Discus

[jacko9901]

can you keep a trio of discus with small tetras such as neons and glowlights or will they eat them like angel fish will.

also is a 240 litre tank alright to keep them in.

 

[rabbut]

A trio will become one very stressed Discus given time. With just three, there won't be enough fish to spread the agression, and thus the weakest in the group will be bullied to death by the other two once settled. After the first death, the other two will turn on each other and history will repeate The time it takes for this to happen will depend on the individual fish, but sooner or later you would come home to a bloodbath, unless the two remaining fish were a compatible pair The minumum number for duscus would either be 5, or a proven breeding pair This spreads the agression in the case of a group, and breeding pairs show no agression amongst themselves

Discus are shoaling fish, so one alone will feel insecure and stressed. This lone fish may then refuse to eat and die a few months later of starvation. Discus are amongst a select few fish that are happy to starve to death if something isn't right.

Though not out-and-out agressive, you must remember that Discus are Cichlids and thus are considered semi-agressive. My current dominant discus has a very nasty side to him/her, as it will be more interested in tareing chunks out of the other fish, than acctually eating the food Agression is usually kept within the group though, with the fish showing a clear hirachy in a tank into which they have settled

Your tank needs to be 50g minimum with very good filtration (preferably on two exturnals each capable of filtering the tank alone) and a minimum height of 18 inches. I'd advise you to cycle the tank fishlessly (using liquid ammonia), and mature it first for about 6 months with other fish before introducing your discus.

In answer to your origional question though, no discus won't eat smaller fish like neons, so long as the small fish are fully grown once they are past about 4 inches. Like any fish, if it fits in their mouth, they will try to fit it in

If after reading that, you are still interested, post back with any queries. A trio isn't doable (not easily at least, especially not in a small tank under 100g) so you will need at least 5 to start out

The key to Discus is research. If you want to keep them, read any keeping information you can get your hands on and learn it untill you can answer any Discus question correctly, before buying your stock. Once you are ready for your stock, forget the research and copy someone elses (already working) set-up. If the copied set-up doesn't work, tweak on the gut instinct that you should get from your research. If it works, don't fix it

All the best
Rabbut

 

[jacko9901]

A trio will become one very stressed Discus given time. With just three, there won't be enough fish to spread the agression, and thus the weakest in the group will be bullied to death by the other two once settled. After the first death, the other two will turn on each other and history will repeate The time it takes for this to happen will depend on the individual fish, but sooner or later you would come home to a bloodbath, unless the two remaining fish were a compatible pair The minumum number for duscus would either be 5, or a proven breeding pair This spreads the agression in the case of a group, and breeding pairs show no agression amongst themselves

Discus are shoaling fish, so one alone will feel insecure and stressed. This lone fish may then refuse to eat and die a few months later of starvation. Discus are amongst a select few fish that are happy to starve to death if something isn't right.

Though not out-and-out agressive, you must remember that Discus are Cichlids and thus are considered semi-agressive. My current dominant discus has a very nasty side to him/her, as it will be more interested in tareing chunks out of the other fish, than acctually eating the food Agression is usually kept within the group though, with the fish showing a clear hirachy in a tank into which they have settled

Your tank needs to be 50g minimum with very good filtration (preferably on two exturnals each capable of filtering the tank alone) and a minimum height of 18 inches. I'd advise you to cycle the tank fishlessly (using liquid ammonia), and mature it first for about 6 months with other fish before introducing your discus.

In answer to your origional question though, no discus won't eat smaller fish like neons, so long as the small fish are fully grown once they are past about 4 inches. Like any fish, if it fits in their mouth, they will try to fit it in

If after reading that, you are still interested, post back with any queries. A trio isn't doable (not easily at least, especially not in a small tank under 100g) so you will need at least 5 to start out

The key to Discus is research. If you want to keep them, read any keeping information you can get your hands on and learn it untill you can answer any Discus question correctly, before buying your stock. Once you are ready for your stock, forget the research and copy someone elses (already working) set-up. If the copied set-up doesn't work, tweak on the gut instinct that you should get from your research. If it works, don't fix it

All the best
Rabbut

so 5 wouldnt fit in an 240 litre tank.

would it work if you just got females or would there still be fighting.

 

[rabbut]

You cannot sex discus, without venting or observing them breeding, so it would be very hard to get all females, unless you vent them. This is't something that you should ever do unless you know what you are doing, as you can seriously injor the fish concerned. In many cases the females are just as bad as the males, or worse, anyway...

240l, is just about a doable size. Sorry, I missed that snippet in your origional post. The Juwel Rio/vision 240 by any chance? They are just about tall enough, but you would need better filters. The internals supplied on those tanks won't do well for the fish long-term, otherwise, it is a good tank.

With five discus in a 240l, you wouldn't realy be able to add many small fish, mebe a group of 10-15 tetras, and that would be it stocked...

You realy do need to research a lot before getting them though. They aren't all that difficult to keep, but they are considered "hard" because people don;t research them before buying and blame the fish because of their errors... Not researching and them blaming the fish is the metaforical equivilant of putting a rabbit in a pen with 10 foxes, comming down to find it dead in the morning, and they declaring rabbits hard to keep, just because the keeper haden;t provided the correct environment Long adn short, research, research and research some more before getting the fish.

All the best
Rabbut

 

[jacko9901]

You cannot sex discus, without venting or observing them breeding, so it would be very hard to get all females, unless you vent them. This is't something that you should ever do unless you know what you are doing, as you can seriously injor the fish concerned. In many cases the females are just as bad as the males, or worse, anyway...

240l, is just about a doable size. Sorry, I missed that snippet in your origional post. The Juwel Rio/vision 240 by any chance? They are just about tall enough, but you would need better filters. The internals supplied on those tanks won't do well for the fish long-term, otherwise, it is a good tank.

With five discus in a 240l, you wouldn't realy be able to add many small fish, mebe a group of 10-15 tetras, and that would be it stocked...

You realy do need to research a lot before getting them though. They aren't all that difficult to keep, but they are considered "hard" because people don;t research them before buying and blame the fish because of their errors... Not researching and them blaming the fish is the metaforical equivilant of putting a rabbit in a pen with 10 foxes, comming down to find it dead in the morning, and they declaring rabbits hard to keep, just because the keeper haden;t provided the correct environment Long adn short, research, research and research some more before getting the fish.

All the best
Rabbut

we was getting the fluval roma 240.

because are house is sort of small. our tank is going behind our sofa but it will be above the sofa so we can see it. the next problem is that a cabinet that comes with the tanks are too short so we are going to use this ikea cabinets that we already have. the are tall enough and strong enough to cope with the weight. but the cabinet is only 40 cm wide so we can only get a tank of this width. unless you can put a tank over the edges of the cabinet.

another tank i've seen has 262 litres in it and its dimensions are 120x 40x 55 so i might get this one instead.

 

[rabbut]

The "other tank" would be ideal I don't know the dimentions of the Roma 240, but their supplied filter are awful. Exturnal filteration IMO would be a must with discus, so budget for such items accordingly The tank is plenty high enough, and has sufficient length for them to exercise. There is also sufficient turning space for them

I wouldn't advise "overhanging" a tank, as it can realy put extra stress on the seams and base pane. Considering I've cracked the base of a 10g, using a grane of sand, I'd hate to see what a 75g overhanging would do once filled, even if the overhang was slight

All the best
Rabbut

 

[jacko9901]

The "other tank" would be ideal I don't know the dimentions of the Roma 240, but their supplied filter are awful. Exturnal filteration IMO would be a must with discus, so budget for such items accordingly The tank is plenty high enough, and has sufficient length for them to exercise. There is also sufficient turning space for them

I wouldn't advise "overhanging" a tank, as it can realy put extra stress on the seams and base pane. Considering I've cracked the base of a 10g, using a grane of sand, I'd hate to see what a 75g overhanging would do once filled, even if the overhang was slight

All the best
Rabbut

mmm thought overhanging the tank wouldnt work.

 

[jacko9901]

i talked to my dad about getting 5 discus and that not many fish will be able to go in there so we have decicded not to get them that is a shame

however would a pair or trio of angels work instead or will there still be fighting?

 

[rabbut]

If you buy small angels and grow them on, then IME they will be fine with small fish. Introduce the small fish first though, and don't add to the numbers of the small fish without first removing the angels They are used to you adding food when you open the flap, so when you add a bag of neons (natural diet in the wild)....... I have found that growing angels on with smaller fish seams to stop them predating on them

All the best
Rabbut