Bare vs. Planted Tanks and Discus

[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...