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Jul 5, 2010
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I have been having a 46g for about a year, and now just setting up my 2nd tank - a 120g (long) tank. I am still debating to myself whether it should be a discus tank or another angel tank. Is 120g suitable for Altums or Discus? What do you think?
 
I have been having a 46g for about a year, and now just setting up my 2nd tank - a 120g (long) tank. I am still debating to myself whether it should be a discus tank or another angel tank. Is 120g suitable for Altums or Discus? What do you think?

Yes, it will work for both.(either/or)

if you are lucky enough to find Altums it should work well.
also suitable for a good sized school of discus.
 
Star_rider and bderick, thank you for the response.

Discus is beautiful and no doubt in my mind I would very much love to have my 2nd tank to be a Discus tank. After some research, I only come down to one issue. Discus thrives mostly on protein diet, and that would be a problem when I have to be out of town for longer than a few days; the norm is about 2 weeks each time I am on a trip. I used to setup automatic feeder in my angels tank and that worked out well. Not sure how this would work out for Discus. Any thoughts or suggestions?
 
I have already thought of the option of having someone swings by to check on the tank, but it's not possible.
 
I think you are probably better off with Angelfish given your common extended trips. Discus keepers often do multiple water changes per week, so you would have that issue in addition to the feeding issue.

Angelfish will generally eat flake food and do not need exceptionally clean water. Leaving an angelfish tank for 2 weeks I would do a big water change before leaving. Then have an automatic feeder feed the fish about 1/2 normal feedings for a week. Then have them fast for the second week.

You probably could get away with fasting the whole time, but I would not push it.
 
actually the Discus diet and the Angel Diet are very similar.

as are water parameters.. but this depends in part on the Angels you are keeping.

Wild stock(Angels) will require very similar water as Discus.

Domestic Angels are more adaptable but both species would benefit by similar water conditions.

on to discus.

the stock you often find now are domestic strains and many, many generations removed from Wild Stock.
as a result they too have adapted to a wide variety of water conditions.

often misleading is the water changes..with young discus it is true.. water changes are your friend.. but this is in part due to the need for multiple feedings..often resulting in increasing the fouling of water.. water changes help reduce the detrimental effects of foul water. increased feeding helps reduce problems of poor growth in young.

as the Discus reach adult hood.. the requirement of water temp and water conditions become a bit more relaxed.. since Adult Discus can go without food for longer..
for my Adult domestic discus I do weekly water changes of 50% same as for my Adult angels(wild stock)
when they were young I did daily changes as they grew dropped to 3 weekly then to my current 1-2 weekly..depending on my feeding regime..

I often feed my adult discus 2 -3 small feedings daily
both have survived week long trips with no feedings.
 
I myself wouldn't take the chance with discus unless I know I have the time for them. Over $40 for a 2" discus to die because I don't have time for them just doesn't compute in brain. A nicely (heavy) planted tank with angels is what I would do. The plants will help those extended trips.
 
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