Compatable Discus

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nfored

nfored

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Apr 4, 2008
2,597
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68
Missouri
If I can get an answer that my fish are compatibility I will start more research so as not to ask dumb questions.

3 6" Bala sharks, never seen them nip at other fish, have seen them nip at each other during blue moons. meaning I have seen this maybe 3 times in almost 2 years.

1 5" Rainbow shark, he was a bully when I first got him but he was beat to near death by another fish and has had his spirit broken. He is now very calm and has just recently started to swim freely with the other fish. Before I would always Hide. Just to make it clear the fish that beat him to near death was re homed as soon as I noticed it was more then a territory dispute.
 
I've seen it done, but discus are best by them selfs in groups. starting out I would get a 55 gallon setup with 6-8 juvie discus of your liking, have no substrate, go bare bottom.filter the tank with a good power filter like a marineland emp. 400 and a sponge on the intake part. feed 5-6 times a day of blood worms, and do a 50-75% water change every day. using dechlornated warm aged, aerated water. then once they get to 4.5 inches and bigger. you can stick them in to a better tank, and add some cardinals, and cory cats. one really good place to get alot of discus info is simplydiscus.com / forum.simplydiscus.com HTH, JOEY.
 
I have 5 Discus with 3 8" bala sharks now, have had them in the past with 10-12" balas with no issue. Not sure about the rainbow. Discus are notoriously unforgiving for poor maintenance so keep that in mind before you decide to keep them. Also while I've heard of discus on dry food I've yet to actually see it happen, I feed mine live black worms kept in a 5g tank in a fridge with an air stone.

I do a 20% every week with reconstituted RO water, Gravel/sand bottom with live plants. However my tank is very lightly stocked currently. I have 3 8" bala sharks, 5 discus 4-5", 1 6" clown loach, 8 1" tetras in a 265 g with very heavy filtration.
 
So I would have to have RO water? do I have to change the water every day like some suggest? I might put them in a 55G.
 
The daily water change is over kill, I do a %20 every week. I'd prefer to do 2 %20 gallon water changes per week but need to boost RO water production. You dont' have to use RO water many successful keepers don't. However you become dependant on the city supply, the quality of which can fluctuate. RO once reconstituted is the same all the time every time and no matter where you move.

As long as the discus are healthy they will not have much trouble competing for food with the balas. I had one bala get a solid beat down for taking food from the wrong discus, but that one was just plain mean.

My current brood tend to all school at the top center of the tank every time I walk by, the 5 discus and the three balas begging like kids in a candy store. The room is typically dark when I feed them and there isn't that much foot traffic around the tank.
 
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