Discus with other fishs?

MARIOPARTY53

Well, I want to have 3 or 4 Discus in my tank With Some other peaceful small fish that are only about an inch big, while the Discus Are about average size (like 3 inchs wide)

would this be ok??

Btw My pH is about 7.2
And I have alot of other testing sets etc
I keep my tank 78 degrees, although discuss perfer like 1 or 2 degrees more
If I get the Discus I going to add some driftwood and Put more live plants

1077

Now it becomes clear as to why in another post you were interested in lowering your PH. With WILD CAUGHT Discus it could be neccessary to adjust the ph to a level more closelyin line with the waters they were caught at. But there are people who offer Tank raised specimens that were raised in Ph values more in line with what you and most others achieve naturally. You might need to do some searching and ask questions of the dealers in Discus to see what they recommend. Discus in my view are not as delicate as some folks claim but I would not recommend them to someone who did not have considerable expierience with keeping fish. They are VERY intolerant of poor water quality. I keep four of them and perform 25 to 30 percent water changes every five days without fail. They prefer temp. Between 84 to 86 degrees, Some folks keep them in higher temps .This limits the fish you can keep with them as well as plants. They prefer a variety of foods and do poorly with just one type of food offered.They also do not compete for food very well. If I were you I would read all that I could find on their care BEFORE I purchased them.

okiemavis

What size tank do you have? This would definitely effect stocking options...

Also, what is your KH and GH?

MARIOPARTY53

I have a 60 gallon for this (XD you must think I change my mind too much lol)

what do those mean lol
I have a 30 dlooar test kit That has everything needed for testing btw

iamntbatman

KH and GH are carbonate hardness and general hardness. I would say the more important of these two is general hardness if you're thinking about Discus. Discus need very soft water in order to thrive.

Some people claim Discus are extremely difficult to keep and even harder to have them thrive and breed. Given the right conditions, as 1077 said, they aren't as difficult as many people make them out to be. However, they are known to be picky about their water parameters and tankmates have to be chosen carefully, so I would say for sure that they're not a good beginner fish. I would want to have a great deal of experience under my belt before I tried Discus, especially since they're expensive for freshwater fish.

MARIOPARTY53

Hmm, Well, I have kept fish for over 3 years, and I read about them all the time
Soo im not really a begginer, but those tanks where only 5 gallons with neon tetras, I have hade my 60 gallon set for 2 months


And I will test those later

Lupin

Your pH should be fine. Keep your Discus in a temperature of 86 degrees Fahrenheit and try to select their tankmates carefully as most fish lack tolerance for very warm temperatures. Cardinal tetras and sterbai cories are your top choices for middle and bottom levels. You may want to start with 4-inch specimens as younger ones are best kept in a barebottom tank until later in life as they need frequent feedings which means you have to do plenty of water changes to compensate for the amount of waste they produced.

qpc68

With the type of financial investment you have to make just to purchase 1 Discus, not to mention 3 or 4, I would suggest you be absolutely certain that the water conditions you are placing them in is near perfect. Whether or not they are as fragile as some claim, when I throw around a couple hundred bucks I want to be sure I'm going to get my money's worth. I would recommend you wait until this tank has been running for quite a while and you have been able to keep the water parameters you want relatively stable for a few months. Just my two cents.

Steelerpet

Not sure if you already made up your mind and I'm fairly new to this forum but, I have a 65 gal tank with 4 Discus, 1 Pearl Gourami, 3 chocolate gouramis, 2 threadfin rainbow and some corycats. Waiting on getting the right pleco (L066 or L260). You can see my tank in the Aquarium Log and also a picture in the picture section of this forum.