Rams and Discus

[Disco]

Hello,
     I've been keeping cichldis for so long but I dont know this one. I have 2 pigeon blood discus in my planted 20 gallon tank. I know that when theyre adults, they cant just live in this small tank so I'm planning on just keeping them and putting them in at leat 29 gallons. Back to my question now- can I keep rams with my discus? I heard that they are good carriers of parasites- is this true? What level of success will I have with them?

sure you can keep rams with your discus. rams in fact are one of the most popular tankmates with discus. as for the parasites - i would disagree with it. the only way rams could carry parasites is if they were raised in water filled with them. rams are GREAT tankmates for discus! i have 3 myself in my 55 gallon tank with some of my discus in there.

I also have my rams with my Discus! I think I made a mistake by putting male and female ram together. She layed eggs within 9 days from her last time. She is very "active" I guess. She has now layed eggs 3 times within 1 month. Now I have lots of fry.  ;D My lfs will be happy I hope.

[Disco]

Rather than starting another thread, I'll just post another question I have here. Discusaquarium, what's a good daily preventative to keep my discus' intestines clean and healthy? I heard brine shrimp does this , is this correct?

i have never heard of the brine shrimp idea. i know for a fact that garlic will do it. if you make your own beefheart mixture, you can add a clove of garlic and this will keep them pretty clean. i have spoke of this with jack wattley, and i've also talked with many other breeders and they reccomend this also.

[Disco]

When adding the cloves, do I grind it to a powder or leave it whole? And should I also thaw it to a gel consistency (I bought plain frozen beefheart with nothing added)?

if you are going to make your own beefheart, what you do is - when you are grinding up the pieces, you add the crushed garlic into the blender. that way when frozen, it is all intermingled with the beefheart and there is some garlic incorporated into the beefheart itself. i went to my local grocery store and had them order some beefheart for me. it ended up being pretty cheap. if you are thinking about adding garlic to prepared beefheart there is no real way to do that... :-/ but your discus should be fine without it. its not a necessity. if you really wish to add it to pre made beefheart, then let it thaw and mix in the garlic. not too much though!   garlic is pretty strong stuff.

[Disco]

Okay, thanks. I'll be making it today. Would it hurt to add other stuff like spinach nad carrots w/liquid vitamins?

shouldnt hurt if you dont add too much, just make sure to remember that the beefheart is the most important ingredient in the mixture.

Interestingly enough and also contradicting in a sense, is the beefheart subject. Normally fish eat what fish in the wild eat. I know that beefheart is a very good nutrient, mineral and vitamin source but is it really that realistic. I mean, the Discus dont regularily feed on the heart of a cow in the Amazon. I wonder with what they subsitutite beef heart in the wild. And then again, is it really neccessary to feed beefheart? Is there no alternate?