Advice on keeping Otocinclus with Discus

[hk75]

Advise please.

Can both of them be kept in the same tank. Currently my otos keep on harssing the discus by sticking themselves on the discus body. Why?

My discus x 4 are also not eating. Purchase over the weekend but till now 2 days has not eaten any food i provide. Why?

[illumnae]

Keeping otos with discus is touch and go, from what i've been reading it depends on the character of the individual oto. some people (myself included) have excellent experiences with otos and discus but others have reported the same problem as you are facing, that the otos suck on the discus body. what they are doing is trying to suck off the discus slime coating as food. i'd recommend that you remove those otos and sell/give them away. you could instead try using Ancistrus species bristlenose plecos (so far everyone says they're discus safe) or Sturisoma species whiptail cats (only 1 person i've read about has bad experiences with them, everyone else says they're discus safe) as your algae crew instead.

as for the discus not eating, have you enquired with the seller what they used to eat before? discus are notoriously picky eaters and have been known to starve themselves to death on occasion. my personal experience is having my discus refuse to eat for 5 days straight when i was trying to feed them a new type of food. have you tried feeding them live brine shrimp or frozen bloodworms? these 2 types of food are usually readily accepted by discus at all times. to acclimitize them to your new food, you could mix their old food or bloodworms with the new food such that some of the new food will be eaten while they're grabbing at the old food...after awhile, you can just feed them purely the new food and since they're used to it, they'll keep eating it. this is the method i used to get my discus from eating bloodworms to beefheart, and later on from beefheart to tetrabits. 100% success

[wks]

Hi hk75, whats the surrounding of your tank? Do you use black oyama paper as background or dark/ black colour substrate? If your answer is 'yes' on either one, you are in trouble. Tank raised discus are known to be easily stressed in dark environment. Thats why all discus keepers always paint their tanks white.

[illumnae]

while discus are indeed more stressed with a black foreground/oyama, it doesn't really affect their appetite... my discus were all black with stress when both my foreground and back wall were black in colour, but they still rushed for food during feeding time.

[hk75]

hi,
yup, my background is black. Now, my discus start to eat frozen bloodworm. only thing is they very timid, whenever i walk pass, they will dash to the back of plants.

[illumnae]

don't worry too much about it, they're just getting used to their new surroundings. they will get more bold after awhile, especially after your foreground fills in and the front ground is green instead of black.

what size are your discus? another reason they might be scared besides the new surroundings and very black surroundings are the huge space in your tank if you've got juveniles. 4 is a tad on the low side, most recommend at least 5 discus in a group, and if you've got a big tank (yours is a 4x2x2 or a 4x1.5x1.5 right?) go for at least 7. general rule of the thumb is 1 discus per 10 gallons of water

[trident]

Sometimes it will take a few days for them to get used to their new surroundings.
But if have a bigger batch than it will be much better. 4 discus in a 4 ft tank is kinda lonely. And if you have a place for them to hide than they will hide.
I keep my discus in a bare tank, no place to hide.

[aquanatix]

Never really had any experience with "good" otos either.
It could be that slime is more readily available then algae hence the dependence on discus as a more viable means of food?
For the dark background,are there any articles regarding how different colours affect the mood of discus?For me it was always white based on the fact that since all my fishes were coloured THEREFORE white brings out colour better? That's how i and my dad raised discus over the years! On a side not,i currently have a 3FT 2tier setup with juveniles in it,both tanks are pasted with black OYAMA after i decommissioned my planted. All juveniles seem ok,no darkening etc...since they all look ok and feed readily,should there be any cause for concern?
Well at least having a group not eating is ok illumnae,i currently have a single piece in my adult tank that refuses to eat. That is even more fustrating! It's always heartbreaking to see a single piece fall out from the group and start acting funny.Especially when it's one of my best LSS! Argh~

[trident]

Putting a sucker fish together with discus is always an issue. Lots of them like to stick on to the body of the discus and suck off their slime, resulting in scales falling off.
Bristlenose plecos does not suck the discus's slime, but they are generally not hardworking enough! The best pleco I have is the common albino sailfin type.
They are hardworking but also very greedy.
As for dark background , I have kept discus successfully with dark background before. Only problem is that they tends to turn darker in color.

[illumnae]

haha common sailfin pleco in a planted tank will wreak havoc on the substrate and plants though richard i generally find bristlenose plecos pretty hardworking...slightly less so than otos, but hey...which fish can compare with otos eh? before i switched to otos, i had 4 pieces of bristlenoses in my 4x2x2 and generally they did well enough to keep the tank free of brown algae. good thing my current batch of 4 otos are "good"...they don't disturb my discus at all. kh75, have you removed the otos yet? if you find bristlenoses too "ugly" for you (i've had complaints from my fiancee that my bristlenoses were "MONSTERS!" lol), try sturisoma whiptails...i've heard they're pretty hardworking too and can successfully be kept with discus. try buying larger specimens though, as the smaller ones tend to be more delicate. i bought 5 pieces of 1inch ones, and they didn't survive

sorry to hear about your LSS aquanatix perhaps it's time to do some deworming? if it's just one fish affected out of the group, it's perhaps time to look at the individual fish instead of the surroundings...

i've never had discus in a bare tank with black oyama before...just blue oyama bare tank and black oyama planted tank...could see the difference in the colour of the discus...you can ask Richard...when he came to my place and my discus were newly put back into the tank plus foreground not grown in, you could hardly see my discus as they were literally black in colour and hanging out near the back wall...they blended in perfectly with the black oyama. they're all fine now though, even the pigeon based ones don't show much speckling most days

[trident]

you and your black discus! I was quite shocked when I see black discus swimming about. Glad to hear they are back to normal now.
a single discus not eating could be due to bullying or (most likely) sick.
try to see what is the symptom. could be internal which could be treated with metro or pimafix.

[hk75]

Hi,

Otos still in my tank, try out for few days first. Now fish eating very well on blood worm, will train them to eat on tetra bits on later stage.

kh75, have you removed the otos yet? if you find bristlenoses too "ugly" for you (i've had complaints from my fiancee that my bristlenoses were "MONSTERS!" lol), try sturisoma whiptails...i've heard they're pretty hardworking too and can successfully be kept with discus. try buying larger specimens though, as the smaller ones tend to be more delicate. i bought 5 pieces of 1inch ones, and they didn't survive

[trident]

hk75,
Glad to hear that they are eating well. Wait sometime before changing their diet to bits.
Discus can be very fussy and changing their diet can be quite difficult.
Richard

[aquanatix]

Seems like younger juveniles take to a change of diet better then adult pieces.
My juvenile tanks love tetrabits whereas my adults don't really touch them?
Regarding tank background colour,should my black oyama be replaced? I've never tought much of it untill today. Both tanks are flushed against my walls,guess it'll gonna suck replacing the oyama!

[illumnae]

if it isn't broken, don't fix it

as long as your discus are fine, you won't have to change it. good thing about discus is that you can tell when they're stressed...so perhaps yours have acclimitized to the black already, in which case you don't need to go through the hassle of switching oyama colours

[trident]

I think it's a lot of work changing the background, I don't think you need to change it unless it's causing problems for your discus. A nice bright light would help.
Good to see the juveniles taking to bits, yes adults are harder to please.

[aquanatix]

Well that's a relieve...I never really thought much about it untill this thread appeared.
My jeveniles were raised in the black oyama tank so i guess they sorta got used to it? Though i do have a single piece that never got rid of the dark coloration and still maintains it up till today.Not to mention it's one of my smallest pieces within the juvenile tank.
I do have lightings going on when i get home from work,lighting periods typically span from 6opm-11pm?Other then that,tanks are in the dining room near a light source so it isn't completely dark.

[ronig]

add some schooling fishes like tetras...they tends to calm the other fishes.

[godprint]

nice thread! chanced upon only when someone replied to this thread!

currently have 20 discus in a 4ft tank... no where to hide except behind 2 sponge filters?

all are healthy... maybe 1 or 2... (old but cannot big)

can anyone also help with my questions on algae control here? http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=34413

thanks!

[Quixotic]

Ian,

You do not have a thread on your algae questions, but those are just posts in someone else's thread.

Perhaps there aren't many responses to your questions there, because not everyone can respond as quickly (sometimes, you just have to be more patient), or you aren't very specific on your needs, or the answers are already in one of the previous threads that you didn't look through or search.

I have modified and started a thread for you. Hopefully, this will help steer your questions in the right direction.

Cheers.