ATKINSON

I have a 85gallon tank and I want to know if I can mix 3-4 discus,1 black ghost knife, 2 baby whales, 1 elephant nose and a pleco. If they are all compatible then in what order should I add them to the tank?( I can upgrade them to a 100Gal in a year when they grow. I will get them all as babies.)

aquarist48

Good morning Atkinson. I don't have personal experience with some of the fish that you have listed but I do have some Discus experience and sadly that experience is not very good. I just want to recommend that you do as much research as possible before you consider keeping Discus. They are truly a majestic species and require pristine water conditions and require more water changes than other fish. Too, you may want to get in touch with one of our members, Slug. If anyone can help you with Discus it's him. Do a search for his profile and check out some of his Discus.
Best of luck!

ATKINSON

Thanks Aquarist48, I have been making my tank perfect for the past 2 months and have done a ton of reaserch. I was just wondering if they were compatible in agression, temperature.etc.

Slug

Thanks for the recommendation Aquarist. I've heard of sucess stories with all of them, so yes you can mix them. However all of those are nocturnal species. Discus are not nocturnal so those fish might spook or stress the discus while they try and sleep. Hard for me to say how it would work, but just keep in mind those species could stress discus at night.

ATKINSON

Thanks Slug. I am now thinking perhaps 4-5 discus, 1 black ghost knife, 3 clown loaches and some glowlights( 10+) If I interduce the BGKF when he is young then I hope he wont attack them when he is older. I have a 100Gal to use within a year if they grow to much.

btate617

Like Slug said it could work.
However I wouldn't do a black ghost knife, for the reasons he gave you.

With the clowns I also wouldn't if it were me. One reason I think they should be atleast in groups of 6, which long term just for them a big tank is required. Second reason they are very active fish, not a great mix with discus in my opinion.

Brian

Slug

I wouldn't be to worried about him actually attacking them, more so of him just swiming around a lot at night, or taking food from the discus.

ATKINSON

You have a good point guys, perhaps I could stock the 75gal with 4-5 discus, 14 glowlights and several cory cats and then stock the 100gal with 1 bgkf, 3 clown loaches, 1 angel, 1 pleco and perhaps 2-3 silver dollars.