Can I add discus to a community tank?

[jwcarlson]

@FishyGirl

With no fish experience, you would probably be doing yourself a disservice adding discus to the mix.  Especially in a community/planted tank setting.  

Regarding the other fish getting hurt, it's always a possibility.  But discus are just jumpy.  Like really jumpy.  And by jumpy here I mean spooked easily. 

[Tazalanche]

Those decorations are definitely NOT discus safe.

For someone with years of fishkeeping experience, and a lot of patience, discus are an awesome, beautiful fish. However, if you have no previous fish keeping experience, you do not need to consider discus as a starter fish.

You're talking about fish that are easily $50-$200 at less than 3 months old, and $100-$1000 for an adult. 10 years ago, it was common for me to spend well over $500 for a young breeding pair of a common strain that had only had one successful clutch before I purchased them. I'd even paid $475 each, plus overnight shipping, for 4 discus that were 4 months old, just because of their color. Some strains can be very sensitive to water parameter changes. If they're not happy & thriving, just walking by the tank can spook them, causing them to run into a sharp edge on that pirate ship. Then you have a fatal injury on a $100+ fish from a $20 toy, posing as a "fish safe" aquarium decoration. 

At the very least google "simply discus" and spend a few weeks reading those forums before you commit to over a thousand dollars in fish & equipment to have a decently sized aquarium with everything needed for a school of those fish to thrive. You might even see a few posts of mine from 2012-2016.

To show I'm not just full of hot air, here are some of the discus I raised up until 2016. The pic with the multicolored lights was the first batch I ever sold to a local fish store. The rest were taken in my tanks.

Edited March 8, 2023 by Tazalanche

[Rewcolee1]

If you have never kept fish before, I will echo what everyone else has said. Steer clear for now. Heck, I’ve been in the hobby for well over 30yrs at this point and every time I think I’m ready for Discus I find another reason not too be. I do know that once I pull the trigger and dive into Discus it will be great. Learn the hobby, see what works for you and enjoy the ride.

[anewbie]

On 3/8/2023 at 11:14 AM, FishyGirl said:

OK, thank you! Could most fish cut themselves on decor like this?

Depends on the fish; some species are easier spooked than others; also some are more likely to get stuck in small holes than others ( I can't tell if your decoration has small holes on the back side or under side).

 

My festums are incredibly easy to spook and yes they would probably injure themselves; the angels can be spooked but it takes a lot more effort to get them to flee in terror - but i will tell you if an angel did flee in terror yes it could badly injure itself; a 75 just isn't that large and they can move extremely fast.

Silver dollars (not a species  you mentioned) are known to be extremely timid and will frequently badly injure themselves fleeing into the side of the aquarium much less a piece of sharp landscape.

 

As for holes - i've had a swordtail get badly injured fitting between a piece of zuc and plant weight because a small gap was left (i use plant weights to weigh them down); a person on another forum spent 3 days trying to get their betta out of a hole it got trapped in the side of a ornament; kuhli loaches have been known to get trapped in ornaments that holes in the bottom by digging under them and then not being able to figure out how to get back out. 

--

Just me but i limit my aquariums to non-sharp rocks; wood and plants - lots and lots of plants and i NEVER wear a jacket in the room with my aquarium as my fishes don't recognize me in a jacket and flee in terror.

[FishyGirl]

So then should I try and do smaller fish?

I really like ember tetras, cherry barbs, neon tetras, honey gourami, Kuhli Loaches and angelicas loaches. Would these work, @anewbie it has wholes in the back, cannot remember if the bottom does or not, if I were to get Kuhli loaches should I keep a close eye on them 

[anewbie]

The safest thing is to just not use them.

[FishyGirl]

ok

[Twood]

On 3/7/2023 at 12:02 PM, AllCichlidsAllDay said:

My tank may be up for debate but I keep discus in a community tank along with blue Acara, apistos, flame dwarf gourami, elec blue gourami, angel, platinum parrot,  geophagus, neons and Cory cats  82 degrees, planted/drift wood, sand, 6.6 pH

 

@AllCichlidsAllDay - I'd love to do something like this, but have been scared off by so many people talking about the constant water changes required by discus. Just out of curiosity, what does your water change schedule look like?

[NOLANANO]

On 3/7/2023 at 7:13 PM, AndEEss said:

To paraphrase JP Morgan, “If you have to ask, the answer is no.”

This quote doesn't apply to this hobby in the least bit. People ask questions because they don't know. How could anyone figure anything out if the logic they used was "I don't already know the answer so I guess I can't do it"?

[AndEEss]

On 4/11/2023 at 10:16 AM, NOLANANO said:

This quote doesn't apply to this hobby in the least bit. People ask questions because they don't know. How could anyone figure anything out if the logic they used was "I don't already know the answer so I guess I can't do it"?

For starters, if it were me, I would look up the optimal water parameters of all of those fish and determine any incompatibility issues, if any. 

Turns out, the fish listed like very different water.

 

 

[NOLANANO]

On 4/11/2023 at 11:31 AM, AndEEss said:

For starters, if it were me, I would look up the optimal water parameters of all of those fish and determine any incompatibility issues, if any. 

Turns out, the fish listed like very different water.

 

 

The OP also said she has been doing research but as you know, there isn’t always answers for specific questions such as “does this specific mix of fish work” or “will these decorations work” so the best course of action is to ask people that have been doing this a while.

i just don’t like the idea of gate keeping this hobby by making newer hobbiests feel bad about asking questions.