Discus

[D4N]

could i put discus in a with this stocking in a 77gal

1 pajistani loach
1 rtbs
2 angels
2 banded leporinus (which seem to get on with all my fish)

i will w8 untill my water is perfect untill i get the discus

 

[xJake]

No. You shouldn't keep discus with angels or botias of any kind. Angels are too aggressive eaters and will out-compete your discus for food and botias (your pakistani loach) will be moving around at night which stress discus out and move around too quickly which will also stress them out. You should only keep slow moving fish with discus. Also, the only other type of cichlid I know of that can be kept with discus safely is rams (bolivian or german). (At least that is according to my lfs manager who has been keeping discus for over 35 years)

 

[wlsmith]

discus tend to do better off in a species only tank!

 

[Gankutsuou]

Discus do Fine with things like cardinals, small and unannoying fish.

Angels also give very many diseases to discus. That is a no.

 

[CFC]

Leporinus are some of the single most aggressive fish there is, they may not be bothering your fish now but sooner or later something is going to end up torn to bits, they certainly should NEVER be mixed with peacefull fish like discus which would have no way at all of defending themselves.

 

[CAC]

Do you have these fish allready? If so then i would not get discus.
If that is your plan, then forget it, they are all too aggressive and active. Why not have 6 discus, a shoal of maybe 10 cardinal tetras and then 6-8 corys of some sort?
That would look great, and you know you wont have many (probably none) fights.

Mikey

 

[grayboy1]

"Angels are too aggressive eaters and will out-compete your discus for food"


Nonsense. Simple as that. I keep angels with discus and thats not the case. Again one of the many myths regarding angels and discus that has been blown out of propotion. Angels can take much larger pieces of food and prefer to gobble it in one go where as discus like to chew and spit over and over again. Whilst discus will eat food from they surface they are slow at eating and end up eating off the bottom, or grazing on their food which is what they prefer anyway.

The only situation that you are gonna have feeding problems is if you buy small discus and outnumber them with larger angelfish. Ive got 9 discus to 5 angels, and the discus are just as easy to feed as anything. Whatever i feed i put a large amount in in 1 go and most of it hits the bottom. as a rule of thumb the discus should be given half an hour to clear the food on the bottom. if they still havent after an hour then its too much. if they eat it up in 5 minutes just dump another load in

Angels IMO are the best tankmates you could possibly keep with discus.


also as with the fast moving fish comment. i partially agree with it but again its not really a rule set in stone. i keep 2 6 inch pim pictus cats with my discus. they move fast and go into a frenzy when i drop food in. the discus dont seem bothered they are used to it. they have grown up beside the cats and know what to expect i guess. if u want to add strange tank mates along with discus make sure you add them once the discus have settled in. my angels are the reason my discus settled in within days, they brought them out and gave them confidence

 

[ringham]

I really don't think that the discus will like the rtbs because it will be to fast and energetic for the discus, IMO.

 

[kev_kb]

Nonsense. Simple as that. I keep angels with discus and thats not the case. Again one of the many myths regarding angels and discus that has been blown out of propotion.

Angels IMO are the best tankmates you could possibly keep with discus.

This is simply not nonsense! Keeping angels with discus may well work out for you, but to say it's a myth is just wrong and will be very misleading to new/potential discus keepers who may be reading this.

I have kept discus with angels and I had nothing but problems, as you say the angels are must faster feeders than discus, which caused a lot of problems for me, they simply didn't get much food or didn't want to eat. Putting in a large quantity of food didn't work out for me, the discus would go after it sometimes only to pushed or scared away by an incoming angel. Not to mention the problems I had with the angels bullying the discus around even though they were outnumbered.

When you consider that your discus could well be the most expensive part of your entire tank setup I just don't feel it's worth it try mixing them again.

IMO much much better tank mates for discus would be suitable Tetras and Corys.

 

[grayboy1]

No point arguing over this....if you want angels with your discus wait til ur discus are settled in the tank with tankmates such as corys and tetras. if everything is perfect for the discus the addition of a X ammount of small angels will be fine. you dont say what size ur angels were in relation to ur discus and u dont mention which was added first?

 

[kev_kb]

I'm not arguing, just giving another point of view so people reading this can make up their own minds. The angels went in the tank first, but the discus shortly followed, and the discus were about 2-3 times larger in body size.