Discus Tankmates

[FishHobbyist1564]

Hi, I currently have 7 discus in a 75-gallon tank, along with 7 rummy-nose tetras (in a school), and 5 corys.

The problem is, when i look at my tank, i barely see any fish, because my discus usually stay in a corner of the tank in the back plants. I have been wanting to stock my tank for a while, but im not sure what would be good to put in with discus. I have heard that Angelfish tend to make discus a little "braver" which would be great! I also thing angelfish are beautiful.

DiscusLova has also informed me that Rams, Apistos, and pencilfish go well with discus. I am thinking a pair of Rams would look nice

Other than that, what other fish would you guys suggest for my tank?

 

[squiggle 2000]

hi i have found with discus you need plenty of dither fish to make them feel safe and stop hiding i have in with mine 10 cardinal tetra 5rummy noses and 10 pristella tetra also 2 bristle nose plecs and plenty of plants hope this helps

 

[rabbut]

My 8 have 20 head and tail lights, 6 rummy nose tetra, 3 cardinal, 2 L66 plecs, 2 corry metea and 5 corry Adolfi with them.. Basically anything fairly slow moving, non-nocturnal, and able to take the heat should be fine As a rule, fast fish and nocturnal ones will spook the disucs, putting them on edge. Fish that don't tollerate heat are off for obvious reasons....

With 7 fish, that should be a fairly outgoing group, even without dithers... I'd mebe look into things that may spooking them. I assume no younger (or older for that matter, older people in my LFS are often worse than the kids....) family members have chance to tap the glass? Plenty of movement in the room? Plenty of cover? Adults or Juviniles?

All the best
Rabbut

 

[kev_kb]

IMO Discus don't need dithers, but even if you subscribe to that theory your tetras and corys should tell them things are ok. May be worth checking your water stats are ok.

I've mixed Angels and Discus before with horrible results. The Angels fed quicker and bossed the Discus around leading to them not eating, so I had to remove the Angels. Given your fish don't seem the most outgoing adding Angels could be very problematic.

As already suggested Pencilfish, Rams, Apistos and other fairly peaceful dwarf Cichlids can work well.

 

[rabbut]

I've found that angels work OK. They ignore each other alone, apart from when the angels breed. Then they boss the discus for a while, and then roles reverse. I suppose the discus get bored of not being able to use all the tank space and rebel.... Aside from the pair of angels I missed of my previous list, I also have a trio of Galaxy rasbora and a trio of harlequin rasbora.... sorry

All the best
Rabbut

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

I've found that angels work OK. They ignore each other alone, apart from when the angels breed. Then they boss the discus for a while, and then roles reverse. I suppose the discus get bored of not being able to use all the tank space and rebel.... Aside from the pair of angels I missed of my previous list, I also have a trio of Galaxy rasbora and a trio of harlequin rasbora.... sorry

All the best
Rabbut

I agree with Rabbut, normally Angels are okay with Discus. The only problem I ran into was when the Angel matured and became full grown, it started to get a little nippy with the Discus. They still both ate okay and shared the food together.

 

[FishHobbyist1564]

i think a pair of Blue Rams or Gold Rams would look nice, but i cant find them anywhere lol. I can only find Bolivian Rams, which i dont really want.

I think nice schools would look great too.

The one thing that scares me about cardinal tetras is Neon Tetra Disease... cant fish of the same family develop Neon Tetra Disease? Also, i just dont want that disease floating around the tank with my discus.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

i think a pair of Blue Rams or Gold Rams would look nice, but i cant find them anywhere lol. I can only find Bolivian Rams, which i dont really want.

I think nice schools would look great too.

The one thing that scares me about cardinal tetras is Neon Tetra Disease... cant fish of the same family develop Neon Tetra Disease? Also, i just dont want that disease floating around the tank with my discus.

I believe some Cichlids (possibly including Discus) can also catch Neon Tetra Disease. The main thing when adding any fish to a tank is the quarantine period. Although there is no treatment or medication for this disease, you should be able to find out if the fish are sick after 2-4 weeks. If you are worried, a four week quarantine period may be best. The good thing, is that the disease is pretty easy to spot.


Stay away from tanks that have any sick fish or dead fish. You probably know what to look out for when choosing fish, pretty common sense.

 

[vonnie06]

i bought cardinals from a shop 50 altogether i put them in a quartine tank and within the space of five days 43 of them died to neon tetra disease so like someone said its pretty easy to spot and it spreads really quickly.there isnt a treatment about for this disease,the things i did to save the last seven was do alot of water changes with ro water no tap water added we did this for about a month,what i read about the disease is that it passes threw the water most tetras can get it and discus can get it awell this is proberly one of the worse diseases to get as theres no treatment for it.but aslong as you dont buy from tanks that have dead fish or fish that look ill you should be alright hpe this helps