Discus Stocking Question

[markandhisfish]

ive decided that sometime in the summer im going to take the plunge and get me some discus , now i remember recently a thread asking if they could go with a sev and the general opinion was that they could, anyway my sev vinny is so mellow i rekon i could put pretty much anything with him and he wouldnt bother it . the only other fish ive got are corys which arent a problem a red tailed black shark which im guessing would need to go a pair of kribs ( which will be going in their own tank) a couple of plecs , and 5 angels which are soon to bee thinned out to just 2 . would i be able to keep the 2 angels as well as the discus or would they need to be re-homed?

 

[mattlee]

ive decided that sometime in the summer im going to take the plunge and get me some discus , now i remember recently a thread asking if they could go with a sev and the general opinion was that they could, anyway my sev vinny is so mellow i rekon i could put pretty much anything with him and he wouldnt bother it . the only other fish ive got are corys which arent a problem a red tailed black shark which im guessing would need to go a pair of kribs ( which will be going in their own tank) a couple of plecs , and 5 angels which are soon to bee thinned out to just 2 . would i be able to keep the 2 angels as well as the discus or would they need to be re-homed?

i had to remove my angels as they constantly pecked the discus also they are very fast eaters and greedy compared to the slower eating discus. angels can be mixed but make sure the discus get enough food...
also what corys do you have as most cant cope with 30C temps, sterbai seem to be ok but not ideal really

 

[markandhisfish]

ok would have no problems removing the angels. the cories i have are schwarzi and melini.also other concern is how vinny would handle the higher temperature? i would reluctantly sell him to have a discus tank

 

[mattlee]

ok would have no problems removing the angels. the cories i have are schwarzi and melini.also other concern is how vinny would handle the higher temperature? i would reluctantly sell him to have a discus tank

your schwartzi corys would not cope as they like cooler as low as 22-23C and the melini slightly warmer but not much 23-25C. so these too would need removing.
i have a group of gold stripes and a group of green stripes that are gorgeous but cant put them in with my discus as its just too hot for them. they are currently in breeding tanks but i dont have the time to breed them anymore so they are in the garage out of sight.... such a shame!
corys really dont do well in hot water, they become very motionless and eventually will just give in and take a turn for the woest im affraid. you are better off with loaches in with discus i know people use clown loaches, i have polkadot loaches and they seem to be ok

 

[markandhisfish]

ok i can live with losing the corys. the only concern im left with now is if a can find a happy medium temperature-wise ie a temperature that is warm enough for the discus but cool enough for the sev?

 

[mattlee]

ok i can live with losing the corys. the only concern im left with now is if a can find a happy medium temperature-wise ie a temperature that is warm enough for the discus but cool enough for the sev?

having never kept a sev i cant help with that mate but i know people that keep discus at 28C but i think this is the lowest temp for them to be happy.
good luck with it all and i hope your sev can be homed with your discus your getting as it seems you really are fond of him......

 

[markandhisfish]

yes i am very fond of him , i really dont think i could part with him if it came to it . from what ive been reading up the bottom temp range for discus is the top range for sevs. and id want both not just to be able to cope but to be happy as well. this could well be yet another tank plan vinny has scuppered !! he was the reason i ended up not going marine i just couldnt sell him

what i think i will probably do is this. in the summer me and the missus are hopefully going to be moving into a slightly bigger place , when we do that i will probably set up a nice 55 gallon bow-front as a planted discus tank with some cardinals etc. i think that much as im itching to get discus ( would get em tomorrow if i could) its really something that should be done right straight from the word go .

 

[minxfishy]

When I had to raise the temperature recently in my tank, Harry absolutely hated the rise in temp, even at 28c he wasnt happy, after a few days he coped, but didnt really appreciate it.

 

[markandhisfish]

yeah thats what made me think twice mags i remembered you saying about how harry didnt cope too well with the higher temp. so the discus will have to wait til i got more space for tanks . thats now 3 "big plans" ive had for this tank that hes stopped dead in their tracks the 3 setups id like more than anything are african cichlids discus or marine , each time its been a case of well it would mean vinny had to go and every time ive turned to the tank and he comes out from his root and does his loop the loop routine and i just cant

 

[discus_lover]

discus fish always loves to live at 30 degree celsius temp...

 

[MBOU]

I keep and breed my angels (yes they are mixed) and are in with trilineatus and sterbai cories and 26-27 deg C and they dont seem to want it any higher. You have to remember that unless you specifically aim for wild caught discus, the tank bred discus dont necessarily need the temps so high or ph so low, generally, only warm the temps up if they are spawning.

My discus are far more aggressive than my angels and will always put them in their place, they are also in with 2 red spot sevs!

Some people fuss these poor fish far more than they need and it just causes more problems.