Tropical Fish Keeping - Aquarium fish care and resources

Tropical Fish Keeping - Aquarium fish care and resources (http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/)

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- - Discus and Rainbows??? (http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/cichlids/discus-rainbows-9008/)

Discus and Rainbows???

I have a 55g tank with 6 small discus, I would like to put a few other fish in there with them I was thinking some rainbows and maybe an african butterfly fish, what are peoples thoughts on this?

tank parametres:
temp: 28c/82f
ph: 6.5, soft

And please dont reply 'discus only' because the can make good community fish :wink:

I was always been told that discus prefer slightly acidic water and that they can only be kept in a species tank but ive seem neons in a discus tank before.i have poor man's discus (green severum)

Neons no, cardinals yes. People get a bit paranoid over discus really any fish that does not mind high temps, acidic water and is peaceful can go in with discus.

I wouldn't suggest rainbows as their particular tankmates. Tetras maybe but rainbows are quite active and as discus are often ridiculously sensitive to their surroundings, the rainbows' activities may eventually stress them.

Discus specifically do not need soft acidic water if these are captive-bred. They've been adapted to tolerate even hard water and were bred by most breeders in hard water.

You need to consider the temperature, behavior and environmental requirements of other species before selecting them as tankmates for the discus. I've tried neons and I found out they do not tolerate very warm temperature that the discus needs. Cardinals definitely along with the rummy-nose tetras are suitable tankmates. If you want cories, then you have to dig deeper on this one. Not all cories tolerate warm temperature at all including panda corydoras.

Sean, most people get paranoid by how they believe discus get stressed easily by the presence of other species however I do not believe this. What you need to do is research which tankmates are suitable for you and be particularly careful in dong so.

Good luck.

Well I have caardinals and a bristle in there now they get along great. Yeah I thought the rainbows might be a bit too active I was just wondering because their colors are amazing.

discus are the most beautiful fish in the WORLD!

they are good community fish, but only with slower moving fish, if u have fish darting around thats not good

and 55 is too small for 6 full grown but themself

The 55g is just while their small