Told to get rid of all my tank mates

[fishcurious]

I am new to discus. I have a 46 gallon lighlty planted tank with the following: 3 discus, 2 albino bristlenose, 5 panda cory, 5 sterbi cory, 2 flying fox, 5 bleeding heart tetra, 3 black phanton tetra, 4 red serpae tetra, 2 blood fin tetra. I have 2 emperor 400 for filtration and do regular cleaning. Anyhow my local fishstore said i have to get rid of everything but the cory that all the tetras, bristlenose and flying fox will each the slime on the side of the discus and kill them. this tank is in my office smack dab in front of my desk. I have never seen any of these fish bother the discus. The lfs said they do it at night after lights out.

Is this correct??? If so I will make changes. The lfs said sae, rams, rummy nose tetra and rose line barbs are good tankmates.

thanks! :shock:

[jesx57]

Well I am not quite sure of the LFS advice, he might of got mix up with your sort of catfish. From what I've heard, only large common pleco etc, has a tendency to do that. The only way to find out what they are doing is to spy on them at night! I don't think that the tetras would eat the slime off the side of your discus, if so, why do they say you can keep discus and tetras together? Don't be too concerned, you know your fish's behavior better than the LFS, plus, if they are in front of where you work, you'd know what they are up to, right? And, as for the flying fox, I have one of them in my other tank( no discus, just guppies), and he seems pretty harmless. It's the chinese algae eater I'd be worried about, I had one of them with my goldfish once, and he tried to grab onto the sides of them!

Best of luck :)

[Hollowman]

I would say the guy at your LFS is full of ****!!!

He obviously knows nothing of what can be put with Discus. All of the tankmates you have are fine with discus.
I agree with Jesx that common pleco's DO find discus slime attractive, seen this first hand too, but your BN's will be fine, and no Corys that I know will go for discus either. All your fish are ok imo.

Rams, rummy's are both also ok as tankmates, but NEVER add any type of BARB to a discus tank.

Also discus do better in bigger groups, so you might want to add at least 2 more, it will make them much happier.

Glad you joined the forum and asked, so many people rely on LFS advice, and kill their first discus and then never return to them because of the bad advice.
Remember, there is never silly question! just ask.

hth

Hollowman

[fishcurious]

I would say the guy at your LFS is full of ****!!!

He obviously knows nothing of what can be put with Discus. All of the tankmates you have are fine with discus.
I agree with Jesx that common pleco's DO find discus slime attractive, seen this first hand too, but your BN's will be fine, and no Corys that I know will go for discus either. All your fish are ok imo.

Rams, rummy's are both also ok as tankmates, but NEVER add any type of BARB to a discus tank.

Also discus do better in bigger groups, so you might want to add at least 2 more, it will make them much happier.

Glad you joined the forum and asked, so many people rely on LFS advice, and kill their first discus and then never return to them because of the bad advice.
Remember, there is never silly question! just ask.

hth

Hollowman

Common sense told me that if all my choices were bad and they were indeed attacking the discus i would certainly see that other then nighttime. thanks for the confirmation. On another note i did start with 5 discus and lost three very quickly. i think they were overstressed from being moved from a long time home and the netting was an ugly one. Then i got two more and lost one of the original two that were left. Now i have three and am wondering where i am going wrong. All parameters good, amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5 or under, ph 7.7 to 7.8, which these discus were in before. One of the med sized discus is now harassing the smallest one though they are all eatin gfrom my hand. i feed mysis, blood worms, flakes and some beef heart.

any thoughts on this.

[jesx57]

What you are feeding your fish sounds fine. As for your discus being harassed, you could try re-arranging the tank, works with my 2 male rams. If that doesn't work then you should add 2 more. I would agree to your thoughts on your fish dying of stress, it's important for all fish to be as stress free a possible on your trip home, otherwise, it could be a bad step towards their development.

I have to agree with Hollowman, very few fish stores offer genuine advice nowadays. For example, when I started the fish keeping hobby ages ago, I didn't really understand the concept of adding compatible tankmates (or the risk of overstocking!). Any fish that I though looked nice I'd put into my tank. I'd ask the fish stores if the fish were compatible, and most of th time they'd say yes. In the end, I had 2 dwarf gouramis, 2 angelfish, 8 cherry barbs, 2 paradise fish, 2 spanner barbs, 2 bolivian rams, 2 rosy barbs and 2 golden barbs. As you can imagine, my tank started to fall apart over the span of 2 months, fish died, got picked on and so on. On top of that, I was thinking of adding 2 convicts! I can just imagine how that would have turned out. It's a good thing I asked for compatibility of those fish being with my others and was told no. I've come a long way from then, much wiser, and much much more cautious with what fish I mix together! :)

[taksan]

LFS guy sound like a moron .... none of those fish will bother discus

[Hollowman]

Ok, sorry to hear that you lost a few fish, it's very disheartening to see them fade.

This is where one of the most important areas of keeping fish kicks in. You need a QT tank (QT = quarrentine tank)
Adding new stock to an established tank is a recipe for disaster. Getting fish from a lfs for starters is like a game of Russian Roulette, you never know what they have been exposed to, so if you just plop a new fish in your tank you risk taking in all the disease that the lfs has and infecting your own fish. I believe this is what happened in your case.

Quarrentine takes between 4 to 6 weeks to do properly, sometimes longer.
Briefly,
I use a 2ft BB tank, just a heater and sponge filter. I prepare it by adjusting the water to the supplier water parameters, get the fish home, disgard the lfs water and plop the fish in. I then as a matter of course worm the fish, I use Flubenol 15, you might not have this, so any established wormer in Aus will do. I observe the fish for 2-3 weeks, watch it eat, poop and its general behaviour. I watch for any change in colour, skin condition or disease. I treat if necessary and with daily water changes if I have to treat, re-dose after the w/c.
I then if all is ok, add a 'scarificial lamb' (a discus from the main tank that is healthy, although maybe not my best fish) again I observe for a week, sometimes 2, I look for any changes in either fish, as one can transmit a pathogen to the other, treat if necessary. If all is ok after this time, I then introduce both fish back to the main tank, knowing that any risk has been minimised, as much as is possible.
This is not just for discus, but all fish I introduce. Others might have other ways, but this is what I have found works for me, and touch wood, has worked so far.

hth

Hollowman

[fishcurious]

Quarrentine takes between 4 to 6 weeks to do properly, sometimes longer.
Briefly,
I use a 2ft BB tank, just a heater and sponge filter. I prepare it by adjusting the water to the supplier water parameters, get the fish home, disgard the lfs water and plop the fish in. I then as a matter of course worm the fish, I use Flubenol 15, you might not have this, so any established wormer in Aus will do. I observe the fish for 2-3 weeks, watch it eat, poop and its general behaviour. I watch for any change in colour, skin condition or disease. I treat if necessary and with daily water changes if I have to treat, re-dose after the w/c.
I then if all is ok, add a 'scarificial lamb' (a discus from the main tank that is healthy, although maybe not my best fish) again I observe for a week, sometimes 2, I look for any changes in either fish, as one can transmit a pathogen to the other, treat if necessary. If all is ok after this time, I then introduce both fish back to the main tank, knowing that any risk has been minimised, as much as is possible.
This is not just for discus, but all fish I introduce. Others might have other ways, but this is what I have found works for me, and touch wood, has worked so far.

hth

Hollowman

the lfs I didn't buy my discus from, but the one with the "compatibility advice", says he quarrintines all his discus and treats them all for worms and parasite before introducing them into the store stock. He says he also treats them monthly or so with something i believe is named general cure??? In addition he uses black water extract on a regular basis.

the lfs i bought my discus from gets them directly from the breeder and she even mixes them in her mixed cichlid tanks, geophagus and the like.

Do discus get worms and parasite so regularly that you have to treat them even without "cause"? What are the signs of worms?

I do have a tank i can use for quarrentine so that's no problem. It does sound as if i should add two more. It s a 46 gallon bowfront.

Thanks, and I look forward to more information. By the way I am in Florida.

[Hollowman]

Hi FC,

I would never believe that what an lsf has to say as far a quarrentine goes, they are in the trade to sell fish as soon as they can, qt for them might just be a look over and then plopped in the selling tank.
Also, a healthy fish only needs good clean water and a good varied diet to thrive, nothing more, no black water extract or tonics.
I only treat my fish for worms once every 6 months, unless they show signs of infestation. All new fish get a dose if they need it or not. You cant afford to not do this, I know of people who have lost their entire stock because of mixing sick fish, and we are talking hundreds of pounds. I cant afford that, so I qt my fish properly.

You are so lucky being in the US, you have many top outlets to choose from. There are many who will ship to your door, and all top grade fish too. PM me for details if you like.

Hollowman

[skene]

Usually I think it is easier on the discus if there are no faster moving fish in the tank to start out with. Faster moving fish will tend to stress out discus regardless of how small they are and what not.
For the most part the tetras that you have chosen tend to be quicker fin nippers and that could have been a stressing item for them.

Now I am in no way shape or form an expert, but it is usually best from what I heard from a local breeder and expert is get the discus in there first, then introduce other slow moving fish.

I have my 6 discus with a clown pleco, 2 albino corys and an baby arowana. The only fish that first stressed them out was the corys as they were getting a bit hyperactive at higher temps. When I first got the discus, I raised temp up to 90* F and added some aquarium salt so that there would be no shock to them.

Well hope this helps.

[fishcurious]

Usually I think it is easier on the discus if there are no faster moving fish in the tank to start out with. Faster moving fish will tend to stress out discus regardless of how small they are and what not.
For the most part the tetras that you have chosen tend to be quicker fin nippers and that could have been a stressing item for them.

Now I am in no way shape or form an expert, but it is usually best from what I heard from a local breeder and expert is get the discus in there first, then introduce other slow moving fish.

I have my 6 discus with a clown pleco, 2 albino corys and an baby arowana. The only fish that first stressed them out was the corys as they were getting a bit hyperactive at higher temps. When I first got the discus, I raised temp up to 90* F and added some aquarium salt so that there would be no shock to them.

Well hope this helps.
thanks for the post. though you have a point the lfs thinks these tankmates are all around bad for discus.

[Hollowman]

I am really not sure of this obsession with adding salt?? Why?

[cityguy]

To me.. when you are keeping Discus, keep only Discus, any other tankmates, even if compatible, spoils the charm of a discus only tank's status and beauty.

[NorCalAl]

I keep rummynose, a clown plec, a common plec, cories and otos in with my discus and have no issues with any. If anything, they have been doing better since the addition of the tankmates.

Just my .02

[Hollowman]

Hi Nor,

Just keep an eye on the common pleco. They are known to upset discus and become aggressive. Also, once they get a taste for discus slime, it's time to return it to your lfs.

H