Neon's and Discus?

[67GTO]

I've always thought that a tank that has a school of neons in with a small school of discus looked great. But in reading through this and the Discus Forum, I noticed that there are a few comments on the neon's being attacked.

I have 20 Neons and 10 Black Neons in a 60 gallon moderately planted tank. Would the introduction of three small discus be a neon nightmare?

Thanks for any guidance,
Chuck

[SkinnyChicken]

I have an 80g (and like you, moderately planted) that is currently home to 6 discus and a load of other community fish. In my experience discus are too slow to bother with the smaller tetras. Black neons were a good choice - they are a beautiful fish and reasonably hardy too and can look after themselves. A while back I introduced neons and cardinals to my tank and it wasn't the discus that caused any deaths - just the delicate nature of neons generally. If yours are an established school and have been in your tank a while then I would reckon you'd be fine introducing discus - and yours plants will ensure the neons have somewhere to hide should the discus get a little too friendly.

The only problem I can see is that the number of discus you are intending to get is rather small. In my experience (again), although they fight like cat and dog at times, my discus like each others company and it wasn't until I got to 6 that they seemed at their happiest. Just something to think about.

I've also read on the AC that discus need 10g per fish ... which is actually not something I've stuck to and mine are thriving quite nicely.

The black neons will look great with discus though - I think they are a very underated fish :)

[cocoa_pleco]

the mix should be okay

one warning, if any neons get neon tetra disease, it can spread to your discus. i remember a guy had 20 neons with 8 discus, and one neon got NTD and wiped out all of his discus and almost all of the other neons

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

cocoa, Discus cannot get NTD. Something else wiped out those Discus. Only Characins are vulnerable to NTD.
As for the Neons and Discus combo, it usually does work out fine. I kept the combo of 4 Discus and 20 Neons for over a year. Then about 3 weeks ago I noticed that my neon population was smaller and it is now nonexistant and there are no bodies and no spikes in water parameters. The only answer is that the Discus had lunch. Nothing else in the tank is capable of getting rid of them. So, while it is not common, it can happen.

[cocoa_pleco]

cocoa, Discus cannot get NTD. Something else wiped out those Discus. Only Characins are vulnerable to NTD.

really? damn, i wish i knew that when i heard the story a couple of years ago, i was at a pet store a few hours away when the guy came in saying how all his discus got wiped out, he might have had low oxygen levels or something

[SkinnyChicken]

Neons are so delicate though that I reckon mine die if I walk by the tank and sneeze!

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

You know, that so funny tha tyou mention that SC. LOL I just started a thread about that very thing a week or so ago. It seems that everyone else around here has delicate Neons except for me, I've never had trouble with them being delicate. I purchased 20 Neons over a year and a half ago and the only reason I lost any of them was because of my Discus.

[sailor]

My discus and neons have been getting along great.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Just don't forget to feed your Discus for a couple of days when they are full grown. They'll find a meal.

[SkinnyChicken]

Just don't forget to feed your Discus for a couple of days when they are full grown. They'll find a meal.

lol ... funny you should say that, I just got back from a long weekend away and I wasn't sure who was most pleased to se me back, the neons or the discus :)