Tank Mates for Discus?

[jonraho]

Hey guys,

I am heading to the fish market today, wanted to see what you guys think would make great tank mates for my 4 soon to be 6 Discus tank.

Have some in mind already, but wanted to get some opinions.

55 gal planted tank, sand bottom.

Cheers!

 

[treemanone2003]

Hey guys,



I am heading to the fish market today, wanted to see what you guys think would make great tank mates for my 4 soon to be 6 Discus tank.



Have some in mind already, but wanted to get some opinions.



55 gal planted tank, sand bottom.



Cheers!

Depends on the size of your Discus and your filtration/WC schedule. Also, hopefully you're going to QT the new ones so they don't get your existing stock sick. And also the tank mates in another QT that your looking for to add. What else is in there now and what are all your parameters ?

 

[jonraho]

Depends on the size of your Discus and your filtration/WC schedule. Also, hopefully you're going to QT the new ones so they don't get your existing stock sick. And also the tank mates in another QT that your looking for to add. What else is in there now and what are all your parameters ?

According to the breeder they are a year old, about 3,5". Filtration x2 ehiem 2215. W/C 3 times, 25%.

Yes i have a QT tank set up for new additions.

Water temp currently 28C, water is soft, low lvl to none of nitrates according to the test kit.

Looking to get a clean up crew, some schoolers. Would love some shrimps but read that they'll be an $ treat. even the larger ones lol

 

[treemanone2003]

According to the breeder they are a year old, about 3,5". Filtration x2 ehiem 2215. W/C 3 times, 25%.



Yes i have a QT tank set up for new additions.



Water temp currently 28C, water is soft, low lvl to none of nitrates according to the test kit.



Looking to get a clean up crew, some schoolers. Would love some shrimps but read that they'll be an $ treat. even the larger ones lol

I like the filtration and the QT !!! If they are a year at 3.5" I'm afraid they're a little stunted. Should be closer to 6" by then. I would up the # and volume of water changes. At least 50%. Water temp is right on !! IME/O, def no shrimp !!! Total $$$ waster for sure. As far as schoolers, I've had good luck with buenos aires and black phantoms. Never a fan of neons. Cardinals and rummy nose are usually a good match also. And for anything on the bottom I'd go with an L200.

 

[jonraho]

I like the filtration and the QT !!! If they are a year at 3.5" I'm afraid they're a little stunted. Should be closer to 6" by then. I would up the # and volume of water changes. At least 50%. Water temp is right on !! IME/O, def no shrimp !!! Total $$$ waster for sure. As far as schoolers, I've had good luck with buenos aires and black phantoms. Never a fan of neons. Cardinals and rummy nose are usually a good match also. And for anything on the bottom I'd go with an L200.

hmm thats no good lol. They dont show signs of s stunted fish though, all seems in proportions. Could have miss understood the breeder. I don't speak thai and they only speak thai so yeah haha.

here's a close up of the grp

Yea thought so on the shrimp. bugger cause i love seeing them get to work in the tank haha.

That much more water changes huh? Easily done so no biggy.

Do like both black phantoms and the buenos aires, might mix around with a some Cardinals or rasboras. Not a fan of the L200, was thinking some cory pandas maybe? I have 4 hillstream loach, they looked cool, so bought them a while ago, was an impulsive buy didn't read much on them XD.

 

[jonraho]

btw treemanone2003 able to ID the strain of Discus? I have the names written in thai so no idea =D

Asked around and was told, Snow white, blue turquoise and pigeon ? heard right or way off?

 

[jonraho]

Ended up getting Cardinals, Cory Pandas and 2 loaches. standard i guess haha. Getting 2 more Discus on thursday, didn't have the strain i wanted.

 

[Coursair]

Cory Pandas do better long term in Cooler water. C sterbai are most commonly added to Discus tanks.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=316

Hillstream Loaches also need cool water with high flow. Opposite of Discus.
http://www.loaches.com/articles/hillstream-loaches-the-specialists-at-life-in-the-fast-lane
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/sewellia-lineolata/?searchterm=Sewellia



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[treemanone2003]

btw treemanone2003 able to ID the strain of Discus? I have the names written in thai so no idea =D

Asked around and was told, Snow white, blue turquoise and pigeon ? heard right or way off?

Sorry for the delay. Yes those all appear to be labeled properly. They also look to have nice shape to them ( round as opposed to football ). And nice wide foreheads too. It is quite common for the PB's and Albino to have difficulty eating sometimes but that's a genetic trait and nothing to do with the fish itself. The only thing I'm not find of ( it's just personal preference ) is the albino with the non red eye.

As Coursair points out below, the pandas are better suited for a cooler temp and the sterbai a warmer temp. I might consider trying to change if possible.

FWIW, I've been back and forth with another newbie Discus keeper here and after a couple of times recommending to him to increase his volume and frequency of WC's, he followed up with how much of a great turn around he's had with them. He had thoughts of quitting and moving on to something else but I helped him stick with it and he loves them that much more. They come up and eat from his hands, more personable and they all get along much better. Simply from sticking his hands in the tank more often. If you've got any other questions or problems or thoughts, just pm me. I'm always around somewhere.

 

[jonraho]

Cory Pandas do better long term in Cooler water. C sterbai are most commonly added to Discus tanks.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=316

Hillstream Loaches also need cool water with high flow. Opposite of Discus.
http://www.loaches.com/articles/hillstream-loaches-the-specialists-at-life-in-the-fast-lane
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/sewellia-lineolata/?searchterm=Sewellia



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Thanks for the links. Yea the hillstream was one of those impulsive buys and had them in my smaller community tank, but though they'd like the longer tank. Might bring them back and trade.

ALOT of the links I read said any cory would do sigh.. It's gonna be a pain to net them up now cause they are tiny juvs lol.

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[jonraho]

Sorry for the delay. Yes those all appear to be labeled properly. They also look to have nice shape to them ( round as opposed to football ). And nice wide foreheads too. It is quite common for the PB's and Albino to have difficulty eating sometimes but that's a genetic trait and nothing to do with the fish itself. The only thing I'm not find of ( it's just personal preference ) is the albino with the non red eye.

As Coursair points out below, the pandas are better suited for a cooler temp and the sterbai a warmer temp. I might consider trying to change if possible.

FWIW, I've been back and forth with another newbie Discus keeper here and after a couple of times recommending to him to increase his volume and frequency of WC's, he followed up with how much of a great turn around he's had with them. He had thoughts of quitting and moving on to something else but I helped him stick with it and he loves them that much more. They come up and eat from his hands, more personable and they all get along much better. Simply from sticking his hands in the tank more often. If you've got any other questions or problems or thoughts, just pm me. I'm always around somewhere.

No worries and thanks for the pointers. Yea they had the red eye ones but those freak me out. Anything white with red eyes do.. Haha.

I can trade back the pandas, just gonna be a pain to net them all up with out messing everything up lol.

Ah nice! 4 days in mine are still really shy and hide when it's feeding time or when I do water changes. They are eating well though, blood worms and flakes atm

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[treemanone2003]

No worries and thanks for the pointers. Yea they had the red eye ones but those freak me out. Anything white with red eyes do.. Haha.

I can trade back the pandas, just gonna be a pain to net them all up with out messing everything up lol.

Ah nice! 4 days in mine are still really shy and hide when it's feeding time or when I do water changes. They are eating well though, blood worms and flakes atm

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Trade them back ASAP and don't sweat it. You'll get over it sooner than they will. As far as eating well, bloodworms are just a delicacy. More like going to Dairy Queen if the kids ate all their dinner. Get them on beef heart and pellets with a better WC schedule and you'll see a vast improvement all around. Trust me. It works wonders. When you're ready for the next step, I have an arsenal at my fingertips.

 

[jonraho]

Trade them back ASAP and don't sweat it. You'll get over it sooner than they will. As far as eating well, bloodworms are just a delicacy. More like going to Dairy Queen if the kids ate all their dinner. Get them on beef heart and pellets with a better WC schedule and you'll see a vast improvement all around. Trust me. It works wonders. When you're ready for the next step, I have an arsenal at my fingertips.

Haha, Gotcha. I've seen a few recipes for them but don't get how you feed them the blended mix? A whole bunch of recipes online with veggies, flakes, shrimp and fish added to the mix.

Should probably not have any sand and wood and plants in the qt tank huh.. Lol will gather them out today

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[treemanone2003]

Haha, Gotcha. I've seen a few recipes for them but don't get how you feed them the blended mix? A whole bunch of recipes online with veggies, flakes, shrimp and fish added to the mix.

Should probably not have any sand and wood and plants in the qt tank huh.. Lol will gather them out today

Sent from my C6602 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

There's a bunch of recipes out there. My girl and I brought a lot from a mixture of something from everyone else. It's worked so far.

As far as QT, there's as many opinions as there are .......... I can tell you how I do it and appreciate what others can offer. I believe there are many threads here about QT thoughts and recommendations.

My ideal, and only practiced is, BARE BOTTOM, NO DECORATIONS, NO PLANTS, LARGE VOLUME, FREQUENT WC's, NO CARBON, SPONGE FILTERS. I practice 6 ( yes six, seis, zes, sé, ) weeks of QT. Fungal, bacterial, parasitic infections will often not show up in two or three or four weeks. It's so much safer to be proactive than reactive when it comes to these babies. Whether they cost ya 99 cents or three bucks or eighteen. To me, it doesn't matter. I get my fish from a man in California that imports from Malaysia. He does a regular proactive QT first, and then I do my part when I get them. That's only the beginning. If you'd like some more info, pm me. Maybe it's something you know, maybe not. I'll help any way I can.

 

[jonraho]

There's a bunch of recipes out there. My girl and I brought a lot from a mixture of something from everyone else. It's worked so far.

As far as QT, there's as many opinions as there are .......... I can tell you how I do it and appreciate what others can offer. I believe there are many threads here about QT thoughts and recommendations.

My ideal, and only practiced is, BARE BOTTOM, NO DECORATIONS, NO PLANTS, LARGE VOLUME, FREQUENT WC's, NO CARBON, SPONGE FILTERS. I practice 6 ( yes six, seis, zes, sé, ) weeks of QT. Fungal, bacterial, parasitic infections will often not show up in two or three or four weeks. It's so much safer to be proactive than reactive when it comes to these babies. Whether they cost ya 99 cents or three bucks or eighteen. To me, it doesn't matter. I get my fish from a man in California that imports from Malaysia. He does a regular proactive QT first, and then I do my part when I get them. That's only the beginning. If you'd like some more info, pm me. Maybe it's something you know, maybe not. I'll help any way I can.

I'll head to the store and see what i can find. But how do you actually feed the blended mix? wont it all just disperse in the water?

Ya, i originally had an empty tank with a simple filter, but felt sorry for the fish so i decorated it.. lol.. I QT from 2 - 4 weeks, mostly just 2 weeks though. these 4 discus costed me just over 130$ so yeah gonna be extra careful with them lol.

Cool i'll PM later on with how things are going and if i got ? to ask

 

[treemanone2003]

I'll head to the store and see what i can find. But how do you actually feed the blended mix? wont it all just disperse in the water?



Ya, i originally had an empty tank with a simple filter, but felt sorry for the fish so i decorated it.. lol.. I QT from 2 - 4 weeks, mostly just 2 weeks though. these 4 discus costed me just over 130$ so yeah gonna be extra careful with them lol.



Cool i'll PM later on with how things are going and if i got ? to ask

It will and it won't. It's perfectly
Okay if it does because the shy ones that don't eat as well will get their share without being scared or bullied. I usually just feed by hand. They eat it from my hands so there's not much waste.

Thats a great price to get 4 Discus. This one cost me $147 alone.

 

[Coursair]

Thanks for the links. Yea the hillstream was one of those impulsive buys and had them in my smaller community tank, but though they'd like the longer tank. Might bring them back and trade.

ALOT of the links I read said any cory would do sigh.. It's gonna be a pain to net them up now cause they are tiny juvs lol.

Sent from my C6602 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

A club member of mine breeds Cories. They are a fav of mine.

Another club member has a tank for her Hillstreams (4 species ? ) She is a member of Loaches Online as well.
It's not heated and has very high flow.


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[jonraho]

So, 2 of the Discus that i got last week (blue turquoise) have been starting to shake like there is no tomorrow and are always together. Today they have been "pecking" at a few areas on the drift wood in the tank and any time one of the other ones come near by the blue turquoise swims rather fast and "pushes" them away.

Are they starting to spawn?

 

[jonraho]

It will and it won't. It's perfectly
Okay if it does because the shy ones that don't eat as well will get their share without being scared or bullied. I usually just feed by hand. They eat it from my hands so there's not much waste.

Thats a great price to get 4 Discus. This one cost me $147 alone. View attachment 239350

**** ! Yea a few show tanks with huge adults, Red one was over 200USD roughly and another one with pinkish/purple small spots 250USD roughly... costly fish they are, beautiful though, so large and round

 

[treemanone2003]

So, 2 of the Discus that i got last week (blue turquoise) have been starting to shake like there is no tomorrow and are always together. Today they have been "pecking" at a few areas on the drift wood in the tank and any time one of the other ones come near by the blue turquoise swims rather fast and "pushes" them away.

Are they starting to spawn?

It's quite possible. Does sound as thought they are preparing an area for egg laying. Good luck and keep us posted !!! (Raising fry can be a real pain).