My discus with other fish?

[Maj0rFiSh]

I have 2 new Blue turquoise discus, they are with keyhole cichlids at the moment, are they ok together?

And is it ok to add other tank mates, i want to put my Rainbow shark in, and my other angel fish, what are your opinions?

[racingjason]

No angels. I have other fish with mine, but even the neon tetras will steal the food from 6+" discus. I was warned about other fish stressing out, or taking the food but I never expected neons and a betta to be food bullys.

[Maj0rFiSh]

Hmm, well what i really need to know is if the angel will be aggressive towards the discus, the discus are 4.5 inches, the angel, is about, 3 inches.

[RedestWing]

The Angels will be alot more aggressive when fed. They will try to eat all the food before the Discus. I myself WILL NOT put Angels with my Discus for the fact that they cary many parasites. Also it is better to have a few more discus with the 2.

[Dangerdoll]

as long as the angel is smaller than the discuss, things should be fine.... just be sure to watch them Major.

[Maj0rFiSh]

It will only be one angel, ill give it a go in a few weeks, and see how it goes.

[Dangerdoll]

personally, I've had success with this..... and the whole thing about the Angels being carriers of that discus disease was said by someone here to be a myth.

[Oddball~]

Anyways, Discus should be BY THEMSELVES or in groups of 6 or more. They should NOT be paired with other fish and should live in unplanted, bare tanks until they reach FULL adult length. AFTER they reach this length should other fish, substrate, etc. be added.

IMHO, no angels.

[ScottoMacD]

There are certain fish that can be kept with discus with no ill effects. In fact some of the species can really add to the look of a discus tank.
IE: Hatchet fish, cardinals lemon tetras, bleeding hearts, serpaes, black neons, cories, otos, headstanders, ancistrus, checkerboard cichlids, siamensis, ramirezi rams

All of these will thrive in the extra warm water that discus like and most importantly will not spook the discus and are all tame enough to allow the discus time to get to the food to eat properly.

Some of the following are HIGHLY not recommended for discus tanks for various reason such as aggression,(eating habits and bullying) overactivity, (fish that look like they've had too much coffee) inablity to survive for long periods in the high temperature water (84 to 90 recommended)

IE: black skirts, buneos aires, silver tips, angels, apistos, silver dollars black and red phantom tetras , flame and red eye tetras, large pencil fish.

These lists are from a recent TFH article about the pros and cons of discus.

[congealedmeat]

Anyways, Discus should be BY THEMSELVES or in groups of 6 or more. They should NOT be paired with other fish and should live in unplanted, bare tanks until they reach FULL adult length. AFTER they reach this length should other fish, substrate, etc. be added.

IMHO, no angels.


What are your reasons for the above? I've never heard this other than it being an opinion

[Maj0rFiSh]

Yes same here, and i have a sand subtrate as these are large 5 inch discus, plants are no real but shhh, and they are with Keyhole cichlids that are peaceful.

[Dangerdoll]

.........are large 5 inch discus, plants are no real but shhh.......
hehehe, you told the discus they were real, didn't you ;)

[KarlskidMarx]

You can't keep black and red phantom tetras with Discus? Why is that? I have seen it many times and I wouldn't see the problem. I've kept black and red phantom tetras along with Roberti tetras and find this hard to believe.

[Maj0rFiSh]

hehehe, you told the discus they were real, didn't you ;)

Danger! shhh they are right here next to me, if they knew they'd freak :p

[ScottoMacD]

You can't keep black and red phantom tetras with Discus? Why is that? I have seen it many times and I wouldn't see the problem. I've kept black and red phantom tetras along with Roberti tetras and find this hard to believe.


This is from the article I previously mentioned. Verbatium
"In addition, many small characins, like phantom tetras Megalamphodus spp. and flame tertas hyphessobrycon flammeus, simply can't take the heat, so they have to stay out of the upper-80's discus water."


It was quite a good article. It is in the October 2004 TFH magazine.
The article was called "Over 12 Terrific Tankmates For Your Discus"

Hope it answers your question.

[Maj0rFiSh]

How many discus can i keep in this setup, will they reach full size in here?

48x15x18

[clayt101]

I find it really depends on the temperment of the discus. If your discus are very shy, it is best to keep them alone or else they will not get any food. On the other hand, the discus I currently keep have no trouble competing for food with any other fish. I used to keep them with wild altum angels and they had no trouble competing what so ever.

[Kissofthegorami]

In a large tank I don't think a couple angels would be too much trouble for the discus. Angels do like to be the boss of the tank and will bully the discus during feeding time. I think your discus would be happiest with schools of tetras and hatchet fish. I have heard contradicting thingsabout angel diseases and discus. I suppose if there is such a thing, it would be in wild-caught angels. Most angels you guy are domestically bred, probably even locally. Altums are wild-caught so they'd probably be the bigger risk.