Other fish

[shockshockshad]

Since discus like high temps (84-86) can I have rummynose tetras, cockatoo dwarfs, and maybe some otos or BN plecos with them?

[Enreche]

im sure it wouldnet matter as long as you had good enough filtration, not to mention those fish all have good temperments. so i do belive your in the green!

in my opinion, a nice school of rummy nose tetras would look great with discus! :19:

[SpyderSpy6]

Those tank mates should work great. I have never kept a cockatoo with my discus though. Most tetra's, loaches, and pleco's can live with discus fish at such a high temperature. If you are worried about the smaller fish, and you don't have the discus yet, you could always put the small guys in and slowly raise the temperature. This way you will be able to see what fish is doing well and which one you may need to keep in another tank. Either way, it should not be a problem if you acclimate your fish to the temperature correctly.

I keep clown loaches, rummy nose, serpae's, and 2 pleco's with my discus. They all do very well!

One pitfall I found with the warm water is that food will decompose faster, and bad bacteria will explode given the chance. You need to keep the tank very clean and keep a close eye on it. Even with a UV sterilizer, I had a bad bacteria outbreak in my tank and because of the warm water it was able to spread exteremely fast. Within' 30 minutes fast. I had a fish show signs of it, and within' a half hour two of my discus had spots and my little fish (tetra's, loaches, etc.) were belly up every few hours. It was a horrible experience and I don't wish it on anyone. Just giving a warning to keeping the warm water. I had at 87, which I now keep it at 85.5. Doesn't seem like much, but I was told it can make a big difference.

I was able to save all my discus fish, thank god! Just be careful, and make sure you clean up any un-eaten food, and stay up on your water changes!

Hope that helps!

[Fishguy2727]

Discus are from certain river systems in Amazonia, not some discus only lake that is warmer than any other fish are used to. There are tons of fish in the same river system which allows lots of options. This includes many tetras (rummynose, cardinals, lemon, serpae, and others), many pleco species, many loaches, many other cichlids, etc. Just choose carefully and double check everything on fishbase.org.

[cocoa_pleco]

a bunch of cardinals would look cool

[xoolooxunny]

cardinals do great in warm, slightly acidic water, just like discus, good idea cocoa..