Discus tank mates personal experience / rating

[snxtif]

Hi all,

I would like to share my personal experience with other fish as discus tank mates.
My tanks are kept at 29-30C (84-86F), and might reach 31C (88F) in summer.
(Note: Except stated otherwise, photos are from Wikipedia.)

Warning!: Not for discus purists! (Those who must keep discus and discus only in one tank)

1. Sterba's corydoras (Corydoras sterbai) :

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Recommendation: 10/10
For: They are CUTE, peaceful, fun to watch, with a bit of bottom foraging action. Compatible with 30C (86F).
Not for: … Ummmm, I couldn’t find the reason NOT to keep these cute little guys (of course, except for those purists.) But if I HAVE to find one, they are NOT effective bottom cleaners / algae eaters as some people might misunderstand and think that they can omit their maintenance schedule by just putting a dozen these guys into their tank. Also, they cannot tolerate variety of med including salt, that might complicate things a bit in long run.

2. Albino corydoras / Bronze borydoras (Corydoras aeneus)

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Recommendation: 7/10
For: Price… unbelievably cheap in my area. Could drop to 3 for 1$ in some seasons. Seemed to tolerate 86F range well.
Not for: A bit dull/bland?
Note: Not sure if it’s only mine or it’s common for this species, but if other corys are spending like 90% of their time at the bottom, these guys spend like almost half of their time swimming up and down around the tank. A bit busy looking.

3. Pepper corydoras (Corydoras paleatus)

118945

Recommendation: 1/10 for higher temp. They would drop like flies at 86C.
For: As cute as Sterbai, and the long-finned variety is beautiful. Some might have success keeping these guys at lower temp (78-80F?).
Not for: Frail and fragile at higher temp.

4. Corydoras similis

118946 (Photo from Planetcatfish.com)
Recommendation: 4/10
For: The look, which is like a Sterbai wearing jeans = nice.
Not for: I have only 3 of these, and all aren’t getting as big. They don’t die at 30C, but seem not to enjoy/able to thrive at such high temperature well.

5. Pygmy corydoras (Corydoras pygmaeus)

118947

Recommendation: 1/10
For: Super cute. ½ size of normal corys. Comical movement & look very nice with bigger school (10+).
Not for: Drop like flies at 86F. Too small to make impact in big tank, need quite a big school.

[snxtif]

6. Cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi)

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Recommendation: 10/10
For: Bigger school movement is mesmerizing. Give different mood and tone to the tank. Can tolerate 86F without any problem.
Not for: Rarely happens but too small cardinal = sometime discus snack. Too small to make impact in big tank with small numbers, need quite a big school (at least 20-50 imo, depending on tank size).

7. Congo tetra (Phenacogrammus interruptus)

118949

Recommendation: 5-10/10 (in other words 50/50?)
For: Beautiful decent size tetra. Give different mood and tone to the tank. If you have big enough tank, I’d say give it a try.
Not for: Males can grow up to 3”+, a decent school of 6-10 need quite a lot of space. Might be a bit too busy in tank smaller than 90g. Mine really drawn aggression from cranky female discus, and later became quite fragile (not sure if it’s stress or temp or both).
Note: I’m too lazy to find other photo than Wikipedia’s (and to give credit for those photo), but this fish is a lot more beautiful than this photo show lol.

8. Common hatchetfish (Gasteropelecus sternicla)

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Recommendation: 10/10
For: Lively. Stay on top of the tank, different zone from discus. Give different mood and tone to the tank. Handle 86F without any problem.
Not for: Might be a bit too busy in small-ish tank. For some reasons, mine drawn aggression from cranky female discus.
Note: KEEP THE LID CLOSED, TIGHTLY!

9. Celestial pearl danio (Danio margaritatus) / Galaxy rasbora (Microrasbora sp.)

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Recommendation: 1/10
For: Colorful & beautiful individuals.
Not for: Stay small for their whole life. Maybe a bit too small to keep with fully grown discus. Frail and fragile at higher temp.

10. Pearl gourami (Trichopodus leerii)

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Recommendation: 8/10
For: Colorful & beautiful individuals. Hardy. Tolerate 86F well.
Not for: Personally, it looks somewhat like discus knockoff to me (no offense to anyone! I like this fish!) Maybe because of the feelers, behavior, swimming pattern? But once in a while it makes me feel “redundant” to put it in the same tank as discus.
Note: I myself would like to name this fish “poor man’s discus”.

[snxtif]

11. Dwarf sucking catfish / Oto catfish (Otocinclus)

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Recommendation: ?/10
For: Cute. They really clean the tank / plant very very very well. Tolerate 86F quite well.
Not for: Personally, I have never had the notorious “slime-sucking” incident, but better safe than sorry so I moved mine out of discus tank.

12. Black ghost knifefish (Apteronotus albifrons)

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Recommendation: ?/10
For: Well… how to put this correctly… You don’t or at least don’t want to keep BGK as discus’ tank mate. On the other hand, you can keep discus as BGK’s tank mate… if you want to. Oddball, cool, wonderful fish.
Not for: Discus lover lol… but seriously, it is nocturnal, aggressive when feeding. It gets big (like 18” big), It swims fast.
Note: But did I mention, it is a very very very cool fish?

13. Wood shrimp (Atyopsis moluccensis)

118955 (Photo from youtube.com)
Recommendation: 1/10
For: Interesting fan-feeding species.
Not for: …hungry discus? Too big to hide from discus easily.
Note: They didn’t last long enough for me to comment any further.

14. Red cherry shrimp (Neocaridina davidi)

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Recommendation: 1-10/10
For: Discus additional nutrients. Joking aside, if anyone can keep this with discus, they are blessed. Supposed to somewhat survive in heavily planted tank. They are good cleaning crew, if not get eaten. Mine actually tolerate 86F well.
Not for: …hungry discus? Not for BB since they won’t last a minute (mine didn’t).

15. Amano shrimp (Caridina multidentata)

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Recommendation: same as above
For: same as above
Not for: same as above
Note: Best cleaning crew I’ve ever had.

[Filip]

Thanks for sharing your experience on discus tank mates with us Cyrus . Very well organized ,easy to go through and informative post .

[JamesW]

I kept a knife fish with discus without any apparent issues. Discus egg laying in a community tank so I guess they are reasonably happy. The occasional cardinal would show up with only one eye. I guess it was a juvenile because he never made it to 18" but it is definitely a cool looking fish!

I think adult amano shrimp would be big enough to survive in a discus but for me aren't worth the risk to the wallet for an expensive discus snack.

[gunnerschh2]

I have been keeping eb rams at 82- 84 with no problem.

[snxtif]

Thanks for sharing your experience on discus tank mates with us Cyrus . Very well organized ,easy to go through and informative post .

Thank you for your kind words, Filip.
Glad if I could contribute.

[snxtif]

I kept a knife fish with discus without any apparent issues. Discus egg laying in a community tank so I guess they are reasonably happy. The occasional cardinal would show up with only one eye. I guess it was a juvenile because he never made it to 18" but it is definitely a cool looking fish!

I think adult amano shrimp would be big enough to survive in a discus but for me aren't worth the risk to the wallet for an expensive discus snack.

Thanks for your response and a thousand cheers to a knifefish lover, James.
The discus seem to adapt well to BGK with time.
Cardinal that shows up with one eye is the lucky one,
since the others would not have chance to show up at all lol.

As for amano, I think it depend on your stock's temperament and their usual meals.
I feed mine with krill and brineshrimp, so,,,

[sayid]

Very informative and very well put Cyrus, i love to have a BGK but never had the nerve but it is nice to have a first hand experience from some one who knows what he is doing !!!
I got a balloon ramz 4 weeks ago which i am very happy with and it doing very well in 125 g tank with 9 adult discus.

[snxtif]

I have been keeping eb rams at 82- 84 with no problem.

Thanks for sharing Harry.
I wanted some Apistos back in early days but could hold "the urge" somehow ;)



Very informative and very well put Cyrus, i love to have a BGK but never had the nerve but it is nice to have a first hand experience from some one who knows what he is doing !!!
I got a balloon ramz 4 weeks ago which i am very happy with and it doing very well in 125 g tank with 9 adult discus.

Thanks for your kind words Sayid.
Your set up is not far off from mine. If you are still on the fence with BGK,
I want to cheer/enable you to go for it. ("hold harmless" of course lol)

Actually, for the discus keeper, to introduce a BGK is kinda risky,,, for the BGK.
Since they are usually traded at very young stage (2-3 inches mostly) and I think that's gonna be
very stressful for the BGK if you put such a young one into the tank full of adult discus.

Anyway, please tell me if you need any more info about BGK, I'll answer anything I know.

[sayid]

Thanks Cyrus for your quick response ,i have 2 tanks ,one is 125 g BB with 9 adult discus ,5 sterbai ,1 ramz ,4 diamond tetra ,i also have a lightly planted 55 g tank with a few drift woods which i like to convert to a community tank including BGK and some tetras ,( at this stage i am not sure if introduction of discus is advisable ) ,your input would be appreciated .


Thanks for your kind words Sayid.
Your set up is not far off from mine. If you are still on the fence with BGK,
I want to cheer/enable you to go for it. ("hold harmless" of course lol)

Actually, for the discus keeper, to introduce a BGK is kinda risky,,, for the BGK.
Since they are usually traded at very young stage (2-3 inches mostly) and I think that's gonna be
very stressful for the BGK if you put such a young one into the tank full of adult discus.

Anyway, please tell me if you need any more info about BGK, I'll answer anything I know.[/QUOTE]

[snxtif]

Thanks Cyrus for your quick response ,i have 2 tanks ,one is 125 g BB with 9 adult discus ,5 sterbai ,1 ramz ,4 diamond tetra ,i also have a lightly planted 55 g tank with a few drift woods which i like to convert to a community tank including BGK and some tetras ,( at this stage i am not sure if introduction of discus is advisable ) ,your input would be appreciated .

Planted community 55g + discus would be kind of challenging I think,
but doable with adult discus + diligent maintenance. (but def not discus+BGK in 55g)
For the record, my experience with discus+plant didn't go that well though.

What is the dimension of your 55g? Is it like 48"x12"x20"?
Anyway, 55g is too small to keep BGK into its adulthood, might workable til it's <10"ish if not smaller.
But you can try to put one in 55g and later move it to a bigger tank :evilgrin:

Even though their body are elongated like eels, they aren't as flexible thus need quite a bigger tank (width).
and they're fast, so they need a long tank as well.
I have one in 67g (36"x18"x24") and that one is noticeably smaller than the one in 125g.

[sayid]

The dimension of my tank is 52"x 16"x 16" .
Is there such a fish as dwarf BGK or is there any way to slow the growth of BGK ?

[snxtif]

The dimension of my tank is 52"x 16"x 16" .
Is there such a fish as dwarf BGK or is there any way to slow the growth of BGK ?

I've never kept it personally, but there's "African brown knifefish".
More or less the same shape but different color and size.
It should not grow larger than 8-10". With your tank dimension, I think it should be fine.

Please note that knifefish uses electrical fields to navigate.
It is crucial NOT to put more than one of this type of fish (other knifefish, elephant nose fish) in the same tank or they might become aggressive toward each other.

[sayid]

Thanks Cyrus,there is going to be the usual sterbai, some tetras, rams and perhaps some other catfish.

[snxtif]

Update:

Last couple weeks I added about 30 ghost shrimp (Palaemonetes sp.) to the tank.
Most of them are still alive! and boy, my tank is so clean ! (especially drift wood).

16. Ghost shrimp (Palaemonetes sp.)

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Recommendation: 10/10 !
For: Finally, some cleaning crews those won't get eaten lol. Also, they are dirt cheap in my area. All of those 30s for 1$!
Not for: ... ... ... can't think of any... oh, of course unless it's obvious enough already, ANYthing you put into the tank might be a contagion, disease/parasite carrier. <-- I qt these guys for a month before adding to my tank.
Note: I'm buying 30 more this weekend lol.

[sayid]

I think another point to consider is the fact that ghost shrimp will not tolerate any medication e.g the use of praziquantel in case of deworming operation or PP procedure. my 2 cents worth.

[dagray]

ghost shrimp will not breed in your freshwater tank as the larvae need a brackish environment.. If you have a sump on that tank Cherry Shrimp will breed like crazy in the sump, and will keep algae and uneaten food particles down.

[sayid]

ghost shrimp will not breed in your freshwater tank as the larvae need a brackish environment.. If you have a sump on that tank Cherry Shrimp will breed like crazy in the sump, and will keep algae and uneaten food particles down.

Unfortunately i have no sump so probably shrimp idea is out of question ( a pity ).

[baagar415]

I just want to add in my experience with adding one BGK to my discus tank. All water parameters, aggression, dominance, etc seemed fine enough; the only issue I had was that the BGK is nocturnal and would disrupt the Discus's sleeping time; the BGK may or may not have been attacking them at night as well. It stressed my Discus out so much that a few died. Since then I added my BGK to my Oscar tank and now the BGK is not doing so well.

[danotaylor]

Tell us how you quarantined the BGK fish before adding it to your discus tank?

[ericatdallas]

Zebra pleco or any hypancistrus...

I moved mine to my growout tank and the zebras are growing fast.

Both do well in warm water. I keep mine at 84-86.