch)
5 silver dollars (1.5inch)
2 yellow severum (2 inches)
1 clown loach (1 inch will be given away soon)
2 rummynose tetras (1 inch thier were others but overflow got hungry.. same with clown loach.)

My main concern are the geos as those are who I would really want to keep as I will be upgrading to a 180+ gallon tank soon and I know they would look great.

My question is can eighter are large pair thrive with this stock (whichever tankmate looks bothersome let me know...probably the sevs and silvers) or 6 juvi discus?

I don't know about all the fish you listed, but I'd say no to the rainbow shark and the loach. They both have potential to be too aggressive. I love my rainbow shark and think he'd look awesome with my discus, but it's not a good idea. Mine stays in my community tank with my assorted tetras and dwarf frogs. It's fun to have two totally different tanks, so you may want to consider that for your current stock and make sure you get discus friendly stock for your discus tank. My discus tank has discus and german blue rams only (oh, and the one cory, poor One-eyed-Jack).

Welcome and good luck!

Maia

The concern is usually feeding. Discus are a bit more casual eaters than something like severums or geos. If you can make sure the discus get their share, you should be okay with the orange heads. They are pretty passive and if kept in a group will most likely ignore other species. The severums are a bit of an issue just because they can be pushy at feeding time. I've kept severums and discus together on several occasions but it's never worked out great long term for me. I always end up having to separate them when the severums get large and pushy.

Cories are usually okay as long as it's a species that can handle the temps. I'd say it's definitely a no on the silver dollars which grow large and are usually very boisterous and active. Fish like that could make discus nervous.

Keep the temperature in mind. I alway keep adult discus between 82 - 84 and adult geos between 80 - 82. Also, I wouldn't mix them all together in the tank you have now because that's a lot of fish in a 72. Have you thought about upgrading the current stock to a 180, then growing out six discus in the empty 72?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ryan

The concern is usually feeding. Discus are a bit more casual eaters than something like severums or geos. If you can make sure the discus get their share, you should be okay with the orange heads. They are pretty passive and if kept in a group will most likely ignore other species. The severums are a bit of an issue just because they can be pushy at feeding time. I've kept severums and discus together on several occasions but it's never worked out great long term for me. I always end up having to separate them when the severums get large and pushy.

Cories are usually okay as long as it's a species that can handle the temps. I'd say it's definitely a no on the silver dollars which grow large and are usually very boisterous and active. Fish like that could make discus nervous.

Keep the temperature in mind. I alway keep adult discus between 82 - 84 and adult geos between 80 - 82. Also, I wouldn't mix them all together in the tank you have now because that's a lot of fish in a 72. Have you thought about upgrading the current stock to a 180, then growing out six discus in the empty 72?

---

Ryan's comments are right on ! - Listen to this advice - it's good.

My silver dollars were such spazzes. I think they would be too disruptive to discus, plus they ate like pigs and dirtied up the water.
As for the rainbow shark, I had some in with a few discus when I first started and there wasn't overt aggression, but they ate the discus slime right off the sides of my discus. The discus didn't seem overly irritated, but no reason to stress a $100 fish with a $7 fish.

Hey thanks for all your help!

If I do feel ready for discus I will defintly remove all fish except for the geos. I will of coarse talk to the original breeder of these geos and see what temps he thinks they could thrive in. So far 82 looks like the number needed for the temp. Im 17 living with my family of coarse, we are moving to the new house and eventually getting a large display tank of 180 or so. I could possibly have a smaller tank under the stand to have as a "grow out" for discus.... however I figure I would just grow them out in the 72 before hand so they are large enough to place in the big tank immediately.

Also for discus owners with large tanks, do you perform large daily water changes? I would consider hooking up a drip system, but i think its too complicated to assemble.

Any other tips will be greatly appreciated! Thanks Again

had 5 clown loaches with 13 discus at one time. The clown loaches were lazy and slept in the log most of the time. only came out for feedings then back to sleep lol werent agressive with any other fish