angels and discus in the same tank?

[TomFromStLouis]

While I put the finishing touches on my aquarium stand for the 75 gallon tank I am planning, I am being distracted by discus. All along the plan was for a heavily planted tank with angels and maybe some schoolers, but the varieties of discus now available are amazing! If I run this tank at 82 degrees or so, could I have a couple of discus and maybe 3 or 4 angels together?

I have never kept discus and am reading up, but it does not seem too tough. Not missing water changes seems important. And I still don't know what KH or pH I will have, so maybe this is all a dream. I am not too sure about the aesthetics of angels and discus together - they both deserve to be the star of any tank. Pinch me - can I do this? Comments welcome.

 

[125gJoe]

Angelfish carry a certain type of disease?

I'm not sure if this is fact, but it has been talked about...

I'll see if I can find the article(s) on it. Also, I wonder how Angelfish will do in a tank above 82 degrees?

 

[Dangerdoll]

I keep Angelfish and Discus together though the tank stays at 82. They seem quite content together, never pushing one or the other. The discus get into little spats amongst each other here and there but nothing serious. I keep it at 82 because of my weariness of the warmth for the Angels, I believe 82 is their max desired temp. I just recently lost my female Angel due to bloat but this hasn't affected any of the others....though I wonder if the heightened temp had any thing to do with her falling ill.
I now have 3 discus with 1 angel and am contemplating whether another angel could join in.... I just need to do the homework on how and if it can be done with my already established male.....
The thing to be careful with is to be sure the discus are larger than the angels you bring in, this was a major warning to me when I decided to go for the discus (I had the Angels for a few years prior to getting the discus). Apparently, it is believed that the Angels can be quite bully-ish if given the chance.....I didn't experience this myself though.......Like you, I was intrigued by the discus (was for quite a while) and I do love the addition of the them and can say I'm not one bit displeased with my final decision.

HTH and Good Luck

 

[TomFromStLouis]

thanks, so far

Joe, I did come across a mention that angels can carry a disease that does not affect them but can cause problems for discus (see the Krib Discus page). This seems to be a part of the delicate nature of discus (less resilient/more sensitive/whatever). This does not seem like a total deal breaker to me, but something to be aware of...

Danger, I have read that higher temps are good for angels in the sense that they are more disease resistant (although the higher metabolism leads to a shorter life) so I bet the bloat was not a temperature-related thing. I take it your discus/angel tank is not the 55 you maintain - could you tell me more about it? Size? Did the discus grow to full size? How often do you feed? Change water?

And most difficultly, how do the two species get along 'visually'? What colors of each do you have and does your eye find looking at the tank relaxing given the competing 'stars' or is it like looking at one of those Super bowl halftime shows where there is so much action competng for your eye it becomes distracting/nauseating? (I exaggerate for effect.)

Thank you for your detailed response before - it is the sort of encouragement I need. I will only have this one tank and am beginning to think I would miss whichever species might get cut out.

ps - I will be buying juvenile angels and discus both, so size mismatch should not be an issue...

 

[Dangerdoll]

sorry for such a long response...

Hi again Tom,

well, the 55 gallon is the tank I have these guys in. Of course I've switched things around since my tank spec post (I really need to get back there for updating) as to what's left in the 55 I speak of is 3 discus, not full size yet but growing fast, a few cories, and a lemon pleco, 2 bolivian rams...oh, and of course my male Angel. I've moved the puffers, the RTS, the common pleco, a few cories, 2 more rams, and the newest addition of 2 kribs into another 55 gallon. With this one, the only change I am considering is bringing the pleco to the LFS for a smaller type.

With the Angel/discus tank (my fav of the two) here are my details. I have a few (not many at all) small plants and java moss, along with 2 pieces of driftwood. The gravel is a natural color with substrate underneath for the plants (I forget the name, Lourite maybe(?)). I feed them tropical granules from Tetra, for large fish in the morning and Flakes at around 7-ish at night. They get bloodworm treats once a week. I've read the Discus need 2 feedings daily while growing. My Angel, without his fins is about 6 inches with fins, about 2.5 without. When I got the discus, I went by the size of the angel without the fins. I've had the discus for a little over 2 months or so, maybe 3. Two of them are slower at growing than the one is, the smaller ones being about 4 inches (with fins) and the bigger one being about an inch taller. I think they've probably grown an inch and a half each since I went and got them. I change the water once every 4 days at 25-30% religiously (I'm sure you've discovered the pristine water conditions needed by the discus, to not do so would be way too expensive of a risk for the discus).
My Angel is a brilliant silver with verticle stripes and the one I just lost was a marble. They have been know to spawn, though never in the company of the discus so I'm not sure of the aggression patterns for the discus during Angel spawning. The discus are from smallest to biggest, a Pigeon Blood, the next is a Cobalt, and the biggest is a Royal Blue. I must say that despite the wide diversity I have here, I do find a relaxing eye when it comes to peering in this tank. While each is so different from the next, it is this diversity that allows you to look throughout the entire tank and not just on one point. That may not be what one looks for in looking for a single spotlight in the tank, my idea was to bring the viewer to the entire tank without settling on just one thing. Each adds their own individual beauty, therefore beautifying the entire space. I don't believe one cuts out the beauty of any other, they just enhance things. I believe it's nice to be able to see diversity.
I haven't had a problem yet as far as aggression is concerned other than I have already mentioned so I would say go for it. I also read somewhere that the more wild the species of Angel you get, the more likely it is they will carry the disease that is fatal to the discus. I hope I've included what you needed here, but by all means let me know if you need more info.....I'll be glad to help.

 

[Deb2]

I too keep angels and discus in the same tank. From what I understand the disease that is spoken of is a virus that wild angels can carry that does not affect them but can be deadly to discus. I have never experienced this but I keep tank raised angels.
Dangerdoll is giving good advise. The only thing that I would say differently is that I feed live black worms at night time. Also I have some discus that never accepted flake food so I feed them frozen in the morning that is mixed with some flake and garlic.