are angels and discus compatible?

R

Randy-S

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Oct 23, 2010
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Hello all, I am in the process of taking down my 200 gallon cubish marine reef tank. For a change of pace I am looking at setting up a planted discus tank with my 200. It measures 4' wide by 3' deep and 28" tall.
I know angels and discus come from the same location but are they compatible tanks mates?
Randy
 
As far as I know angels ARE discus, so they should get along as well as any other group of mixed discus. Never kept any of the regular sort so don't know about their behavior but angels can definitely be bullies, both intra-and cross species.

then again I have a mollie who is getting mean as a snake in her old age. Beat the bejeebers out of one little angel who was put into the tank with her because he acted out so badly with other angels that I feared for their safety. It improved his character somewhat but I wound up having to put Beluga the Menopausal Molly into the all-angels tank to spread her list of targets out a bit.

so to finally answer your question I think it depends on the individuals involved. :)
 
Been reading around the forum I think since my tank is 200 gallons doing a mix of say 8-12 discus and 5-7 angels should not be a problem as far as fighting I think the big concern is will the angels out compete the discus for food.
I think if i add the discuss first and they are say 3-4 inch each and add small angel later say in the 1-2 inch size it should keep the discus bolder
 
XanAvaloni said:
As far as I know angels ARE discus, so they should get along as well as any other group of mixed discus. Never kept any of the regular sort so don't know about their behavior but angels can definitely be bullies, both intra-and cross species.

then again I have a mollie who is getting mean as a snake in her old age. Beat the bejeebers out of one little angel who was put into the tank with her because he acted out so badly with other angels that I feared for their safety. It improved his character somewhat but I wound up having to put Beluga the Menopausal Molly into the all-angels tank to spread her list of targets out a bit.

so to finally answer your question I think it depends on the individuals involved. :)
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What? Lol, angels and discus are in two separate genera, you can't say that one is the other.
 
Randy-S said:
Been reading around the forum I think since my tank is 200 gallons doing a mix of say 8-12 discus and 5-7 angels should not be a problem as far as fighting I think the big concern is will the angels out compete the discus for food.
I think if i add the discuss first and they are say 3-4 inch each and add small angel later say in the 1-2 inch size it should keep the discus bolder
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That would way overstock your tank, I wouldn't do any more than 6 discus and 3 angels. 200 gallons may seem big right now, but put 19 fish that are all around 6 inches long and between 8 and 13 inches tall, and I guarantee you it will look puny afterwards. The tank's footprint matters more than its actual volume when you are considering stocking, and a 4x3 footprint doesn't provide that much free swimming space.
 
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Switching from Reef to F/W? I almost died when took my reef tanks down.

Anyway, rise the tank well.

I dont see any major problem keeping both together in 200G tank. Only problem I see is reaching bottom of the tank to anchor live plants unless you have long arm. That is if you are going that route.

Depending on the temp you decide to keep, you may even have SA dwarf cichlids and many varieties of corys as well.

Start off with discus then add angels, giving shy discus to settle before angels as you posted.

I will leave the stocking # to their keepers.

Good Luck! Any photos of reef set up?
 
What? Lol, angels and discus are in two separate genera, you can't say that one is the other.

this is what I get for repeating something I vaguely recall reading somewhere I don't remember on the internets. Consider assertion retracted and deleted. /blushes severely.
 
There are no major issues in a large tank but ime Discus do best when they're the most aggressive fish in the tank, which they aren't if Angels are present. Your proposed stocking level will be fine as long as you keep up on water changes, which for Discus should be at least 33% weekly. A good rule of thumb for Discus is to figure on 10 gals per adult, with a minimum population of 5 or 6 as they're very social fish.
 
SubRosa said:
Your proposed stocking level will be fine as long as you keep up on water changes, which for Discus should be at least 33% weekly.
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I strongly disagree. That tank is not large enough for 13-19 large fish. For one thing, discus do best when kept in water that is below 15-20ppm in nitrates, which will be very difficult to achieve once the fish reach their adult sizes. And in addition to the, the tank doesn't provide an adequate ammount of swimming space for that many fish.

A good rule of thumb for Discus is to figure on 10 gals per adult
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There is no such thing as a good rule of thumb for fishkeeping. ;)

Edit: And also, unless the tank is going to be pretty heavily planted, I would change more like 40-50% of the water per week (or you could do what I do on my 220 and just change 25% twice weekly).
 
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