New member with questions.

[Gump]

Hey all, I became a member here because its hard to find discus info on the two sites im already a member of. Im not new to fish keeping or cichlids, ive kept and breed almost every type of central american cichlid. My reason for becoming a member is this, im setting up a 450 gallon (1700 liters) and so far all my fish are bottom feeders and spend most of there time on the bottom, and i was thinking of adding a school of discus to the tank for some mid water coloration. The fish that will be in the 450 are:

1 26" south american lungfish
3 2-4" geophagus surinamensis
3 2" geophagus jurpari
1 2.5" geophagus steindachneri
1 2" vieja fenestratus
1 4" synodontis eupterus
1 3" synodontis multipunctatus
1 3" synodontis ocellifer
4 3-5" clown loaches

All these fish are currently in a 100 gallon untill i finsh building the stand and cycling the tank. my ph from the tap is 7.3-.4 and that is what the tank will be at. I plan on adding at least one more species of synodontis and maybe 3 or 4 satanoperca daemon.

So what do you all think about adding discus? also is there any info you woud like to leave me with? and can you compare discus to any other fish? Thanks Justin.

[*Chris*]

i would defenately say do not put discus in that tank
you have three differant cichlids thata are known for agression
veija fenestratus
red hump horse face stendachneri
and the red horseface surinamensis
these guys will knock each other off imagine adding discus in there
?????
fenestratus get to a tank busting 50cm +
i know its 2000 litres
but your discus are going to suffer
EXAI

[mcloughlin2]

I'd ditch most of the fish you have on the list and place 30 discus in there along with 100 cardinal tetras or neon's...put in a few of the peaceful geo's if there a must for the tank ... :)


ive kept and breed almost every type of central american cichlid

:lol: :roll:

And what size tank is this? Its sounds like a 10x?x? ..

[sammigold]

Im not sure how the Synodontis Eupterus would go.. I think he would be too aggressive and being a night swimmer would stress the discus out too much... I have one but is in a different tank to my discus..

Alot of those fish are voracious eaters and discus dont do too well if they have to compete for food... (they will stress out)

HTH

[Gump]

EX-A- actually geophagus surinamensis are probally the least aggressive of any geo, ill agree with you on the steindachneri, its a little male and i might be getting rid of it soon. I have no exp with the vieja but its a great looking young cichlid. I dont consider 50cm to tankbusting considering the lung is said to get to 125cm and is a little more than half way there, the lung also does laps at night before going to bed. does night time activity stress the discus?

mcloughlin2- The tank is 8'x3'x30" and the tank is mainly for my lung so he would have to be in there.

Sammi- how big is your eupterus? mine is ultra mellow and not that active. the multi is probally the most active of the cats. and i would doubt the discus would have to compete for food, i dont feed like most people because of the lungfish. i add a good deal of food to the tank twice a day and all the fish get there fill before the lung vacuumes up all of whats left

Thanks for the replys guys.

[FishLover]

African Lungfish:
Agressive and predatory. Not a good tank mate for any discus, for that matter, any other fish at all. 26 in or 65cm is the average length of this fish. This fish needs to be housed on its own in a large well planted tank. Soon or later all other tank mates will be dinner for this fish.

If you decided to put discus there. Good luck . You just bought very expensive dinner for it, no matter how big is the tank. Discus are no match for this predator.

[*Chris*]

trust me mate when a surinamensis wants to fight it will
your lung fish is going to take a very long time to grow mate that veija is gng to get to 50cm in a yr
by all means try and put some discus in the tank if it works go for it just dont spend big when you introduce them
EXAI

[Gump]

Its a south american lung not african. there are 4 different species of africans and all but one are quite aggressive. south americans are very docile.

Thanks your imput.

[sammigold]

Hi gump, My Synodontis is about 20cm long head to end of tail.... pretty big.... not active during day but very active at night.... I had two large oscars at one stage in with him and he used to butt into them and I had to find them a new home as they were getting really beaten up by him.... Recently I put a large Angel in there as it was being aggressive with my discus but he attacked it too....(so now it is back in discus tank but separated..... He currently lives with one large scat (about the same size as him) and a silver dollar... he has been with them since he was about 2 cm so he tends to leave them alone... You could try it.... but I m not sure what success you will have...:-)

[Merrilyn]

Welcome to the forum Grump. You have a very nice collection of fish there.

As the members have been explaining, discus don't really make a good community fish. They are too slow and too shy, so tend to darken and waste away with other large fish in the tank.

I've tried several of the eartheaters myself, in a very big tank with discus, and while it worked while the earthies were small, once they got large, they had to be moved to a ten foot tank on their own.

There are quite a few mid water species that would be suitable for that tank, and give you a lovely display.

If you want to go discus, you really need a species tank with discus as the dominant fish, and just a few tetras for company.

Love to see some pics of your tank, and your fish. :P

[Merrilyn]

Oooops double post. :oops: Yep we all do it :P

[Gump]

Right on ladyred, do you have any suggestions on midwater fish? im sure ive already looked at most that will pop up in your head as well as handfulls of others but you never know.

I will have a empty 100gallon or 60 if i move my quickly growing midas. still might be a possibility i guess time will tell.

[*Chris*]

arawanas go pretty good with discus until they are big enough to eat the discus
:lol:
tetras
dwarf cichlids
some gouramis
angels
there is plenty out thereBiotodoma cupido horseface are probably the only ones you could keep in a discus tank with 98% success

Cheers
EXAI

[Gump]

Thanks EXA but i was more looking at mid water for the non discus tank. most of the reading ive done has given me a good idea of tankmates for discus. and if i put them in a 100 then they will be in breeding pairs.

[*Chris*]

prochilodus
pacu or silver dollars
sharks
banded leperinus
just to name a few

[Gump]

I had a 8" prochilodus but it got sick and jumped out of quarentene. there also very expensive where i live and some are slime suckers.