# Discus and Geophagus RHT in the same tank



## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

For those of you who keep discus and geos RHT in the same tank, I wonder how do you feed them? Because the geos eat very very fast while the discus eat very slooowlyy. I spread the food all over tank, and geos run after the food while discus still stay in their place.

In addition, ever since I introduced geos into the tank, the discus mostly stay in corner and rarely swim out in the open except to eat (They come to my hands to eat FBW). I'm really curious because the geos never show any aggression towards the discus, in fact it seems that the geos ignore the discus. Is this normal behavior for discus?

The tank is 95 G planted. And there also rummy nose tetras, GBRs and calvus in the tank.

Is there any tips to encourage discus to swim out more often again? (i have to keep the discus because my wife likes them).


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

CALVUS???? u have to get the calvus out. calvus are africans from lake tanganyika. not only are there water parameters completly opposite of the discus, but they are also way to aggressive to be in with the discus.


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

All of my tanks use the same water resource and same substrate. The parameters are about the same: pH 7.4, TDS 230. Discus tank is 1 - 2 C slightly warmer than the others.

The calvus was there with discus before RHT came. And at that time the discus still swam out in the open water. Furthermore the calvus never shows aggressions towards discus and other fish so I believe calvus is not the cause.


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

just because something happened to work out short term doesnt mean it was meant to be. the calvus and discus will not work out together long term. u may have got lucky this far, but as u can see that is changing. i'm always one to say that ph and water params can usually be adapted to by the fish if they are introduced properly. however the discus will and possibly have reached a point in their lives where the higher ph than they would like is stressing them out. add the fact that as calvus mature and grow they will take over that particular tank. i have and do keep all the fish that u have mentioned and in my opinion based on my experiences with these fish i would say its a combination of factors here that are to blame, but the two major probs are your ph and calvus.


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

I've been keeping discus for 4 - 5 years using this water resource and some of them even spawned. I also had fries 2 - 3 times but unfortunately the fries were eaten by others. Hence I believe the water parameter is not the issue here.

You'll be surprised if you visit many local discus breeders here. Many of them don't use soft water, instead they just whatever water resources available. Lol some of them even never test the water parameter but they manage to breed a lot of discus


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

you asked for opinions. i gave u mine. good luck


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

Yes, I asked opinion about discus and geos RHT in the same tank. Not about water parameter :wink:


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

u asked why your discus were no longer out swimming. maybe u should do a little research before u start throwing random fish in a tank together. i was only trying to help u. whether water params are the issue or not, it was just a thought as to why they werent swimming. i had a group of discus that i kept in a tank at low 7s ph and they did good for a few yrs but as they got older they wouldnt come out. i lowered ph slowly to low 6s and they were back out and active. even looked better. i was only suggesting the params COULD be part of the problem. water params aside though i stick to my original opinion that calvus and discus do not belong together. the calvus WILL stress the discus in time causing the discus to not come out. as stated this is MY opinion based on MY experience with these fish. take it or leave it, but u shouldnt shouldnt post if u are only looking to argue with someone thats trying to help by sharing their experiences that are directly related to your question. good night.


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

The problem is, the discus stopped swimming around not long after I introduced RHT. Everything else is the same as before and the difference is RHT.

That's why I'm very curious because I read that several people keep discus and RHT without problems.

To be honest, I don't believe I argue with anyone because I only mentioned the facts about keeping discus 4 - 5 years in this water parameters without any issues.


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

on a side note, what is a GBR and what type of substrate do u have?


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

GBR = German Blue Ram, I believe it's Mikrogeophagus ramirezi.

The substrate is beach sands. It looks like white balls without rough edges. It's very entertaining watching RHTs sifting this sands all day long. They change the scape everyday


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

I recently had a 150 in the office where we kept some discus and some Geophagus winemilleri. Even though the discus were 4X bigger than the Geo's and outnumbered them 2:1 the discus were always skittish and hid behind the driftwood. We eventually removed them. They behaved much better once we put them into their own tank.

There may be some kind of ingrained fear of Geo's in discus. You may want to separate them.

Andy


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

ok. discus can be skiddish. especially to change. could just be all the new activity with the geos in there. hopefully they relax and comeback out. keep us posted


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

I see. So I'm curious, very curious how some people manage to keep discus and geos together in the same tank. I saw some videos at Youtube, discus eats together with geos.

I can't remove the discus because my wife like them, and I also don't want to remove the geos either because I like them and it took me almost a year to locate the geos. i also don't have permissions for new tank because I just added 2 tanks in the last 2 months 8)

I wonder if sterbai cory cats can serve a dither for discus and trigger them to feel more at home? I can remove the GBR and calvus to give space for the corries :fish:


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## yamadog (Oct 7, 2012)

Ok, here's how I do it- It's worth noting that I've only had discus for a few months now and red head Tapajos for several years (with many spawns). My water return is in the upper left hand corner of the tank. Water flows down in the bottom of the tank and then curls back up and to the right. My overflow is on the far right side of the tank. My discus will only eat blood worms. I have tried every food I can think of. They only eat blood worms. My Tapajos will eat anything that hits the water. And as you have seen, they move a lot faster than discus....I throw in a good pinch of pellets right at the water return. As soon as the pellets have reached the bottom and started to flow to the right, I drop in the blood worms (thawed in warm water). My discus have figured out that if they just stay a few inches from the top of the tank, the blood worms flow right to them while the Tapajos are at the bottom eating the pellets. It works for me. Jason


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

I'm quite lucky that my discus eats pellets (Tetra Bits, JBL Novo Bits), in addition to frozen blood worms (FBW). They also eat nerite snails, cherry shrimps and guppies (well, my wife wants some more colorful fish, and I thought guppies were too big to be eaten, but I was wrong).

It's just they eat much slower than Geos that eat almost anything. So my strategy is to spread the food all over the tank, and the discus still gets to eat. If I give more food to accommodate the discus, the Geos usually have a long trail of poo....

I have removed GBR and calvus from this tank, and plan to add 6 sterbai corries. I hope this dither may make the discus feel more at home and stay out more often.

By the way, does the number of discus and geos matter? Currently there are 6 geos and 2 discus. Should I add some more discus?


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

u should have at least 6 discus to establish a hierarchy. all 6 should have been put it in at the same time when they were juvies.


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

I had 7 but unfortunately 4 of them jumped out of the tank, and found too late the next morning (my tank is rimless open top, with water level is about 0.5" below the top glass), and 1 was sucked into my DIY surface skimmer and died ( I replaced it with Eheim Skim 350 for safety).

After I lost 1 geos jumping out of tank, I finally added acrylic top lid.

I'll ask the breeder if I can exchange mine with 6 juvies.


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

Yay, I saw the discus eating out in the open! 

It seems that they were afraid of the GBR. Because after I added RHT, the GBR became more aggressive towards RHT and discus. Even though they're smaller, they often chase away RHT and discus.

Perhaps because both GBR and RHT occupy the same water level (the bottom) and their bodies look kind of similar (GBR is like miniature of RHT)?

The addition of sterbai corries may also bring more harmony to the tank and make the discus more relax (previously I removed my group of corries to give space for the GBR).


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

it was the calvus


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

I never saw calvus chased away discus or RHT. Usually it was GBR that did. It still amazed me considering their small size.


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

Ever since I saw cory adolfoi, I want to replace my sterbai with adolfoi


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

i'm glad it all worked out and discus are eating again.


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

Yes thanks God.

Next I have to find out how introduce more juvie discus safely to meet the minimum number 6 because the breeder doesn't accept exchange.

I want to confirm once again, for discus, it's better to have either a single discus, a proven pair, OR a minimum of 6 discus in the tank, right?


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

yes, but its not that simple. first, a single discus is ok as long as it is king of the tank. second, to get a pair u need to start out with group of at least six so they can form the hierarchy and pair off (if they are gonna pair). i suppose u could by a pair from someone that has already done the hierarchy thing and can be sure that they are a pair, but u cant just go buy a male and a female and expect them to pair. third, u cannot just add juvies to your current discus to get your group, most likely wont work out. ideally u should add all as juvies at the same time. adding more to the ones u currently probably wont work. all the advice i am giving u is based on my personal experiences and the experiences of friends that know discus better than i do. i suggest if u are serious about keeping discus u check out "simply discus" its an entire forum dedicated to discus. they can answer any questions u have.


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

Yeah, just bought adult discus (3.5 - 4" SL) from breeder this morning. Starlight and Yellow Crystal. So there are total 6 adults in the tank. They swam together so far 

I'll also rescape the tank with drift woods and lava rocks, and off course a lot of anubias and bucephalandra, to make it look like a sunken forrest.


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