Any problems in keeping Anostomus anostomus with discus ?

[prenzi]

Hi all,

we finally have a good-sized flock of young discus swimming in our 1,000 litre tank (1/3rd Alenquer, 1/3rd Santarem, 1/3rd Stendker Tefe) and I am thinking about adding a few Giant Pencilfish (Anostomus anostomus). We had them before back in Europe together with large South American cichlids and didn't experience any problems at all - does anyone know whether they do well with discus ?

Thanks for letting me know, cheers,

Florian

[swampy1972]

I had a look at a couple of sites as I keep the smaller Gold pencilfish, and they all mention that have a tendancy to nip of be semi-aggressive http://www.peteducation.com/article....+1911&aid=2636

I know the smaller variety are very docile and I'm hoping to add coral-reds to my tank in the near future.

[prenzi]

Just a quick update on the thread: we have had 6 Anostomus anostomus housed together with our 15 discus for a number of months and had no major problem so far. A bit of nipping now & then, but discus being cichlids they are not always as docile as we may think & fight back (admittedly in a gentle way, but it serves the purpose).

It works well, looks great, so I can indeed recommend the combo - provided you have sufficient space, as the A.a.s get fairly large & need room to dash around. For those with smaller tanks you may try the smaller pencils, should work as well.