Mixing Fish With Discus

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hi all.

i have a well established discus set up with 9 mixed discus with some cardinal tetras and rummy nose tetras and 3 yo yo loach which have been in the tank for a couple of years.

plain and simple, i was wondering could i put a few clown loach in with the discus.

many thx and hope to hear back soon

 

[Jay-93]

I wouldn't like to. For 3 reasons.

1. Discus don't really like fast fish, it unsettles them, although if you have 3 loaches in already, you'll have a better idea than me on stress levels. That's why they like Cardinals, they tend to stay together in the water relatively slow/still, making the Discus feel safe.

2. With the way loaches eat, they scour surfaces for slime and other leftovers, whereas Discus have a slime coating on their bodies, so may be attracted to that, in a similar way that Plecs would be. But again, if the yo-yo's aren't then I can't see why this would be a problem.

3. Clowns grow to be quite large, and I would say it'd be best to just add another 3 yo-yo's if you were intent on adding more fish

I could be wrong here but that's what my advice would be on this. I have a Discus set up with other fish. Corys are my preferred 'bottom dwelling' fish.

 

[Mikey1]

i had clown loaches in with my discus for many years, no problems, the discus were even breeding with them in there

 

[garyspence84]

Me too. I kept clown loaches with my discus for years without any issues. But clown loaches do prefer cooler temps than discus. But I never had a problem with it.