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I am getting ready to embark on keeping Discus, anyone know if you can keep plecos with them? I ahve been told to keep tetras with them. I have found some gold nugget plecos for $25, is that a good price?

I have had problems in the past keeping sucking catfish with my discus because they keep sucking to the side of the discus and i had to remove them, never tried a pleco with them but i currently have a tiny bristlenose in there with them and he seem to leave them alone, but that may change when he gets a bit bigger, youll have to keep a close eye on them because if they start sucking to the discus the Discus stress out alot, Apparently they eat the slim coat of the discus i have been told (Sounds yummy)

Mick.

[This message has been edited by Qserv (edited 02-12-2002).]

25$ for a gold nugget is a very good price as they usually run around 40$. However I do not reccomend them with discus for the reasons stated earlier as they tend to suck on the discus. If you need a bottom feeder in with them I reccomend a few (4) cory cats.

Also if you ever breed discus an interesting fact to know is that you can not remove the fry from the parents because they need to eat the parents slime coat as their main source of food during the wiggler stage and the first 3 weeks of the free swimmers stage.

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Candice

As Candice has said Cory cats go well with discus, i have 2 in with mine as well, If anything the discus give them a hard time, but the cory cats dont do much for algae.

Candice do you Keep/breed discus?? I would love to breed mine, but they are apparently VERY difficult to breed, you need like Daily water changes of about 30% and very low PH around 5ish i have heard, i do know a guy who has bred them in neutral PH with minimal water changes but only 6 fry survived.

[This message has been edited by Qserv (edited 02-13-2002).]

No I have not bred them mainly because I do not have room for any more breeding fish. Angels are kind of similiar to discus though, I have to do daily water changes of 30% in my breeding tanks and baby tanks Its worth it though!

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Candice

I never had any angels, but they look nice, My dream is to successfully breed my discus, I have plenny of tank space,,, just not enough house space to set them up heheheheh

Mick.

Build on to the house

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Aquatics Unlimited

Suck the sides of the fish!!!!! Now that is odd, guess I will forgo the plesos

hehehe atleast you guys understand, I keep telling my girlfriend that we still have room in the laundry and in the spare bedroom but she wont let me,,, But, I am setting up a Fishroom in a shed out the back,,, just gota get the $$$ together for the materials....

Yeh those pleco's are pretty kinky fish

But discus are Awesome and worth the trouble.

Qserv,
What do you pay for discus mate?

Pretty dear here.

You ever used that discus buffer?

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TONY
Australian and proud of it!!
My Cichlidfish.com Home page

G'day Tony,
Yeh they are bloody dear here too,, Most LFS charge WAY to much for them down here, I have seen small pigeon bloods at one of the LFS for $90 and small 1-2in blue snake skins for about $60-$80. But there are a few breeders around that dont charge an arm and a leg for them. I think theres a few good ones up your way i found on the net,, i have links for them somewhere if you are interested. Do you have any at the moment?
I have never tried Discus buffer,, the drift wood i have in the tank keeps the ph around 6 and when i do water changes i try not to change to much and add the water (about 7ish out of the tap) slowly, doesnt seem to change the ph.

Do you guys get Roy and HG - The ice dream up there?? just watching it now,, cracks me up,,, but i dont know what the Americans would think if they seen it!


Mick.

Yeah I wouldnt mind those links for futire use ta. I am going to try a couple eventually but the price tag and troubles I have heard about looking after them (dont know how true they are) sorta keep putting me off.
Im selling off all the cichlids in one 50g (not any oscars meleanie )and would like to prepare that for housing discus. Probably just the one for the moment and see how it goes.



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TONY
Australian and proud of it!!
My Cichlidfish.com Home page

You should get a few or a pair if you can find them, Discus dont do well by them selfs especially when they are young. I have never tried keeping one by itself but i hear they become very shy and hide and will get very stressed and eventualy die in that situation.
What troubles have you heard about keeping them? I have been told they are hard to keep as well, but all i have found is that if i keep the water clean and try not to spook them they are very happy,, mine are very curious and always watch me when i am nearby,, its funny you can just see their faces staring straight at you completly motionless.
You should be able to put a few in a 50g, Dont know how many exactly but i have seen people keeping 20 or so young ones around 4in in a 40g without any problems, and i have seen 4ft x 14in x 18in split in 2 sections with a breeding pair in each breeding happily.
Tank mates are hard to find, need to handle low PH, I have a pair sharing a 65g with 2 small clown loaches, 2 peppered cory cats, a small black ghost knife(Man he is a cool fish) and a few small varieties of gourami.
I will have to send you those links when i get home again, i am at work at the moment.

If its just a matter of water parramanters then I can handle that.
I just hear rumours of them being overly touchy etc.
Saw one bloke on Tv a while ago who kept them and he had the tank with no gravel at all and syphoned up all the leftovers after every meal.

Well sounds like at least a pair is the way to go.

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TONY
Australian and proud of it!!
My Cichlidfish.com Home page

When I get my 50 cycled I am going to get 6 as they do like to be together. They are going for $19.95 here!!! Sounds like I am getting a deal.