What can I put with discus?

[texasborn]

Neons Ive heard. What about a clown loach to eat snails? What can I get to be a clean up crew?

[jluna]

any corydora catfish would be cool for cleaning up meat and food, bristlenose catfish for algae, or royal whiptails depending on yr budget (they are pricey but sooo beautiful).

i think clown loaches are a little boisterous, yes? (i've never kept them) minimising stress is important for the discus, so avoid anything too chaotic or unpredictable. you could make a snail trap if they are problematic - i just squash the odd one that shows up in my aquarium...

as for other fish, cardinals, rummys, pencilfish, etc are all cool - plenty of people have other favourites i'm sure. but peaceful is good!

have fun,

justin

[anti-generic]

i suggest apistogrammas (south american dwarfs)

they are so colour and they come from similar habitats as discus.
and being cichilds they have so much character

this is my own opinion ofcourse

[Annie]

I have Rainbows, An Angel, Black Neon Tetras, Kribs, Rams, Striped Raphael Catfish, Ottos, Dojo Loaches...and I cannot think of anymore of the top of my head..huumm..so there is a wide range of different fish you can add.

[luvfishies]

I wouldn't do Neon tetras as they prefer the lower end of tropical temperatures. (72-76) whereas the discus love 85 or so. Cardinal tetras, Rummynose tetras, lemon, diamonds will all do well at the higher temps that discus like.

I keep mine with fancy plecs (lots of different kinds), lemon tetras, Bolivian Ram, Diamond Tetras, and assorted corydoras catfish. Rummies are rediculously $$$ here or I would have a bunch of them, as they are great indicators of water quality. If their noses go "pale" it's past time for a waterchange!

The key is good Oxygenation in the warmer water, as warm water holds way less O2 than cooler water.

[texasborn]

What temp do you keep the tank at with Discus and the tankmates?

[jluna]

my 6 ft tank sits at 29 degrees...all seem very happy at that temp.

justin

[flukes]

luvfishies - How much do rummy go for there? because here they go for $5 approx AU. I noticed this in the petshop the other day and was thinking maybe i shoud be setting up rummy breeding tanks!!

But its even because i ve heard in the states peppermints go for the same price as normal bn's where as here they are like 10x the price of a normal bn. Then albino's go for about 100x the price of a normal.
But apparently they are trying to get shipments of albino's from asia as there they are just as common as pepps.

Very intrested in prices in the states for the fish..

Cheers

Scott

[luvfishies]

Rummynose Tetras are about $3 each here, 6/$15. That's CANADIAN dollars which is about 70c USD.

Albino BN plecs are the same as reg BNs, and there is a breeder a couple hours away from me who sells em for $5 each......dirt cheap!

Peppermint BN plecs are terribly dear, IF you can even find one. Peppermint plecs would go for about $40, again, IF you can find one.

My Royal cost me close to $50, the Gold Nugget was $40, clown plecs (candytsripe) run about $15. I dare not think what a scarlet or sunshine would go for

It's very very rare that the lfs has anything other than "common" plecs, but Ispotted a lovely sailfin/gibbiceps in a tank full of commons last week. Needless to say, he's got a new home here with me

[Proteus]

FYI

Canadian Dollar & Australian Dollar are basically the same...

currently AU$1 = US$0.75