Discus & Angelfish

[sunni]

Can these two fishes be kept together? I have heard both yes and no, what is your opinion and why?

I have a 75 gallon that I am concidering making a Discus tank, but I would love to have both of these beautiful Cichlids together in this tank!!

 

[fish_doc]

There is a big debate on this. Many will tell you no because of parasites on one fish can affect the other. But some breeders manage to breed both fish and raise them in tanks together. That is why you get mixed answers. Personally I would just avoid it since there is questions that can affect the health of the fish.

 

[Menagerie]

That's quite a sig!!

I have seen them kept together at BrianNY's house (or was I dreaming?--I know he had discus and black skirted tetras hmmmmm).

I know for a first time discus keeper, you may want to keep only discus, as they extra water changes.

I'm not being very useful, maybe Brian will come along and straighten out my memory!

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

I'm not sure if it's still an issue or not, but a few years back there was some type of viral infection affecting a lot of captive bred angels: this virus could easily be passed on to discus. As a result, many people wouldn't dream of mixing the two species. Not sure if it's still an issue or not, but it may be something to think about.

 

[sunni]

OK, I will proabably skip the angels then. What other fish are good to keep with Discus?

 

[glasstapper]

def. hit up brian ny ,, very knowledgeable on discus

 

[BrianNY]

Hi sunni. You've asked a question for which there are lots of answers. Many people keep discus and angels together with no ill effects. However, if you want to maximize your success, I would never suggest a new discus enthusiast keep them with anything but themselves.

Discus are not hard to keep, in fact they are fairly easy once you understand their requirements. The most important thing is to keep their tank clean, and do frequent water changes. Part of the problem with mixing discus and other species is that discus are picky eaters. It is too easy for other tank mates to win in the competition for a meal. The end result is usually overfeeding to make sure the discus get their share. This leads to poor tank and water quality, then sick discus.

I do have a 125g planted tank whos inhabitants include 5 adult discus, 19 black neons, 12 assorted dwarf cichlids, 3 clown loaches and 6 albino dwarf albino plecos.
This tank was established and running for quite some time before I added any discus.

All of my other discus tanks are discus only. They have bare bottoms (no gravel), and are set up to make the maintenance as easy as possible.