Which fish are ok?

[tara]

Ive got a 200ltr tank.
I want to put 4 discus in.
can I put the following in togeather and how many all up?
elephant nose(black ghost knife-i think?) are ok, i think?
Blue ram-are ok with discus from what I have read?
kribensis?
Danio?
Daworf Gourami?
and can any one tell me about JULIDOCHROMIS TRANSCIPUS?
and ive got some Tetras.

[goldenpigeon]

hi tara,

elephant noses, black ghost knifes, blue rams, kribs, dwarf gourami's will be fine with your discus. just watch out for the black ghost knife that it isnt eating the tetras. i have never had danio's in with discus and i am not sure if they go with them. mayb some1 here can help you with the danio's. :)

HTH

[sammigold]

I think the temp may be a little too high for Danios. As I have seen zebra danios being kept in cold water at some aquariums. If they can live in cold (probably prefer warm) I don't think 28-30 would be beneficial to their health. They would probably find it too hot. Your LFS should be able to advise you on their "ideal" temp requirements.

[tara]

Thanks. So if all but the Danio's are ok, how many of the other five types could I put in? I was thinking about:
4 Discus.
2 elephant nose.

So their is 200ltrs and without experience on a big tank I really don't want to overcrowded my Discus, but on the other hand I would like a bit of variety.

I have just set up the tank and I will not be putting any Discus in for a couple of months. My LFS recomended to wait that long to put the elephant noses in as well, due to our poor water quality and it will probably be that long untill I get the tank water to where I want it.

[goldenpigeon]

well a fully grown discus needs 40L of water. that leaves you with 40L of water to work with. your best bet is to go with the smaller varieties so you can have more of them. only have 1 elephant nose in that size tank. you could only really have 2 in about a 5ft tank when they r fully grown. thye are not agressive fish thoagh.

HTH

[kevkoi]

Kribensis (Pelvicachromis pulcher) are not good tank mates with discus or rams. They are especially pushy when they are in breeding.

Elephant noses tend to do better singly than in pairs. They are rather territorial amongst their own in my experience, so it's either 1 or a larger 4+ group. Note that these fish can get rather large (up to 8"-9").

Danios are quite tolerant of temperatures. The problem with them is that their constant active swimming may disturb and worry the discus.

Best tank mates for discus is really South American fish from their same waters that are smaller and less aggressive than them. Tetras, apistogramma, corydoras, and small loricaridae.

good luck

[tara]

KEVKOI can you or anyone give me a link to a site so that I can see pictures of the fish you mentioned?

[kevkoi]

What I mentioned are very broad classes of fish.

My favourite search engine Google would be your best friend for pictures.

There are numerous types of Tetras, Apistogramma, Corydoras and loricaridae catfish.

Let me narrow down to a few of the favourite discus tankmates, some easily obtainable thru your LFS, some more exotic.


Tetras
Cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi) <--- much more suited to discus tanks compared to their much cheaper neon tetra cousins. Cardinals are more tolerant of the high temperatures discus prefer.

Rummy nose tetra (Hemmigrammus blehri) <--- beautiful schooling fish.

Hatchet fish (Carnegiella strigata, Carnegiella marthae etc ) <--- unusual tetra species, the fresh water flying fish.)

Corydoras
Albino bronze corydoras (Corydoras aeneus)<--- one of the most common and hardy corydoras

Bronze cory <---- another common one

Peppered cory<---- relatively common

Panda cory (Corydoras panda) <---- quite available

Julii cory (Corydoras trilineatus)<----- nice cory, quite available

Sterbai cory (Corydoras sterbai)<----- All time favourite, relatively available.

..... then there are about a thousand other Corydora species, most of which are suitable discus tankmates (There are exceptions, but I won't get into those as they aren't often seen in Australia anyway). I have some new and exciting hardly seen Corydoras on the way to Aust on this post..
http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3826

Apistogramma - Dwarf cichlids

Apistogramma cacatuoides <--- most often available apistogramma in Aust, though not really available in many LFS.

Apistogramma agassizi <---- 2nd most available in Aust.

The list of Apistogramma species is again, way too long to list.
Some rare Apistogramma also coming soon to SLS.
http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3592

Loricaridae catfish
There's always the perenial favourite....
Bristlenose catfish (Ancistrus dolichopterus)
or for something more unusual

Peppermint bristlenose (Ancistrus sp)

Orange spotted bristlenose (Ancistrus sp. L110)

Royal whiptails (Sturisoma aureum) <---- not always available in most LFS, but we at SLS LOVE these to death. We always try to have some.

....... Geez, I could go on forever.

Type the common names or Scientific names (in brackets) into Google and you should get plenty of info on the fish and pictures to oggle at. ;)

HTH

Kev

[aquafrogstuff]

Hi kevkoi,

What's your view on the compatibility of a Knife Fish and the discus?

Dwayne

[marg]

Hi Dwayne

I have had a Knife Fish in my Community Tank together with my Discus and have never had any problems with him - he doesn't worry them at all.