Discus hunting Neons

[jasonmomm]

In the last 24 hours I've watched my 2 turq discus hunt, kill and eat 2 of my neon tetras :shock:

Both discus are between 2 and 3 inches and only been in my tank since Sunday. The smaller of the 2 has been eating NLS discus granules and Tetra Bits constantly, but the larger one hasn't shown much interest in the dry food yet. But it certainly loves neons :lol:

Just wondering if this is normal behaviour as I was under the impression that tetras (neons / cardinals) make suitable tank mates :?
I know the old saying that if it can fit in the mouth then its a possible meal, but its freaky watching my larger discus just swim right up to the neons, snap and kill them after taking no interest in them the first couple of days.

[JT]

hi mate..

i use to have around 50 - 60 neon tetra in my 3 foot Discus tank... and 2 weeks later, all the neon are gone ..!!!

[taksan]

Just wondering if this is normal behaviour as I was under the impression that tetras (neons / cardinals) make suitable tank mates :?
.

Discus eat Tetras in the wild .....completely normal behavior.

[jasonmomm]

What would make better tank mates for the discus then?

Once the remaining 2 neons have been eaten (if not already) there will only be 2 medium apple snails with them.

[ILLUSN]

Corys work well, small loaches (dwarf/chain, kulli) also work well in my tanks, as have bristlenoses till they ate my anubis flowers and new leaves off my ozolet based swords :(, whiptail cats have worked well for me and I've been told hatchets also make good tankmates if you can find them.

[Merrilyn]

Rummy nose tetras are larger than neons and cardinals and make good tankmates, but buy the fully grown ones. Small ones will just become another snack.


:wink:

[Hollowman]

Maybe try feeding them different foods, bloodworm, beefheart, glass worm, brine shrimp etc
Give it a taste for other meat, not your neons

H

[Andy123]

try cardinals...they should survive better and they will adapt to the temp better than neons too.
cardinals rarely get eaten(well i havnt heard of it anyway) and i hav some happy with my discus atm with no problem

[vanessa messig]

I have a dozen cardinals with my discus and they live in harmony :) Whiptails are great to, mind their own business and keep the tank clean of algae.

[jasonmomm]

I'm looking to include freeze dried bloodworms and live brine shrimp into their diet along with the NLS discus formula (and tetra bits sparingly).

Update on the neons - there all gone :(

[Hollowman]

Try frozen food Jason, as well as a good beefheart mix.