I'll Listen This Time

My discus are doing very well ! I googled for tank mates. It listed siamese alage eaters, three spot gourmais & neon tetras. I bought 12 neon tetras 2 siamese algae eaters & 2 gourmais.

One of my gourmais was killed quickly. ( not by the discus, but by being sucked up into the intake tube of my filter ) I put a sponge over each of the intake tubes as suggested my my LPS, but it didn't work.

All, but 2 of the neons are gone. I don't expect the other 2 will last long.

The 2 siamese algae eaters are fine.

I guess the discus have told me what they want. ( no tank mates ) Since they seem very happy & healthy, I'll listen this time.

My remaining Gourmais just hovers near the surface, never venturing out into the aquarium. I don't know why. The discus come right up to him & don't bother him @ all. Any ideas why this might be happening ?

 

I dont know a whole lot about many fish but from personal experience I can tell you I have seen this happen to me. I have a clown I have had about a year and a half and when I added new fish he became very aggressive. I have no clue why as he is a peaceful fish and the tank is 90g so there is plenty of room! I guess he just figures since he has been there so long its his domain and anything new needs to know that? Thats all I can figure.

 

I totally agree Slow.

 

Sorry for the loss of your Neons; However, I seriously doubt the Discus had anything to do with their demise. Neons come from blackwater swamps that are acidic. It's quite difficult to mimic their natural environment, and they are all too easily stressed (especially by bright light). Unless you've witnessed something different, it's most likely that they simply perished and were eaten by the Algae Eaters (they're not strictly herbivorous).

 

I agree with Rhino, I kept Discus for a few years and always always kepts them with cardinal tetras (very similar to neons) and never once witnessed the discus going after the smaller fish.

Lots of pecking order issues amongst themselves, but that was about it.

 

Hi OS again

Can you let us know a few parameters in your tank

1) Temp
2) pH

And finally your acslimatization procedure (of new fishes)?

 

My ph is 6.5
The temperature is 86.
With new fish, I float the bag for 15 minutes & pour them in. I'm sure this is not right. I should probably have a quartaine tank. Stupidity on my part.
I clean my tank thoroughly twice a week. I cleaned it yesterday, but, with the possibility of decaying bodies on the bottom, I am going to do it again today.
I had put in some plastic to protect the neons. ( that worked NOT ) I'll take them out today to give the discus more swimming room & my real plants more light.
I use to keep my lights on from 7AM to 7PM. Now I am going to keep them on from 10 PM to 10 AM. The tank is in my bedroom so it will give me more time to enjoy it.
Any idea why my gourmais is huddling near the top when the discus seem to ignore him altogether
Thanks for your help.

Gary.

 

LOW & BEHOLD ! I took out the plastic & there they were ! ( all my neons ) I still took out the plastic & the discus don't seem to be bothered by them @ all. They swim through the school & the neons just make a path. It all happens so slowly & peacefully. As for the gourmais, I looked it up & it said to provide some floating plants. I put is a few pieces of plastic, but I wrapped them around a piece of driftwood. I find plastic floating on the surface of a tank very tacky. In fact, I find plastic very tacky. I am impatient for my real plants to grow. Since I added the plastic floating plants, the gourmais is venturing forth a bit. THAT'S IT ! I am not going to fool with Mother Nature again. I have finished stocking that tank !

 

Wise decision..

Just remember that pH of the water from the LFS could always be different from your water...Its not that temp that you always want to match with the water...A sudden shock of pH can just wipe the new stock completely..You might want to watch this the next time you add any new livestock...Just add a glass of water from your tank to the plastic bag a couple of times and you are ready to go

Just noted what you had mentioned in your first post..

Remember Discus IMO are not aggressive to other fishes...its only to their own species they are aggressive...Its usually the Discus fish that gets picked by other tank mates and not the other way around

 

also in the future id not add that many fish at once.... its a PITA to deal with the water chemistry for the next few weeks after you add that many at once. been there done that in my freshwater days...

glad you were able to find all your neons