Healthy Debate Needed

[voycey]

Hi all, great forum - have been watching it for a fair while now.

I want a healthy debate regarding mixing Angels and Discus as a research project. Im aware of the diseases that angels can pass to discus but many breeders and long time keepers of both fish say that its not as serious nor as commonplace as its made out to be.

Now whilst I understand that most people wouldnt want to risk losing a £75-£200 fish to a disease by simply mixing it with another type of fish, Im also aware of the feeding issues.

What i want to know is has anyone mixed Angels and Discus sucessfully for a long period of time, if so have they had any problems and how have they dealt with them?

Discus(s)

 

[funkybodal]

Hi there,

First off, welcome to the forum!

Whilst it's true that Angels sometimes have intestinal roundworms (Capillaria), that could possibly be caught by the Discus, you have to take into account the fact that all fish, including Discus themselves, can carry the parasite and thus, in my opinion, it would be foolish to use this as a reason for not mixing the two.

Moreover, this parasite is not only uncommon in aquarium fish but it's also not that serious and easy to treat.

Although I confess not to have any experience in keeping the two together, I think that Angels are great tankmates for Discus, being both peaceful and having similar requirements in general. The presence of a shoal of Angels is likely to make the Discus more confident, outgoing, and happy in general.

Cheers,
Luke.

 

[voycey]

Hi there,

First off, welcome to the forum!

Whilst it's true that Angels sometimes have intestinal roundworms (Capillaria), that could possibly be caught by the Discus, you have to take into account the fact that all fish, including Discus themselves, can carry the parasite and thus, in my opinion, it would be foolish to use this as a reason for not mixing the two.

Moreover, this parasite is not only uncommon in aquarium fish but it's also not that serious and easy to treat.

Although I confess not to have any experience in keeping the two together, I think that Angels are great tankmates for Discus, being both peaceful and having similar requirements in general. The presence of a shoal of Angels is likely to make the Discus more confident, outgoing, and happy in general.

Cheers,
Luke.

Thanks Luke - This forum is alot bigger than the one I usually use - and the other is quite opinionated when it comes to stuff like this - so i wanted to get another opinion.

My Angels are very placid - they are as picky as discus with food and rather small at the moment (2"-3" across), Im intending to buy 4-6 Discus so my tank will contain:

2 Red tailed Loaches
2 Angels
4-6 Discus
1 Large Tiger Plec
and possibly a shoal of neon Tetras
And prob a few Golden apple snails

Any more experiences?

 

[jmuccillo]

I currently keep both discus and angels but not in the same tank. A local LFS who deals mainly in discus keeps both together in his tanks and says there is no problem in doing so provided the angels are relatively small compared to the discus and not too aggressive as they will outcompete the discus for food. Anyway that is his experience and not mine.

From my experience with angels I have seen some individuals that can get quite aggressive both to there own kind and other species particularly when breeding. I would therefore not keep a breeding pair with discus.

I have also heard about the parasite issue and addmitedly have been put off keeping them together partly because of this. I don't profess to know much about this but would not risk my rather pricey discus given the apparant state of uncertainty on the subject.

joe.

 

[The-Wolf]

in one of the tanks at work we have discus and angels
the same tank is used for festivums too when they are in stock.

I've never had any problems in this tank with reguards disease
or aggression.

 

[CFC]

The real problem is not the parasite which is fairly uncommon but that regular tank bred angels (P.scalare) do not appreciate the same 80f temperatures as the discus do, the higher temperatures are likely to increase aggression from the angels which will then put more stress onto the far more gentle discus which is likely to result in outbreaks of disease. The higher temperatures will also increase the metabolism in the angels which will shortern their lifespans.
The combination could work nicely with a group of P.altum angels which are very similar to discus in their care needs but with wild caught fish (as 90% of altums are) there is the increased risk of the parasite.

 

[Katchan]

Up until mid december I had 3 angels (1 adult 2 sub-adult) in a 40Gallon with 2x3" discus and it went very well, it only ended because I down sized my collection and sold the discus. There was more problems with the paradise fish (thought it better to move it ) and the discus than the angel/discus combo.

Andrew

 

[voycey]

My Angels are currently in a tank of around 80C, I have been setting it up for when / if i choose to get discus.

Any more ideas / suggestions?

 

[voycey]

*bump*

 

[KageBunshin]

being a person who has kept angels and discus together... Here are my two cents.

Here is my biggest problem with angels and discus: Angels eat so darn fast!!! When I plop some colorbit or worms in, the go after it right away. They eat about twices as fast as discus do and therefore after every feeding session, they are superbloated while the slower discuses get a beggars meal. I had 7 Discus around 4 inch average and 2 smal' angels around 2 inches. But these two small angels ate about 1/2 of the food that I put in the tank. Disus are quite mellow and do not eat as fast. In the end i had to give away my angels to my neighbor for fear of starvation for the discus and the cories.

Other than that, the Angels thrived in my acidic (6.5) warm (87F) and resin filtered water just fine. Maybe it was just the type of angels that I had that ate fast (vieltails). They were pretty happy in my tank.

-kage

 

[voycey]

Thankyou Very much

My angels are quite picky eaters but they do eat fast - im going to feed the discus a good mixture of foods, both sinking, floating and flakes.
I will try it - hopefully it will be fine - if not i guess they will have to go