OK, question time!

[MissClaire]

What large fish can withstand a higher PH 7.5-8 and live with small community fish such as corys and rummy tetras and clown loaches. Im taking my discus back as they are extremely ill in my water conditions.
I want african cichlids but I know they will munch on the little guys

 

[Auratus]

Silver dollars
congo tetras (I don't know if that's big enough for you)
New Guinea rainbows
ummm... that's all I can think of right now

 

[jflowers]

Silver dollars look good when they get growed up but they can be a bit shy and skittish. Have you looked at some of the new world cichlids like bolivian rams and keyholes? Not big like the discus but nice fish all the same and peaceful.

Jon

 

[MissClaire]

I will look into those fish....
I really want something large though otherwise my tank would look empty
I know silver sharks grow quite large, not sure of their scientific name......do they tolerate a high PH?

 

[jflowers]

Silver sharks can reach 14" in the wild and commonly 12" in a properly sized aquarium. So if yours is a three foot tank then they wont have room to swim, one little flick of the tail and they need to turn round again, not very interesting for you or the fish. Not sure of the PH needed for them, but most fish are ok with a stable PH, you were just unlucky to find a fish that nedded a low PH. Go for the Silver dollar, they look great when grown.

Jon

 

[MissClaire]

My tank is a metre long......im sure the silver shark would be ok. I quite like them thats all
Are silver dollars hardy?
LOL sorry I just want HARDY fish

 

[sylvia]

Silver sharks are not calm like discus. They are very active. Imagine a zebra danio in a 3 gallon tank zipping to one end then whipping round and... oops! my head's already hit the glass!!! - same thing putting a silver shark (balantiocheilus melanopterus) that grows to about 30 cm in a tank 1 metre long. I would think they like a slightly acidic pH but I think they are quite adaptable. Either way, I wouldn't get silver sharks even if they would survive...

Silver dollars seem like a good choice but I'm not certain of their requirements.

Have you considered other sharks. Something smaller but still quite large? Fish like red-tailed black sharks are quite hardy and, though smaller than discus, are attractive and active. In a tank as large as yours you could probably keep several without too much territorial aggression and they wont usualy bother other fish provided they aren't similar looking but may be slightly aggressive.

Also, do you know of any angelfish breeders in your area? Angelfish are similar to discus in many ways but also more hardy. The more common and natural (less inbred) varieties may be able to adapt to a higher pH if they are introduced slowly and provided with as stress-free an environment as possible. I asked about breeders in your area specificaly because they would be using similar water to yours.

Also, do consider a realy large shoal of some kind of hardy tetra or harlequin rasboras (or both) or danios or some kind of barb. Your tank wont look empty if you put in enough and most should be able to adapt to your water (especialy danios... and most barbs). There are also several relatively large barbs like clown, rosy or spanner barbs that would look great in a realy large group. Giant scissortails are also nice...

 

[jflowers]

Silver dollar info... http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/characins/sdollar.php . You got many live plants? as when I was looking that link up I found stories of silver dollars eating the entire stock of live plants in days!!!

Jon

p.s. If you want silver sharks get them but read this first... http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/cypr...s/balashark.php

 

[modernhamlet]

What large fish can withstand a higher PH 7.5-8 and live with small community fish such as corys and rummy tetras and clown loaches. Im taking my discus back as they are extremely ill in my water conditions.
I want african cichlids but I know they will munch on the little guys

If you liked discus, but can't keep them due to their exacting water requirements, I'd guess the logical replacement would be angels.

There are also several other interesting mid-sized south american cichlids that could work.

What are the dimensions of your tank? 1m x ?cm x ?cm

 

[Narny]

What the hell were you doing keeping discus in a community at 7.5-8 PH??

You clearly should not be allowed to keep any fish as you have'nt even got basic water chemistry down yet !!

 

[sylvia]

According to previous posts, this person has tried to lower pH and didn't succeed. I'm sure a lot of us have had similar problems and I don't think they shouldn't be allowed to keep ANY fish! There are plenty of species that do fine in this range and most fish are ok provided they have a stable pH.

 

[Sanj]

PH 7.5-8 and live with small community fish such as corys and rummy tetras

You can keep Rummys in that PH!!! they are ok?

 

[enchanted]

Narny,
You have a lot to learn about fish and research to do before you "EVER" make a comment like that.

Now, as per "BREEDERS" and people on simplydiscus.com who deal with discus day in and out they can be kept at higher PH. They can even be bred in a PH of 7.6 and GH of 120. Considering I heard this from multiple people their and no one disputed it and these are people who deal with and breed discus I believe them.

Another option would be Gouramis. If you are looking for color consider some of the dwarf gouramis such as neon blue or sunset fire.

Personally I do not believe the water parameters are what made your discus ill. I think all the PH up/down and other things you were doing in order to get everything to what you thought you needed is what caused the problems.

How long has the tank been stable?

 

[sylvia]

Actualy about the gouramies... I was going to mention them in my last post but wasn't sure you were still looking for ideas and noticed I somehow failed to include them in my first post (weird...) . Now Enchanted's mentioned them so... Anyway, besides dwarfs as Enchanted said, there are several large, colorful and beautiful gouramies you could keep. Dwarfs tend to be rather fragile but are deffinately colorful and are only 2 inches long so you could keep several. On the other hand, pearl gouramies, three-spot gouramies (opalines, blues and golds etc) and moonlight gouramies, all grow to 5 inches or more, with the moonlight being the largest, the three-spots the most varied and the pearls the most stunningly beautiful (well yes, I'm biased). The three-spots are the hardiest but also the most aggressive but you may want to consider several females as they aren't as territorial as males. Only one male three-spot should be kept per tank to avoid territorial disputes - males have pointed dorsals. I also know for a fact that pearls do fine in a pH of 8 so these would make a fine addition. Moonlights aren't that hardy but their silver color takes on a purplish tinge in good light that is very attractively off-set by the thread-like yellow or orange ventral feelers. Plus they are almost as big as your old discus.

 

[Pointy_kitty]

Narny i cannot for the life of me see why a comment like that is in any was helpful
if we were all discouraged at any mistakes we made in the beginning none of us would be keeping fish
not to say miss claire doesn't know what she is doing

she was however in no way hostile and does not deserve such treatment