Bare vs. Planted Tanks and Discus

[125gJoe]

I was on a chat at a Discus website and get chewed out by regulars for mentioning live plants and Discus in the same sentence. It seems to be the 'trend' there to have bare tanks - and no other way is acceptable, almost to the point of abusing the fish if plants are in the same tank. I was just a bit shocked at the narrow-mindedness of these people. For me, I couldn't have Discus in a bare tank. I realize this may be good for breeders, but not at all for me. I had no idea this is such a touchy topic for some.
I think some may be just too lazy to keep maintenance going on their aquariums. At least a couple of them leaned that way when they mentioned the extra 'unneeded' effort. One even said "plants and Discus just cannot be done." Weird........ :(

[slipknottin]

personally i like natural looking tanks for display tanks.

If i was just trying to breed them, then id have a bare tank.

But when people come to look at the tank and you want them to be impressed, having a beautifully planted tank with Discus and cory cats is the only way to go. IMO.

[goldfish freak]

80gJoe have you checked out the SimplyDiscus forum? www.simplydiscus.com , the folks there do seem to prefer bare bottom tanks, especially for growing out young fish, but are not narrow minded when it comes to planted tanks or other forms of keeping discus.

[125gJoe]

Yes, that's where I went - Simply-surround-your-Discus-with-glass-only.com

:rolleyes:

[kveeti]

There's fanatics for every subject under the sun. I know absolutely nothing about discus but I do know your tank is positively GORGEOUS.

Also, on your tank specs, the picture you have there right now, bottom left hand corner, do u know the exact name of that plant? Is it a crypt? wendtii? beckettii?

[Tyler718]

I've been keeping mine with silk plants for about 1 1/2 years. My Discus seem real happy. I guess everybody is entitled to there opinions. To me a bare tank will be pretty boring.

Put it this way. Let's put them in a room to live with nothing in it. Let's see if they would be happy.:D

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by kveeti
Also, on your tank specs, the picture you have there right now, bottom left hand corner, do u know the exact name of that plant? Is it a crypt? wendtii? beckettii?
Thanks!
It's a Red Wendtii (Cryptocoryne wendtii).

[JohnMemorialHS]

To be honest, live plants don't do good under the high temperature discus desires. In nature, discus lives with high amount of drift wood around them, barely any plants, so technically, pieces and pieces of driftwood in the tank would be the most natural decoration. Plastic plants is probably better, because they can handle the high temperature better ;)

[a_free_bird73]

There has been many articles written on this and the verdict is there is absolutly no reason for why you can't keep Discus in a normal planted community tank...

From my personal experience, the only problem I have encountered is feeding. Unless forced to do so, I found most Discus will not eat until the food sinks to the bottom. If there is gravel, they will sometimes ignor the food for a while and if it is a community tank then nothing will be left for them to eat... However, when they are forced into competitive environments they tend to change their feeding habits though some are a little more tricky to handle...

[JohnMemorialHS]

Yes, discus can live in a community tank temperature (77~81), but they will not thrive, and often times, they're prone to diseases when the temperature isn't above 82. Discus really aren't the best community fish out there, they're more suited to a species tank.

[Tiger15]

The breeder I bought my first discus from swore that, from his communication with all discus breeders, discus is best kept in bare tank with sponge filter. To say thet discus can't go with plants or gravel is a preference by most breeders but not absolute. I have seen many planted discus tanks in public aquariums, including one 3,000 gallon wild discus, altum angel and tetra tank in the Barns and Noble Book Store adjacent to the Baltimore National Aquarium. The tank is filled with lush plants that fill this 16 feet long, 6 feet high tank all the way to the top.

[sparky7]

Originally posted by JohnMemorialHS
To be honest, live plants don't do good under the high temperature discus desires. In nature, discus lives with high amount of drift wood around them, barely any plants, so technically, pieces and pieces of driftwood in the tank would be the most natural decoration. Plastic plants is probably better, because they can handle the high temperature better ;)
Hate to disagree with you , all you have to do is match your plants correctly. Many plant sites even have Discus packages, high temp. plants and all can go well.

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by JohnMemorialHS
Yes, discus can live in a community tank temperature (77~81), but they will not thrive, and often times, they're prone to diseases when the temperature isn't above 82. Discus really aren't the best community fish out there, they're more suited to a species tank. I have a Discus tank... :)