Newbie!

If you keep the Discus, you will need to get a 55 gallon, or 250-300 liter tank for them. You would also need at least four more. If you don't have the cash/space for that, you will need to re-home them, or you will eventually loose both. With two, when they reach maturity, one will kill the other. The remaining one will then die of stress due to not being in a group :sad:

If the LFS isn't helpful with taking them back, try a few competitors, or the classifieds section of the forum for re-homing :good:
 
umm i was thinking about getting a 190l tank nothing bigger as its only in my bedroom i have noticed how jumpy the discus are getting and the algae eater is a plecostumus i think and is gettin large its about 8" now is it time for it to go as well ?
 
Unfortunately, Common Plecos will outgrow any tank under 4ft in length, and a 190l tank isn't big enough for Discus :sad:
 
Hang in there Craig! Its very common for many who are new to the hobby to be so excited by some of the big beautiful fish like discus, angels and plecs that they bring them home long before knowing what specialized fish some of them are. Its very hard work finding a way to re-home them and a disappointing task as its the reverse of what you wish you could be doing! But rabbut is very experienced and is giving you good info. Its much better in the long run to face up to this sort of stuff and work hard on a solution.

Plecs just get too big for all but the largest tanks. Discus are extremely specialized fish ideally needing a special sort of environment in a very large tank and are usually kept just by themselves as has been said, so I'd say both discus and plecs would best be put out of the picture for you. Angels on the other hand would be a wonderful large-fish possibility for you if you decided to upgrade to a tank that is larger but still fits your room situation. A 29 or 30 US gallon tall configuration that's at least 17 or 18 inches high is more or less the beginning point for a single pair of angels and you can increase the number of course with still bigger tanks. Angels are pretty good community fish if you understand a few details about their mating behaviours and some other things that have been mentioned.

~~waterdrop~~
 
ok so upon your advice i have had a look at some fish i would like to have in my tank and hopefully with more advice ill no which to choose so heres what ive had a look at today,
Barbs,Red Tail Black Shark,Cichilids and fighters as well as the neons and angles i would like to keep. is there any there i couldnt keep in a 190l tank or that i couldnt keep with each other. thanks guys.
 
RTBS (Red Tailed Black Shark) can be semi-agressive in a teritorial sence. They will choose a cave or piece of wood that they want to call home, and will them guard it from other fish, often chasing them off quite boisterously. They can nip fins also, so not a great idea with Fighters. This said, quite a few make this stocking work in a larger tank :nod:

Some barbs can be fin nippers. If you plan on a Fighter, many will not work. Black Ruby Barbs are OK IME, but things like Tiger
barbs and Melon Barbs will nip fighter fins :sad:

Many Dwarf Cichlids are ok, but the medium-to-large ones can be nasty. Any particular ones that caught your eye? Rams, Apisotgrammas and Keyhole Cichlids are all good community fish, but Firemouths, Angels and many larger South American Cichlids and be nippy/aggressive :sad: Most of the African Cichlids (Malawis and Mabuna groups) are off the list for deffinate though. The tearm "Cichlid" covers a very large range of fish :nod:

Neons are very good community fish. They may be eaten by adult Angels and other larger Cichlids, so you need to excersize care when looking at larger fish to go with them. They do tend to work with Fighters as well IME.

A lot of people will question my advice on Fighter remcomendetions though, as their bright colours, long fins and occasionally firey personallity seem to make them not mix well with many fish on individual occasions. A lot is down to the individual Fighter, but also, many on here seem to cuddle them a tad too much when it comes to some mixing, like mixing them with peaceful Neons "because one in a million Neons has a bad temprement" is a tad extream on the cautiousness IMO. Yes, you want to avoid agro and nipping in a stocking, but if you wanted to cut it out completely, you'd have to keep one fish per tank :rolleyes:

All the best
Rabbut
 
Thanks Rabbut i think the cichlids i saw were keyhole cichlids really nice colours to them and ide lso like to have the red tail black sharks as the dont grow as big as the silver sharks so im told i new that the fighters wouldnt be compatable with everything on my list but its always nice to have more advice on them how many red tail sharks should i consider getting also whats the low down on parrot fish because i liked the look of them as well. Also do you no anyone that would want the discus and plec as your only round the corner from me :)
 
OK, where to start with so many questions...

RTBS are highly aggressive towards their own kind as adults. In captivity, unless the tank happens to be like 12X6X6 foot, they must be kept one per tank to avoid a bloodbath :nod:

Parrot fish are more aggressive then Angels IME, but not as bad as things like Oscars when adult :good: They are to really be kept with other larger and semi-aggressive fish to avoid them doing damage, but people occasionally get them to work in community tanks (provided the other occupants won't fit in their mouth) :nod:

When you transfer tanks, move the filter across with the fish. This will effectively "instantly cycle" the tank, allowing you to stock it off the bat :good: Treat it like fish when you move it, don't let it dry out or sit anywhere too long and it will be fine :nod:

What size and condition are the Discus and the Plec in? Also, is it a Common Plec you have, or some other kind? Colour variant on the Discus is?? Some pics may make things easier. I don't know of anyone after Plecs ATM, but I may know someone that's after Discus :nod: Failing that, I know of a few shops that may be able to take them off you :good:

All the best
Rabbut
 
Hi mate heres the pics of the discus and plec.

Discus3-1.jpg


Plec.jpg
 
A common plec, a (possibly) wild brown Discus and a Red Truk Discus by the look of things. I'd probibly try ringging round a few local shops, unfortunately, nice though the Discus are, it was Blue Diamonds that was being looked for, and they've just bought enohgh Discus to fill their tank now :sad: There is also the Classifieds section on here :nod:

The common plec will get to about 12-18", so really needs to go too :sad:

All the best
Rabbut
 

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