Are discus more difficult to raise ?

You don't find many differences? I have successfully raised juvie angels to adulthood and ended up with 2 spawning pair. I am now in the process of deciding what discus to get at 2 1/2". It would be comforting for me to know that they are similar in their needs.

I have kept and bred a ton of varieties of fish over the years and in my opinion, discus are just not a fish for the beginning aquarist. It is far easier to learn on a tank full of guppies than a tank full of expensive discus. Get the basics of keeping a tank and keeping fish down before jumping into the discus.

To be successful with discus you need to educate yourself on their requirements and provide them with what they need to thrive and be healthy. That is no different than for any other fish. If you go in to keeping discus thinking you can do it your way and not the way that's good for them, you will not be successful. For instance thinking you don't have to keep the tank temperature above 78. That is no different than for any other fish. Start with healthy, disease-free stock and you're already on your way to success. That is no different than for any other fish. Feed your young, growing babies and juvenile discus an excellent fortified diet and feed them more often while they are rapidly growing to ensure strong, healthy fish. That is no different than for any other fish. When you feed the growing discus more frequently, it will result in more chance of leftover food in the tank and the discus will produce more waste themselves, resulting in the need for frequent water changes. That is no different than for any other fish. With frequent feedings of young growing discus, maintenance is easier acomplished and more thorough in a bare-bottom tank. That is no different than for any other fish.

So this is just a brief example of comparison of discus keeping to other fishkeeping, including angels. Quite a lot of "That is no different than for any other fish." Break some of these basic fishkeeping requirements and you've broken your own success link. And these are basic requirements for many, many types of fish.

"Difficult" means something different to everyone (as I've found). With my Oscars & fancy Plecs, I do 2 70% water changes per week to keep their nitrates below 7 ppm or so, that also allows me to feed as often as I want. To me for years that's been the 'norm'. It's just what I do and what I'm used to. I understock all my 20+ tanks and nitrates in any one tank never get above 10 ppm. (I've got 4 Angels in different tanks also). So when I got 4 Discus a year ago I automatically took care of them the same way I do my precious Oscars. To me it's not "difficult" at all because it's just how I take care of all my tanks. To others it's super hard because they don't normallly take care of all their fish that way. Are Discus or Angels more difficult to raise? Heck no, not to me. And any decent caring fishkeeper isn't going to do more for their Discus than for any other kind of fish. They're going to give ALL their fish 110%, not just the Discus.

Agreed on the wild-caughts. I wouldn't attempt wild caught Discus or Angels for anything.

Why are Discus always suggested to the experienced fish keeper if there not so hard to keep if you practice good fish keeping habits like wookly water changes? I always thought they were hard to keep due to them liking soft acidic water and like me I got hard water alkaline water.
I been reading that PH is really a big deal but yet it gets mention that SA/CA cichlids shouldnt be with africans cuz they like different water parameters why is that? I dont plan on mixing them just puzzles me. I know some people complain bout GBR's cuz they like specific water parameters but others say it doesnt matter.
Just kinda confusing... So does PH really matter or not?