Discus

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰

annka5

Fish Addict
Joined
Dec 20, 2004
Messages
862
Reaction score
0
I'm interested in keeping discus. I understand that you need to reckon on 50ltrs per fish, also have heard that it is OK to keep adults with other fish so long as they are little and not too active - would be neon tetras and rosy tetras.
Anyone have other opinions?
However, assuming i get adult discus rather than juvenile discus, how many would be the minimum i could get away with keeping together? Ideally, would like to only have three.
Is this a disaster waiting to happen?
I only want to look at happy cheery fish, not miserable ones beating each other up constantly.!!
 
I think 2 is the minimum.

Correct me if I am wrong

This is what the LFS told me. If you have one then they get lonely.
 
Discus are a pretty social fish, especially when young. Even as adults they are still touchy feely with each other. This argues for at least two. With three you have the potential problem of a pair and then an odd one out which would be hard on the loner.

Many folks like to start with 5 or 6 youngsters and then grow them out until they get a pair. At that point they sell/trade/give away the rest and keep the pair.

Because of their need for warmer water and because they are not agressive eaters, discus tankmates should be limited to fish that can tolerate the mid 80 F water and will not eat all the food before the discus. Some fish that will work would be cardinal tetras (as well as other tetras), sterbai corys, zebra and other smaller plecos.

The problem with keeping other fish with discus is that it means you need to be doing even more frequent water changes due to all the excess waste. To thrive discus need clean clean water. I normally try to change 25-35% every 2-3 days and I also try to vac any visable junk off the bare bottom frequently (I keep a special syphon for this near the tank).

The final advice I can offer is to find a local area breeder to get your discus from. Breeders normally have the healthiest fish and the ones most likely to have been raised in water similar to yours. It took me several months from the point of deciding to get discus to finding what I wanted locally. It was worth the wait.
 
Fantastic. Thanks for the information.
I just don't think I can keep a shoal of younger ones as have heard they need fed about 4 times a day etc etc, also, the re-homing them aspect, but a pair of adults sounds perfect.
Am prepared to do the water changes, was aware they needed that.
Appreciate is going to take a while to find the right ones, set the tank up and mature the water etc, which is fine.

Thanks for the advice (particularly as is what I wanted to hear!!)
 

Most reactions

trending

Staff online

Back
Top