crackmonkey said:
I have kept Discus for years and used to breed and sell them. I see you keep Angel fish with them. Well many people say it's ok to keep them with Discus fish becuase they both come from the amazon river. But I totally disagree. And here is why.
1: Angel fish carry a parasite wich Discus can catch of them (all be it very very rare)
2: Angel fish are pretty agrresive fish at feeding time, you might be OK because you stock quite a few discus, but the problem is - as your angels grow bigger they will begin to dominate the tank and thats when your problems will start. If you ever keep discus in a tank. Make sure they are the top dogs at the top of the food chain who get first choice. In your case they are so far. But keep a close eye on them angels because that will change. If they begin to bully your discus or get to the food first at feeding time, they will stop feeding and that's when you will have big problems on your hands.
If you have 7 adult discus. You need a tank no smaller than 48X18X18, best would either be a 5 or 6 ft tank really to house 7 adults. When your discus begin to pair up you will need to have the space there in your tank so the other discus can keep there distance away from the pair, otherwise again you will have problems on your hands due to lack of tank space for the other fish to move into.
I'll also give you another tip. You have clown loaches in your tank, the problem with clown loaches is they become very active at night. They will swim about and feel your discus with there feelers while they rest and sleep. This can make your discus fish nervious fish and lead to problems (they are asimple just to active at night). I have seen this many times were Discus and Clown Loaches are concered. They really don't mix that well in the long run.
People awlays make the mistake of thinking you can keep discus with just about anything. If you really want to keep discus the most. Design your tankmates around them fish. Big shoals of Neons are great becuase they make the discus feel more confident and will make them come out more in the open freely.
Best setup would be:
1: Discus
2: Neons + other small tetras (lots of em)
3: Small Corys are great
4: Other small catfish like Zebra's are fine
5: Rainbow fish (they can be ok with discus and quite colourful) But again what at feeding time. Make sure your discus get there fair share of food.
