Discus Tankmates

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markandhisfish

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ok so after some serious thinking and schemeing the draw of discus has finally proved too strong to resist , after looking at several options i think due to space and money restrictions the only feasable way is to completely break down and re do my 100g as a planted discus community , i will be selling all of my fish and breaking down re-scaping and planting for discus. i will most likely start with a large shoal of cardinals as these seem to work well , but what other options are there? would rummy nose tetras handle the high temps? also bottom dwellers. i was thinking about keeping my golden nugget as they do like warmer water but i have read about them sometimes feeding off the discus slime coat. thoughts on this also please. any advice / help appreciated. im hoping to do this sometime mid-april and intend to spend all my time until then reading up learning and asking you good folk on here loads of questions.

also some other questions. how to soften my water? i will get a propper kit to test ph dh kh etc but i think my water may be a tad hard for discus. if this proves to be the case what is the best course of action?
how many discus in a 100g 4x2x2? was thinking of at least 6
are certain colour strains hardier than others or are they all much the same?
im sure i will think of loads more questions between now and set-up
 
I think 6 Discus in a 4x2x2 with a pair of Rams and have shoals of cardinals, Corydoras would be good.

Maybe with some Altum Angels? lots of possibility's.
 
you selling the Sevs then Mark?

I kept rummys with my discus years ago and I thought they developed into a better looking and more active shoaling fish than the cardinals

Plecs are hit and miss, you;ll know if they are sucking cos they leave a round mark. I had a gold nugget that did
 
yeah simonas im gonna be selling all my current fish including vinny but im gonna be picky where he gos , ( only a very good home) sometime probably in april/may time and then going for it bigtime on a discus setup .

I think 6 Discus in a 4x2x2 with a pair of Rams and have shoals of cardinals, Corydoras would be good.

Maybe with some Altum Angels? lots of possibility's.

ooooo a pair of gbrs? hmmm now thats gonna have to happen rams are a longtime fave of mine, plus the missus loves em so there can be something in the tank "for her" :hey:
 
yeah simonas im gonna be selling all my current fish including vinny but im gonna be picky where he gos , ( only a very good home) sometime probably in april/may time and then going for it bigtime on a discus setup .

well its a big move on your part I did something similar with all my fishthis year and had regrets but its nice to change and reinvigorate your interst.

Discus set ups are great and with all the tetras look really calm and visually pleasing
 
yeah its a big change and much as i love vinny and will be sad to see him go he has stopped me doing so many of tghe things i want to do with this tank , now ive got a bee in my bonnet bigtime about discus so im gonna just go for it . i have wanted discus ever since i got a tank but was put off by their reputation for being hard to keep . but now ive got more experience and have been doing some reading on discus i feel im ready for the challenge.

so provisional stocking so far 6 discus 2 german blue rams and around 20 either cardinals or rummynose.or maybe the shoal could be even bigger?
 
yeah its a big change and much as i love vinny and will be sad to see him go he has stopped me doing so many of tghe things i want to do with this tank , now ive got a bee in my bonnet bigtime about discus so im gonna just go for it . i have wanted discus ever since i got a tank but was put off by their reputation for being hard to keep . but now ive got more experience and have been doing some reading on discus i feel im ready for the challenge.

so provisional stocking so far 6 discus 2 german blue rams and around 20 either cardinals or rummynose.

when i first kept them I fussed too much pretty soon i realised they didn;t need all the fussing andthey did really well.I would also say don;t buy baby fish go for larger fish, may cost more but easier to get settled and feed
 
yeh Rams are perfect for planted Discus set ups i think :)

Think long and hard before you make the jump tho, i sold off all my old stock to go into Mbunas (including my beloved 8" Gold Sev and never seen another as pretty since) and my Mbunas got some disease which wiped out about £300 worth and left me devastated, and skint.....

...And now i'm back with pretty much the same set up i had back then.....and alot skinter :p

I have learn t also that you tend to look at other ideas....and end up getting over tempted and going for it....then look back at your old pics/vids and really regret it.

Just a quick glance at my youtube channel and you can see what i mean haha

when i first kept them I fussed too much pretty soon i realised they didn;t need all the fussing andthey did really well.I would also say don;t buy baby fish go for larger fish, may cost more but easier to get settled and feed

Can't agree more with this, years ago i had a few unsuccessful attempts at Discus and could never get the little ones to feed, then i bit the bullet and went for a nice big fat one and he was fine...added another and he was fine to...added another small one and he didn't last.

If its already big and fat, and it eats from day 1, its as tough as any other cichlid.
 
yeah simonas ive been looking at larger discus for exactly that reason . glenbo a very valid point but ive thought long and hard about it and think id regret not doing it more than i would doing it only to revert back .

ok so thats stocking sorted , whats the best course of action if upon testing my water proves (as i suspect it may ) to be to hard? would the planting substrate i plan on using have any effect?
 
Rummynose can handle the temperature easy, probably more easily than cardinals. If you go for corydoras, you have a choice of like 2 species or so. You could also put quite a number of rams in this tank.
 
i do like rummynose more than cardinals , so will probably go for those.
 
only thing doing my head in now is waiting for the funds to do it all , probs around 400 quid once you consider plant substrate plants new gravel ( instead of the current sand) and the most expensive bit the 6 discus ( been looking around and seems anywhere from 20 to 50 quid for discus around 4 inch) , i hope to be able to do it when i do my tax return in april ang get my rebate so fingers crossed in about 3 or 4 weeks il be able to go for it
 
check out this link for compatible tetra sp.
http://discusfishcaresecrets.blogspot.com/2010/01/compatible-tetra-sp-with-discus-fish.html
 
i also have a 4x2x2 its 120us gallons, ur 100gallons must be uk unless your jsut taking into account the substrate and wood/plants takeing off a chunk of water.


i bought 9 discus down to 7 the smallers ones jsut struggle and allthough the larger ones are acting fine and normal the smaller ones just havent acclimatised well.

2 rams
3 keyholes
and a male appistogramma aggazzi soon to add a female.
24 cardinals i think this is a nice size for this tank its a nice group who shoal tightly due to the discus. i will probably swap them for rummynose tho.
3 1 inch baby bristlenose

i would probs swap the keyholes for either a different type of appistogramma or if your gf likes rams id get a bigger group of them or a different colour pair perhaps the electric blue ones.
 

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