Discus And Gourami

[Biulu]

Hi there!

I am working on a 180 litre bowfront tank as an upgrade for my pearl and dwarf gouramis. Actually, I had thought about adding some congo tetras to that tank, but today a friend who's going to study abroad asked me if I could take care of his tank with fish. Now, I do not really have space to add another tank, so I would like to know whether his 2 discus, red eye tetras and neon tetras are compatible with my gouramis, and serpae tetras.

Would anybody also be able to tell me whether I would be able to add more discus, as I understand they need to be in groups. Would a group of 5 be acceptable?

Stocking would look like this:
2 pearl gouramis
2 dwarf gouramis
6 serpae tetras
6 red eye tetras
9 neon tetras
+ discus (currently 2).

Thanks!

 

[kev_kb]

Gouramis aren't really suitable for a discus tank, they can hassle and annoy the discus. Also be sure you know what your taking on with regard to water parameters and care for discus (soft water, high temp, feeding, regular water changes etc), they are not typical community fish and are easily stunted/killed. Theres been plenty of info posted on this forum about them.

If you remove the gouramis you should be able to keep 5 just fine, assuming the tank is around 18" tall.

 

[Biulu]

Pearl gouramis are not agressive, and would not hassle the discus. Maybe if I leave the dwarfs out, things would be ok?

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

The biggest issues is temperature! Discus prefer much warmer tanks than many other fish... ~86 degrees (F) for Discus, which is not healthy in the long term for many other fish.

 

[Biulu]

Discus are to be kept in water from 26 - 30 C, and gouramis in 24 - 28, so that shouldn't be a problem. I keep my gouramis currently at 26 - 27 degrees.

 

[djceri_g]

personally, I wouldnt let a gourami near my discus!