What Do You Think Of My Dream Tank?

[snowflake311]

i was reading that True parrots are often caught with Heckel Discus. So they live together in the wild. This gave me the bright Idea of keeping my true parrot with a school of 5 or 6 discus. On another forum people said it could work but I would need a larger tank. I agree once the True parrot and discus are all adults I would need a bigger tank. For now what do you think of this.

5ft 100 gal
5 discus
1 true parrot
8 tetras
1 BN pleco
MAYBE some Cory cats.

How long could this work in my tank. What size tank do you think I would need for it to work long term? I think I would have a year maybe longer till all fish were adults. My parrot is 5" and is a slow grower. The discus would be 3-4".

 

[ajs2294]

I know could easily put those fish in a 100 gallon. Aren't parrots pretty timid around other large fish anyways? so it shouldn't be a problem at all. I know lots of people with 6 discus in 55 gallon tanks with no issues so your dream may be a reality . My dream would be an even bigger discus tank, maybe fill the wall in my living room. But id want an automated water change system

 

[snowflake311]

Yes the true parrot is a good peacful giant that really dose not like to start fights not one for drama . Well mine is at least. She is wild caught so I think the discus around could make her feel at home as weird as that might sound. I think I'm going to get this dream rolling. I just need to find my uaru a home. Only problem could
be the parrot is a big when it comes to food. They also get 12" some bigger. So that's were it could be a problem. But if in a few years my parrot does get huge I could get a larger tank or sell her for a profit.

 

[ajs2294]

Yeah, it might be to your advantage to start the discus of the other tank get them feeding well for a few weeks then move them into the other tank and observe them. Just to be sure everything is going good and they are feeding. Any fish that start to look smaller just take them out and put the in a hospital tank for a week or two to get them back on track, its really not as hard as people make it out to be if your prepared

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

It might work but I would be very cautious mixing Discus with the parrot, stressed and beat up Discus is asking for trouble.. I'm sure Piranha and Discus are found together in the wild, but I would never mix the two.

Keep a close eye on them, I would recommend though getting Discus that are similar sized or bigger then the parrot.

 

[meguro]

u might not have to get rid of the uara and u could possibly mix ur festivums and severums in there too.

What fish live with Discus?
I always noted the fish species and genera I also netted when taking Discus. I also tried to see far enough underwater to find the real companions of Discus, which are their visitors — and enemies.

The genera and species which live with them most frequently are Pterophyllum scalare and P. leopoldi, Geophagus spp. (pictured above) and Acarichthys heckelii, Satanoperca spp. and Biotodoma spp.

Heros spp was in almost every netting, then Hypselecara spp. and with Heckel Discus there were mostly Hoplarchus psittacus and Uaru amphiacanthoides. Mesonauta spp. was found almost all the time above the Discus, then followed Chaetobranchus and Chaetobranchopsis spp.

For tank mates I suggest at least three Geophagus spp., or Satanoperca spp. and four or five larger P. leopoldi or P. scalare — the so called Rio Negro-Altum. Also try three Uaru amphiacanthoides and up to five Mesonauta spp. They will fill the top layers nicely.

I would again try three Uaru amphiacanthoides and perhaps five Mesonauta spp., Heros and Hypselecara. spp., and maybe some larger hatchetfishes like a group of Thoracocharax or Gasteropelecus spp.

quoted from heiko blehers articles on pfk. the second one has the actual quotes but i thought u might find the first useful too if u havent already read these.

article one
article two

 

[snowflake311]

No way could 2 uaru 1 true parrot and 5 discus live in a 100 gal tank it's way to small. But yes uaru Are said to be ok with discus but are really aggressive feeders so it's not the perfect mix.

I would have a back up plan so if things did go wrong I could move fish around.

The reason I never had discus was because I read so much about how hard they are to care for. Now I have read differant and see that they are not as hard as people make them out to be. So now I'm starting to question are these fish so sensitive they can't be with other peaceful cichlids. It makes me think other tank mates could work.

 

[markandhisfish]

you need to be carefull what you mix with discus. tankmates for discus should be calm and preferably not to hyper . also you need to consider the temperature requirements. there would be many fish that could work with discus when it comes to temperement but will not thrive in the higher temps that the discus need. it can be done tho and several people do do it . it just needs a bit of care. i would personally wait and get more experience with a group of discus 1st . then experement more with setups tankmates etc .