# Goldfish with Wild Discus?



## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Could someone please help me to understand why Mr. Watanabe puts a goldfish with his wild discus?
He must have a good reason to do so but I just do not get it and it is driving me nuts!!!!
THOROUGHBRED AQUARIUM - JAPAN 2008


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

He must like discus and goldfish.

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## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

Lol I read a bit and found this under one of those pics of discus with goldfish


"In each aquarium with wild discus he places a goldfish, for the discus to get “guided” by the latter to feed. Unfortunately the goldfish eats almost all the food, is much faster, pushes the discus aside and gets fatter all the time (and discus stay skinny)"


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## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

It's not that big of an issue. It's what ever work each discus keeper. I'm pretty sure he know what he is doing. He has produced a lot of very beautiful discus.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Yes, Mr. Watanabe is one of the very best discus breeders of our time so I am sure he has a very good reason to do what he is doing. I am just wondering why.


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## onefishtwofish (Apr 21, 2010)

darn.........now u got me wondering too....esp as theoretically goldfish r coldwater.


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## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

I think from what I *read* on that link it says its about teaching wild discus to feed while keeping if from over eating.

View attachment 46058


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

When I first read that it did not sound to me like Heiko (the author) considered this a good method, as he said the discus were skinny. For discus keeping, being skinny is never a good thing. Heiko also used the word, "unfortunately," which shows me that he did not consider the consquences a positive one.
I can see the point of getting some outgoing discus to eat so the timid ones will follow. From my observation, it is easier to get discus to eat in a bigger group than a smaller group, it almost seems like they are affected by peer pressure. LOL.
Goldfish produces a lot of waste. I am baffled as to why it was chosen as tankmate for a species which is known to prefer very pristine water condition. There must be many other fish that produce much less waste and can stand high heat that can be used for this purpose and they would seem a more suitable choice. Why did he choose goldfish? What am I missing here? 
Also, from what Heiko said, it did not sound like the addition of goldfish was successful in serving its purpose of "guilding" the discus to their food--the discus were reportedly being pushed aside by the goldfish which ended up eating most of their food.
He is not someone who does not know what he is doing. He must have some good reasons to choose goldfish...but I just cannot understand why...it is just puzzling.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

I think you overthink discus keeping too much.


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

Seems to me like he chose goldfish because they are such voracious eaters and he wanted the discus to become more aggressive eaters. I think he was hoping that the discus would start to see the goldfish eat and then push the goldfish away and start to become more aggressive eaters so they would grow faster (which clearly failed =P ).


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I think you are right. Thanks.
Just checked his facebook page and I could not find any gold fish in any of his tanks. LOL
Very beautiful discus he has in his tanks though.


Steve said:


> Seems to me like he chose goldfish because they are such voracious eaters and he wanted the discus to become more aggressive eaters. I think he was hoping that the discus would start to see the goldfish eat and then push the goldfish away and start to become more aggressive eaters so they would grow faster (which clearly failed =P ).


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I was keeping some bleeding heart tetras in the tank which now houses a batch of discus. These bleeding heart acted like piranha everytime I put some FDBW in the tank. I removed them because I did not want them to outcompete the discus for food. I also had some torpedo barbs but they always waited so were not an issue.
On the other hand, my daughter had some very small juvies that were eating very well. After we placed them in the tank everyone was eating more and faster. May be discus can help other discus to eat but using other fish is not that effective?


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## Canadian_Aqua_Farm (Apr 21, 2010)

Watanabe must see some merit in this method or he wouldn't be putting a goldfish in with his $960-$1500 wild discus. I once had a customer who raised a large group of my discus fry in a tank with koi. Both did very well although ultimately it become to expensive to continue feeding the koi with discus food so the koi were rehomed. Most of his discus were grown from around 1.5"-2" to over 6" so certainly they didn't suffer from the unorthodox tank mates&#8230;


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

That tank is so cool. Like to see someone thinking outside of the box. Thanks for sharing that.
I also thought he must see some merit to do something so unorthodox but just could not figure out what it may be. LOL


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