Pairing adults?

[blackpantha]

I am hopefully getting 5 Adult (15cm) White Butterfly Discus, for the reason of breeding. They will go into my 75gal tank until I see pairing. How fast will they pair up? I will be giving the other 3 a 200 liter tank to themselves after pairing has happened. If I get lucky I might get two. is a 75gal big enough for a pair?

[samir]

75 gallon is more than enough. for a good pair it will be okay, for a bad pair it might be too big and the fry might get lost. cant say how long they would take to pair, could be a week, could be a month.

[blackpantha]

Ok thanks for your help, I am adding a few pleco's to help keep algae down and help clean up uneaten foods. They wont be feed in the planted section.

[mistakes r crucial]

Hi BP,

I've tried Plecos with Discus to do exactly what you want to achieve and it ended up to be a bad move. As the Plecos grow they will chase the Discus around and latch on to them at every opportunity, they love Discus slime coat. Try it by all means but I could almost guarantee you will be getting rid of the Pleco's within a few months, they are not a good choice if you are serious about keeping Discus.
MAC

[samir]

if you must keep plecos only keep small ones with adult discus.

[benjohnson]

I have had a plecco for about 2.5 years now, and discus in with him for 18 months of that .. hes about 7 inches long, and quite fat... but he leaves my discus alone ... he scomes out, cleans up the tank, then goes back to his resident hut and goes back to sleep for a day or two , i have never seen him attempt to suck on the side of the fish or anything, nor have i ever seen any visible marks on the fish to say hes being doing it over night either ,

[blackpantha]

If I get plecos it will be the L204 (only grows to 10-13cm)

[samir]

Ok thanks for your help, I am adding a few pleco's to help keep algae down and help clean up uneaten foods. They wont be feed in the planted section.

water changes will keep the algae down and keep your discus healthy. for uneaten food, it should not be there in the first place, just feed less. I'd recommend getting the hang of keeping discus first then adding other fish if you feel its suitable. fish from other sources can also bring in diseases that your discus are not immune to so there's always a small bit of risk involved.

[stonedavid]

I always put cories in with mine as it serves 3 purposes in my tanks. 1. Keeps the tank fairly well free of debris ie uneaten food etc. 2 With them swimming around all the time i find it quietens the discus down as they get use to movement etc. 3. I leave the cories in the tank when the discus are breeding if the cories get too close to the eggs or young the parents chase them away. This helps the parents get confidence and makes them stronger parents in the long run ( similar to leaving them in a comunity tank for the first few spawns.)