Gouramis And Discus - Can They Live Together?

[Tim]

I was at the point of buying a beautiful turquoise discus yesterday but the girl at the store said that my synodontis eupterus might end up killing it because it likes sucking the mucous. A kind soul in the catfish forum here said he didn't think the synodontis would be a problem but my gouramis might.

So, before plopping down more money than I ever spent on a fish, I just wanted to run the question by to see if a discus would be compatible with the rest of the tank.

Right now I have a 100 litre tank with:
2 synodontis eupterus (the biggest is about 10 cm or 4 inches long)
2 gold gourami
1 dwarf gourami (who probably won’t last too much longer with the 2 gold ones who are relatively new to the tank and don't appear to have taken a liking to him)
3 clown loaches
Various kribs (all siblings), including a pair that seems to be trying to mate unsuccessfully(too many loaches and synodontis running around in there for egg laying and raising a family I would guess)

Thanks!

 

[sylvia]

Gold gouramies (a color morph of the three-spot gourami - trichogaster trichopterus) are aggressive fish and putting discus in with them is risky. However, there are plenty of more legitimate reasons for not adding a discus to your tank.

First of all, 100 litres is only 25 gallons - that's not enough for ANY discus.

Discus also should be kept in groups. A single one isn't an option. You can get away with keeping only 2 if you get an adult breeding pair but young discus should not be kept alone.

The synos are a risk to your discus. I agree that it is unlikely that they'll harass the discus, but a possibility still exists and you should not risk mixing them.

Furthermore, you are majorly over-stocked. I appreciate they are probably still small, but clown loaches get very big and require a 90 gallon tank minnimum at maturity. They are also extremely active fish and discus are easily stressed by such tankmates.

The fact that you are saying the dwarf gourami 'will not last long' and yet are not doing anything about it (please return it, or the golds, to your LFS!) also sugegsts to me that you are not suited to keeping discus. Not only are they expensive fish to be constantly replacing, they also require you to do a lot of research before buying them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you do not appear to have done any such research as you clearly are not aware of the discus' various special requirements.

Though you need to make some changes to your current tank before even considering it, if you ever get a larger tank (say 55 gallons), a group of discus could be an option. However, make sure you first research them very thoroughly. While you're at it, search the New World cichlids forum for 'discus' and you are bound to find countless threads concerning their requirements and care. Good luck but, your priority right now should be to keep the dwarf gourami alive.