Fish for the 150

[Becca]

So The Uglies have gone to a new home (yay!!!) and we have to figure out what to put in the tank where they used to be.

We've added some PFS to the substrate and given it a thorough scrubbing. Currently the FatFish (Raphael Cats) are chilling in there with 4 corys and my pair of rainbow cichlids who we are hoping (hope hope hope) will pick what's left of the fuzzy algae off the driftwood.

Jeremy wants L183s and a couple of Discus. Beyond that, we know we can't do anything small enough to fit in the mouth of a FatFish (nothing smaller than an adult emperor tetra).

That particular tank tends to run slightly acid due, in part, to the 50+ lbs of driftwood in it, though our water is a bit on the hard side last I checked.

We don't have an RO unit and probably won't be getting one for a while (it's an eventual goal on my end, but it's going to take some convincing).

What other cichlids that are actually interesting could go in there with the Discus? I mean, no offense to Discus keepers, but they're kind of the "dumb blondes" of cichlids in my eyes - gorgeous but not much going on upstairs.

What schooling fish would everyone recommend? I was sort of thinking lemon tetras or something similarly sized/shaped... haven't seen those in a while though.

 

[AquaStudent]

hehe "dumb blondes of cichlids" NICE!

I've never kept discus but from what I've seen Cardinal Tetras are pretty common tankmates.

Here's a look at my friend's discus tank. Maybe it'll give you some ideas. you can tell from the video that he's working through some issues but he has been fairly successful so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqqljl0erqs&feature=c4-overview&list=UUCVBELaMW9aA__4gtC_F2XA

Here's another video of one of my all time favorite tanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bYArrIaSi-c

 

[verbal]

Apistos would add some personality to the tank, but they might be expensive snacks for the rafael cat. Maybe some dwarf acaras.

 

[zackcrack00]

What about some more cory cats, and a pair of large Kribs? Or.... You could do more cory cats and some Angels. I hear they do well with Discus.

 

[blkmjk]

hehe "dumb blondes of cichlids" NICE!

I've never kept discus but from what I've seen Cardinal Tetras are pretty common tankmates.

Here's a look at my friend's discus tank. Maybe it'll give you some ideas. you can tell from the video that he's working through some issues but he has been fairly successful so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqqljl0erqs&feature=c4-overview&list=UUCVBELaMW9aA__4gtC_F2XA

Here's another video of one of my all time favorite tanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bYArrIaSi-c

That second video is amazing.

Dang I need a discus tank!

Drew

 

[dogofwar]

Honestly, the best thing to keep with discus is discus.

Matt

 

[gravel_digger]

@Becca, congrats on getting rid of the RBPs.... cant wait to see where you from here.

 

[Becca]

Honestly, the best thing to keep with discus is discus.

Matt

Yeah, that's why I'm trying to talk the hubs out of Discus.

The one video had some bleeding hearts - we could do those but cardinals are out because of the FatFish. Honestly - J is red/green colorblind, so cardinals probably won't look good to him anyway.

I'm trying to talk him into severums, festivums, etc. Some of the other things that aren't going to kill everything in the tank, achieve a decent size, get some color, and have some personality. Unfortunately, he thinks those are all ugly - LOL.

We may end up with a pair of kribs and I know we'll end up with more cory cats because he's obsessed with catfish.

The Raphaels love the new sand substrate and spent all night burrowing caves under driftwood. The striped ones are swimming the open tank and, instead of everyone all crammed in one corner, they've separated into species-specific hangouts. The Rainbows are cruising around like they own the place, of course.

 

[jonclark96]

Don't under estimate the behavior of both discus and severums. They are cichlids, after all, and will act like cichlids. My bull male gold severum was so aggressive with other South American cichlids (acaras, severums, festivums, etc.) that I had to move him in with my Centrals. He still is the boss of the tank.

 

[ltrepeter2000]

When I think of Discus tanks, Michael Milliner's tank from GWAPA is what always comes to mind:

http://www.gwapa.org/membergallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album19&id=IMG_6955_Edit

I would say to go with one of the Acara's as breeding pairs, or possibly keyhole cichlids/rainbow cichlids rather than Kribs. You could probably put three or four pairs into a 150 as long as you break up the sight lines near the bottom of the tank to allow the pairs to find areas of their own.

 

[Tony]

I mean, no offense to Discus keepers, but they're kind of the "dumb blondes" of cichlids in my eyes - gorgeous but not much going on upstairs.

I had thought the same before I kept them, but that really is incorrect. They have much more personality than most other cichlids that I have kept. Definite social hierarchy/pecking order going on in a group as well as interesting breeding and parenting behavior.

 

[Becca]

Apistos would add some personality to the tank, but they might be expensive snacks for the rafael cat. Maybe some dwarf acaras.

I was thinking about acaras but I wasn't sure which varieties would work well for a beginner/intermediary. J has had Piranhas for 10+ years and whenever there was any sort of emergency with them, I took care of it. Since this is "his" tank, it would be nice not to be playing fishy paramedic too often .

 

[Becca]

I had thought the same before I kept them, but that really is incorrect. They have much more personality than most other cichlids that I have kept. Definite social hierarchy/pecking order going on in a group as well as interesting breeding and parenting behavior.

Tony, when I visited your Discus I'm pretty sure you had a few "choice words" to say about them .

The pecking order is part of what I can't stand and part of what I think will make Jeremy miserable in the long run - someone always ends up pecked into a state of misery and, if that very expensive fish dies, the monarchs of the tank get right to picking on someone else.

 

[verbal]

I was thinking about acaras but I wasn't sure which varieties would work well for a beginner/intermediary. J has had Piranhas for 10+ years and whenever there was any sort of emergency with them, I took care of it. Since this is "his" tank, it would be nice not to be playing fishy paramedic too often .

Most acaras are pretty hardy. The bigger ones like the blue acara or port cichlids are probably too aggressive for discus tankmates(although not that aggressive for cichlids in general). The main thing in selecting acaras would be the temperature range.

 

[neut]

I had thought the same before I kept them, but that really is incorrect. They have much more personality than most other cichlids that I have kept. Definite social hierarchy/pecking order going on in a group as well as interesting breeding and parenting behavior.

+1 and when they're happy they can be very aware of their surroundings in the room, come to the front of the tank when you enter the room or approach the tank, be hand fed, etc. IMO discus are a fish I've heard more misconceptions about their habitat, behavior, and what you "must" do for them than just about any other fish.

Fish I've kept with discus with good success include: angelfish (contrary to what you might hear they're found together in the wild and even mingle according to Heiko Bleher, who has studied them in the wild for decades), L. curviceps, rams, apistos, chalceus, arowana, congo tetras, emperor tetras, B. cupido, S. jurapari, Mesonauta.

Other fish I've seen them with and liked the tank include stingray, geo altifrons, uaru, geo winemilleri.

Fish Heiko Bleher says are biotope and can be kept with them can be seen here, with some photos.

 

[Becca]

+1 and when they're happy they can be very aware of their surroundings in the room, come to the front of the tank when you enter the room or approach the tank, be hand fed, etc. IMO discus are a fish I've heard more misconceptions about their habitat, behavior, and what you "must" do for them than just about any other fish.

Fish I've kept with discus with good success include: angelfish (contrary to what you might hear they're found together in the wild and even mingle according to Heiko Bleher, who has studied them in the wild for decades), L. curviceps, rams, apistos, chalceus, arowana, congo tetras, emperor tetras, B. cupido, S. jurapari, Mesonauta.

Other fish I've seen them with and liked the tank include stingray, geo altifrons, uaru, geo winemilleri.

Fish Heiko Bleher says are biotope and can be kept with them can be seen here, with some photos.

Uarus!!! That's the fish I was trying to think of and couldn't remember the name of. I'll give the hubs this list, along with the other suggestions, and see what he thinks.

I love Geos, but I think having too many earth movers around would probably do the canister filters in, eventually, even with the pre-filter sponges on there.

To be honest, when I kept Discus I just threw them in a tank that I'd built around, of all things, Chocolate Gouramis. They did fine until my apartment got too hot and everything but the piranhas (different tank) and flying foxes died.

 

[neut]

The pecking order is part of what I can't stand and part of what I think will make Jeremy miserable in the long run - someone always ends up pecked into a state of misery and, if that very expensive fish dies, the monarchs of the tank get right to picking on someone else.

According to Stendker, this happens because people keep too few of them together. They recommend groups of 10 or more, though I've kept groups of six with no problem and seen geo tanks, etc. with various odd numbers with no apparent issues. IME it depends on the individual fish and to some degree what else is in the tank. IME it's more likely in a discus only tank, where the only competition for food is other discus.

 

[Tony]

Tony, when I visited your Discus I'm pretty sure you had a few "choice words" to say about them .

The pecking order is part of what I can't stand and part of what I think will make Jeremy miserable in the long run - someone always ends up pecked into a state of misery and, if that very expensive fish dies, the monarchs of the tank get right to picking on someone else.

LOL. Yeah, I did have some choice words indeed. I have a serious love-hate relationship with them. You caught me on a bad day as they had just offed the low man on the totem pole a few days prior.

In all honesty, now they've grown up some, the tank I have them in is too small for them. Seen them in 6' tanks at a few member's houses (Jose, Ali, Yun)... it's an incredible display. I think it's a whole different ball game in a big tank.

But yeah, they are some of the most expensive FW fish and they have a propensity for crushing each other.

 

[neut]

In all honesty, now they've grown up some, the tank I have them in is too small for them. Seen them in 6' tanks at a few member's houses (Jose, Ali, Yun)... it's an incredible display. I think it's a whole different ball game in a big tank.

Exactly. Along with factors like tankmates, group size, bare tank vs. more natural tank broken up a bit with driftwood, few plants, etc.

 

[neut]

...Just came to mind. Once had one of my pigeon bloods-- back when they were new on the market some twenty-whatever years ago-- along with a few large angels, a festivum, masses of cardinals, and other tankmates. This particular pigeon blood was a colorless runt to start with-- part of why I bought it was I felt sorry for it. Wasn't picked on by the other discus, just much smaller than the rest and stayed that way for the first few months I had it. That former colorless runt eventually became the biggest, and one of the most beautiful, discus in the tank and ruled the tank, along with a female gold pearlscale angel about the same size (close to 8 inches)... before I moved and gave them to a friend.

(I don't see gold pearlscales like these anymore, those I see these days are usually smallish.)