adding discus to an established tank

[new2discuss]

I have never had discus before but I have had fish for years and they do well. I have angles, neons, giant dianos, guppies, sword tails, pleco, and another bottom feeder that I can't for the life of me figure out what it is Its about 6 years old and I both it from Wal-Mart. The ph of my tank was 8.4 and temp about 70 but now iv slowly lowered ph and raised temp to 82 and 7.0 using and ro system my fish seem to be happy will any of these fish cause a problem with discus?

[aalbina]

They might eat your guppies. Plecos sometimes like to suck on the side of a discus (they seem to like the slime coat), the giant danios might stress the discus a bit because of their movement. None of these fish really thrive in the 82 to 85 range that discus prefer. You will want to get discus in a pretty good size group because they are happiest in groups so you need to plan for 10 gallons for each discus with a target initial number of 5 or 6. Can your community tank support 60 gallons for 6 discus and still support the 1-2 gallon per inch standard for the other fish in the same tank? Read up a bit in the beginner section - the requirements for proven, successful discus keeping are different than the requirements for a community tank. Additionally - discus tend to pick at their food - if the other fish compete with them you may have nutritional issues with the discus.

Adam

[new2discuss]

Thank you I also have plants including 2 amazon swords, red sword 2marble queen, spiral grass, dwarf lilly, pennywart and some other little plants, and moss balls ...will these change anything

[Argentum]

What size is your aquarium?

[Madaboutdiscus]

What size tank do you have? You don't need to lower the ph a stable ph is far more important. What Aalbina says is correct on all things. Make sure you quarantine properly you don't want your fish making the discus sick or the discus making your fish sick. I'd remove the pleco as they're known to such on discus slime better safe than sorry on that.

~Victoria

[new2discuss]

My tank is 40 gallons what I planned on doing is seeing what fish disturbs my discus and what ones don't get along and go from there we have other tanks in the house I can put fish in but there my moms tanks she will get real mad if I put too many in there but I think ill take the pleco out and relocate him but what fish can I use to take care of algae? And also I had some guestions about buying fish like where is the best place I am looking to get green, yellow, blue diamond, turquoise, and a super blood I'm buying from the fish store. Also I was thinking of buying a royal purple but it looks similar to red turquoise or cobalt are they the same thing?

[Madaboutdiscus]

Royal purple discus don't exist. Those are mostly red turq. If you go to the marketplace there's a lot of sponsors that sell quality discus on here. No matter what other tanks you have you will have to put the discus in a quarantine tank alone for at least 6 weeks. A lot of those fish you have already don't do well at higher discus temps. The only ones really probably safe for your discus are the neon you have I don't think I'd put any of the others with them as they will out compete the discus for food. 40 gallon isn't very big. You'll want at least a 55 for discus with a count of at least 5 or 6 of them. 10 gallons of water per fish for them. You'd be best here to get a whole new tank set up and put them in that.

~Victoria

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Welcome to SD.

I personally see a disaster happening with adding discus to the selection of fish you have. Also the tank is too small to house all them fish. Take your time and read up more on discus keeping and don't jump into something without doing your homework.

And try and stay away from LFS unless you are absolutely sure of the source of their discus. Most LFS sell off runts or culls that possibly a friend or something did not want. If you want more "bang for your buck" look into one of the sponsors here, you will not be disappointed.

[Madaboutdiscus]

Welcome to SD.

I personally see a disaster happening with adding discus to the selection of fish you have. Also the tank is too small to house all them fish. Take your time and read up more on discus keeping and don't jump into something without doing your homework.

And try and stay away from LFS unless you are absolutely sure of the source of their discus. Most LFS sell off runts or culls that possibly a friend or something did not want. If you want more "bang for your buck" look into one of the sponsors here, you will not be disappointed.

Totally agree with this.

~Victoria

[Mikemeets]

I have to order through a lfs cos im in South Africa so no luck on breeders here ugh but my next import batch i wont let the lfs put them in their tanks bit to call me so that i can pic them up and move them straight into qt for any problems... is that any good?

[dghby]

I have to order through a lfs cos im in South Africa so no luck on breeders here ugh but my next import batch i wont let the lfs put them in their tanks bit to call me so that i can pic them up and move them straight into qt for any problems... is that any good?

the real problem is the size of your tank, my guess is it cannot support another fish...

[Keds195]

I have 4 small pleco sin with 7 discus and I have never had a problem. That's just my experience though. My plecs hardly ever come out they are always munching a piece of bogwood lol.

[pyroo]

If it is a planted tank, you need to start off with larger discus, juveniles need regular water changes and it will be very difficult with plants/decor in the way. Also, discuses are very adaptable, don't purposely lower the pH because every time you do a water change, the pH will fluctuate and stress out your discus. It is also important to have at least 5 discus so that the weakest won't get picked on all the time and die due to stress from bullying.