Ive been reading a lot about discus lately, it seems to be one thing or the exact opposite. I just wanna know how difficult they really are to keep, and if i can keep them with angelfish and severums, along with my geophagus and festivums.
Discus questions?
- Thread starter bottomfeeder91
- Start date
May I suggest you start off by reading my 'Guide to Getting Started with Discus', located right here as the first sticky in this section.
Discus are not at all hard to keep if you follow a few simple principles, and are prepared to give them a little more care and attention than you would many other species of tropicals.
I always recommend to newcomers to discus that they keep things as simple as possible when they first start out keeping discus, at least for a few months until they become familiar with discus traits and behaviors, and gain some confidence looking after them properly.
That includes being careful as to compatability with certain types of tankmates. Tankmates selected should be able to handle the higher discus temps, and should be relatively slower-moving, non-aggressive fish which have a nature similar to discus.
The fish you have may well possibly be kept successfully with discus, but my recommendation would be not to place them together with discus at the outset, i.e. not until you have gained some knowledge of discus and developed a familiar routine for caring for them well.
Hope this helps.
Discus are not at all hard to keep if you follow a few simple principles, and are prepared to give them a little more care and attention than you would many other species of tropicals.
I always recommend to newcomers to discus that they keep things as simple as possible when they first start out keeping discus, at least for a few months until they become familiar with discus traits and behaviors, and gain some confidence looking after them properly.
That includes being careful as to compatability with certain types of tankmates. Tankmates selected should be able to handle the higher discus temps, and should be relatively slower-moving, non-aggressive fish which have a nature similar to discus.
The fish you have may well possibly be kept successfully with discus, but my recommendation would be not to place them together with discus at the outset, i.e. not until you have gained some knowledge of discus and developed a familiar routine for caring for them well.
Hope this helps.
Good advice from Paul.
While they can be kept with other fish..they often don't do well with other cichlids..
you'll also find they will need about 10 gal per fish and they do require a bit higher temp.
again, read up on them.
While they can be kept with other fish..they often don't do well with other cichlids..
you'll also find they will need about 10 gal per fish and they do require a bit higher temp.
again, read up on them.
Yes, to be more specific about your particular tankmates, severums and geophagus would not likely do well at the higher discus temps, they can get quite large, may tend to show aggression at times, and out-compete discus for food - not recommended as good discus tankmates.
Many discus-keepers have Angels with discus, but usually the discus are larger than the Angels -otherwise the Angels can be aggressive and also outcompete discus for food. Wild Angels (and even some domestics) may at times carry harmful pathogens that they are resistant to, but the discus are not.
Festivums remain smaller, are usually gentle & non-aggressive, and do better at the higher discus temps - this may be the only species you have that could be a compatible discus tankmate.
Again hope this helps.
Many discus-keepers have Angels with discus, but usually the discus are larger than the Angels -otherwise the Angels can be aggressive and also outcompete discus for food. Wild Angels (and even some domestics) may at times carry harmful pathogens that they are resistant to, but the discus are not.
Festivums remain smaller, are usually gentle & non-aggressive, and do better at the higher discus temps - this may be the only species you have that could be a compatible discus tankmate.
Again hope this helps.
Please keep in mind too, that many, if not most, other Cichlids can grow quite large, and are not generally gentler, slower-moving fish. Not only could they out-compete discus for food, but their rapid movements and active behavior would likely startle discus, and stress them out, readily leading to potential health issues for the discus. These traits overall make them unsuitable discus tank-mates.
I've been thinking about redoing one of my FW tanks(29 and 40b) would a 40b be sufficient for just a pair of discus? The tankmates would be a pair of rams and and probably 12 or so of the smallest compatible schooling fish I can find. I have a friend who says it would be ok, but I'm not sure, he keeps a breeding pair in a 29g which seems to small to me. Would Amano shrimp be eaten?
rams and many schooling fish do fine with discus.. as long as they can take the temps.
discus, unless a pair, usually should be kept in a group of at least 5.
if it's a breeding pair.. do you want them to breed?..if so then probably not best to keep other fish with them.
discus, unless a pair, usually should be kept in a group of at least 5.
if it's a breeding pair.. do you want them to breed?..if so then probably not best to keep other fish with them.
Star-Rider is quite correct.
Unless you have a proven mated pair & you want to breed them, it's usually a bad idea to keep just 2, 3, or 4 discus together - that's just begging for pecking order/aggression problems, leading to stress and resulting potential health issues.
And since discus are very social fish, usually living together in large groups, keeping just one by itself will probably make it a very lonely camper.
Unless you have a proven mated pair & you want to breed them, it's usually a bad idea to keep just 2, 3, or 4 discus together - that's just begging for pecking order/aggression problems, leading to stress and resulting potential health issues.
And since discus are very social fish, usually living together in large groups, keeping just one by itself will probably make it a very lonely camper.
I assume the breeding pair would mean no other tankmates? Yeah not really interested in that then, I'll wait till I upgrade my 90g and it becomes free then I'll have enough room for 5+ of them.
