Do discus eat neon tetras ?

[candymancan]

I always see people with tanks that have giant discus and schools of neons or cardinals. I have always wanted this myself. And during the 4th of July for 3 days petsmart was having a big sale on neons 80 cents each.. So i purchased 75 of them. Did all the usual too acclimate and so forth and i lowerd my temps from 82-83f to 80f.

Anyway, none of the neons died that day, but of course per my experience with these darn fish (which is why i never get them anymore) once the lights go out they disapear..

I have a 92g corner tank, so it has a big foot print and alot of swiming space due to its odd shape. I have only 5 discus in the tank, all of which are 5+ inches 2 of them are near 7. I also have 10 cherry barbs, a betta, a rainbow shark, 3 cory, and 3 otto, 3 siamese (yes real siamese) algae eaters. I realize all together i have about 110 fish or so, but the neons are very small. And i still change my water often so im not worried about waste or what not so lets not even bring that up as the cause.

Its a planted tank, with ALOT of plants, a giant sword in the back thats litterally taking up the entire back corner its the biggest sword ive ever seen in person tbh.


Anyway to the point. I turned the lights off 1 by 1, each ohour i turn another off until i have a small 14 inch t8 bulb on in the back. All the fish settle down the discus move to their usual sleeping positions. I then put some paper under the t8 partially covering it to dim the light even more so the neons dont freak and then they settle down. Eventually i turn it off and only a very dim grey single moon light is on (no bright blue moon light its more of a grey very very dim one)

The next day i turn the lights on slowely. I get all the neons to be in one corner and i take multiple pictures and start counting. The first day i had out of 75 only 71 left. Ok thats no np.. The 2nd day im down to 67, third day, 63, 4th day 57. I go back to pets mart and explain i cant find the bodies and they give me 10 more. So now im back to 67. Then again this morning i count and now im down to 63.

So ive had like 18-20 neons disapear in 4-5 days. No sign of bodies or skeletons.

sigh.. Are the discus eating them at night ? Are discus active fish at night when im sleeping ? Or should I leave the small t8 bulb on in the back covered with the paper so the neons have more light at night ? Ive had this happen before in tanks without discus.. So im a little confused i always thought it was because of the pitch black tanks. They freak out and die somehow. But then maybe it is the discus.. I have 18 neons in a 30g tank with only platies in it and ive had those same 18 neons for 3 months now. So maybe they preying on them.

I had 30 neons at one time along time in this tank but i thought they all died over time from the temps being at 84-86f when my discus were smaller, so this is why i lowered it to more 80f, neons should be able to handle that. This is one reason i got cherry barbs and the cherry barbs i got were small like the neons are now at first and i havent lost any of them in the last year now. Of course they are bigger now.

What should I do ? I even fed my discus alot of beefheart right before lights out so they would be stuffed and still no go.. Neons still dissapear. Also i never see any fish going after them during the day.. Honestly at this point im thinking of making a little box or something to fit in my more open corner of the tank.. And herding the neons into that corner by turning all the lights off except the desk light on that side (yes neons can be herded) and then covering that corner with the box so when its lights out i can make sure the neons survive lol

[nikond70s]

if it fits in their mouth there's a chance the discus can eat them. keeping your discus well fed will help them from eating other fish. i used to keep rummynose and cardinals with discus. but my discus are always well fed. i tried training them to eat pellets. and starved them for a few days. and they would start eating my rummy nose. i think its a good thing they're eating small fish tho. give them more natural nutrients from the gut loaded fish they eat. lil pricey tho, but i wouldnt mind it. i believe discus and other fish are healthier and grows bigger if they eat small fish as part of their diet.

does your discus peck on the substrates for the beefhearts when it falls down? if not then they're not really eating a lot. prolly why they are hunting the neons. i can imagine how messy your tank gets when feeding beef hearts in a planted tank.

[Filip]

I have never noticed this kind of discus behaviour my self , but many people on this forum state that its very ussual and it just happens often .So a I guess your tetras could be very well missing because they get eaten by the discus.

[pamdb33]

Cardinals or rummy nose tetras are probably a safer choice.

[jim LI]

Mine got a taste for cardinals. i had to take the cardinals out

[candymancan]

if it fits in their mouth there's a chance the discus can eat them. keeping your discus well fed will help them from eating other fish. i used to keep rummynose and cardinals with discus. but my discus are always well fed. i tried training them to eat pellets. and starved them for a few days. and they would start eating my rummy nose. i think its a good thing they're eating small fish tho. give them more natural nutrients from the gut loaded fish they eat. lil pricey tho, but i wouldnt mind it. i believe discus and other fish are healthier and grows bigger if they eat small fish as part of their diet.

does your discus peck on the substrates for the beefhearts when it falls down? if not then they're not really eating a lot. prolly why they are hunting the neons. i can imagine how messy your tank gets when feeding beef hearts in a planted tank.



Yes they go to substrate to eat.. I feed them 3-4 times a day, with flakes and beefheart. I havent gravel vacuumed my tank in like over a year.. I dont need too, it turns into either fish food who eat it first, then the snails and then inti plant food. If i vacuumed my gravel my plants would all be dead. I just change the water every 3 days or so about 80% of it. Plus i cant really vacuum anyway, i have alot of carpet plants and most of my plants cover the bottom anyway.

I just find it odd that my discus never touched my cherry barbs when i got them when they were small, but the small neons dispear.. Maybe i need to find bigger neons somehow

[William1]

They will definitely eat them. And they will eat cardinals too. My frustration with keeping both species is it seems they just disappear for no apparent reason. I have tried several times to have a nice sized school of twenty to a dozen and it always happens that one day you notice one missing, so you are down to nineteen, then a couple weeks later three are missing, down to sixteen, and so on, till I now have seven out of fifteen cardinals left. No bodys, just missing fish. I think these discus are eating them. I have wild discus, so I'm sure it's only natural to eat them if they can. My larger cardinals may have a chance. Neons are smaller and slower swimmers too. They will definitely get eaten by discus, especially since you said they are small. Barbs have a larger profile top to bottom and they are much more active swimmers than neons. I'm done with neon tetras. Never been able to keep a nice sized school of either for very long. And small cardinals are $3.50 each by me. Funny, I was just thinking this yesterday that cardinals are rent a fish. If you want a nice sized school you have to keep replacing the missing ones. And then you are supposed to quarantine any new fish. Doesn't seem worth it. But they are striking colored fish in a planted tank, if you can keep them alive. I was thinking of getting a different species, like emporer tetras to replace the cardinals, but the brilliant red and blue is hard to resist. But they have to be big enough to survive with big discus. Best of luck. I fear you may see your numbers slowly dwindling, but I hope not. I don't think feeding more will help. Bigger fish eat littler fish.

[pitdogg2]

Find fish that tolerate the 82* temp instead of lowering the temp to accommodate the neons there life is cut way short in higher temps. Empower tetra are the same they do not last long at higher temps.

The last thing I would do is buy 75 disease carrying vectors and put them directly in the tank with no quarantine. Chances are that if you would put them in a 20gal tank at 72* they still would died and you may of only had 12 left at the end of quarantine.

Big fish eat little fish always have always will.

[pitdogg2]

William look for the German bred Cardinals they are much sturdier than ours here in the states. They are expensive but they do last better. The last German bred Cardinals & Rummy nosed I bought I had 3 loses in two years, but remember in the Amazon these are "annual" fish for the most part and the wild ones we get here are kept in TERRIBLE conditions before they land in a pet store.

[DISCUS STU]

I have a 55 gal. tank full of both Black Tetras and Cardinals, as well as seven, hungry, full grown Discus that I thought for sure would have made the Tetras into lunch, dinner, and breakfast when I went away for 15 days w/o feeding them. Low and behold, all survived. Though my Radican Swords were made into moth, or pleco, eaten swiss cheese and had to be replaced. Next time I'll tank the plecos out. Cardinals on the lower right.

Other times I've lost Cardinals in my well fed, unplanted (actually two planters with Radicans in them) , bb, 60 gal. No telling what can happen sometimes. 99195

[candymancan]

Well i found the discus were eating them.. My plan to slowely turn off the lights is backfiring.. When i turn the lights off slowely like i mentioned.. and the lights are down to the very last dimming session meaning like the klast t8 14 inch light in the back is half covered so its almost pitch dark but not.. The neons do settle yes and they dont freak like you just turned the lights off suddenly... BUT when i watched my discus.. they would slowely become great white sharks and go hunting even if i just fed them 3 cubes of beefheart.


So i decided to unplug my gray moonlights, and just flip all the lights off suddenly.. the neons would freak out but this would also cause the discus to huddle together in the back where they usually sleep.. and after watching them, they would just fall asleep.. 2 days so far and im still counting 70 neons

[DISCUS STU]

I keep my Discus well fed with a timer that instantly shuts the lights off. No one goes missing.

[korbi_doc]

I also auto turn lights off, but I do keep an automatic night light in the corner of the room, think its a probably a 40W, should be a 20W perhaps, but they do fine with this......

Dottie

[navarro1950]

Hi candymancan , I have 20 cardinals and 20 rummynose along with with my 10 discus. I've had these tetras for at a year now. I also have 2 clown loaches and they have eaten the 6 nerite snails that I put in the tank. I feed my discus beef heart and black worms only. My tetras and clown loahes clean help my cory cats eat all the beef heart scraps the discus might miss. So far my discus have not eaten any of my tetras .

[Second Hand Pat]

The best way I have found to introduce cardinals is to add them to the tank before the discus and let them grow out. Takes about three months. Then add the discus. I buy my cardinals from John (snookn21) and never had any issue with them.

Candymancan, I am a bit concerned that you never vacuum your substrate. Hope this continues to work for you.
Pat

[William1]

I want to know how you can accurately count 70 neons. That is a special skill. You would be handy on a cattle ranch.

[Filip]

I want to know how you can accurately count 70 neons. That is a special skill. You would be handy on a cattle ranch.

Only way that worked for me is taking picture of the whole group and count them in Microsoft paint marking red dots for every counted fish .

[Bc chick]

Well i found the discus were eating them.. My plan to slowely turn off the lights is backfiring.. When i turn the lights off slowely like i mentioned.. and the lights are down to the very last dimming session meaning like the klast t8 14 inch light in the back is half covered so its almost pitch dark but not.. The neons do settle yes and they dont freak like you just turned the lights off suddenly... BUT when i watched my discus.. they would slowely become great white sharks and go hunting even if i just fed them 3 cubes of beefheart.


So i decided to unplug my gray moonlights, and just flip all the lights off suddenly.. the neons would freak out but this would also cause the discus to huddle together in the back where they usually sleep.. and after watching them, they would just fall asleep.. 2 days so far and im still counting 70 neons

little stinker.. I too just went through this problem I actually was asking the very same question on this forum. When I first started on this forum I was reading about lights and how important they are I didn't know this I used to keep my lights on 24 hours a day. So I decided to start turning on the blue lights for a while and then eventually turn them off. After a couple days I lost a couple neons. Wondered if they had died and then the pleco ate them. So one day I went out and introduced six rummie nose + 6 Neon tetras. The next morning when I turn the lights on 3 runny nose we're missing. I couldn't believe it. I guess I should say I don't have discus though. Anyways after a couple days of watching and trying to figure out who the culprit was I found out it was my Angelfish. Just like you I found no bodies

[Bc chick]

I want to know how you can accurately count 70 neons. That is a special skill. You would be handy on a cattle ranch.

Omg. I was thinking this also. Dang good eye