Stocking--discus Vs Angels

[metfan581]

Hello,
I am gettong a 55.
I have a penguin 330.
I have diecided on lowlight plants (a little under 2wpg)
I have always liked angels and cardinal
but
now i seem to like discus better
i was wondering if i could base the tank on discus
so
i was thinking 2 discus
but then i thought one discus would bully the other
so then i thought 3
so is 3 discus good in a 55
and mabey 1 plec
i dont know i was thinking bout angels but now im thinking bout discu
what is ur opinion
if you had the same 55...what would u get





excuse the typos cause i cant type...lol

 

[blitztidus]

Discus can grow pretty big and can be much harder to control the params for them. I love angels and would go for 2 or 3 angels and maybe a few other types of fish like different types of tetras or corys

 

[Krib Crazy]

I like angels!!They are beautiful fish!! They show such personality. You should go for them because dicus need to be in groups (dont know exactly how many) and i dont think you can get them for a 55 gallon tank.

 

[metfan581]

any other opinions?

 

[Gourami Lover88]

With all of the new color varites and commercial breed discus are much easier to keep then they once where. When discus are young they need to be in groups of 4 or more. In a 55 you could keep 6 if you to frequent water changes.

If you are going with the standard planted amazon tank with cardianls and plecos you can get older discus from breeders or well stocked fish stores. Older fish are better sutied to a community tank and they are not as sensitive to nitrate as baby discus. But even adult discus still need a little bit of extral care then angel fish.

In a 55gal community I would get 3-4 adults OR 1 pair and let them settle in then add 10 or so cardinals then a smaller pleco specie.

However adult discis can get expensive, a pair could cost from a breeder or store $200 plus and adults $50 plus. But on aquabid or ebay you can get adults for the same price as juveis if you look for a good deal

 

[Anita]

Hi

In a 55 gallon tank you could keep 4 or 5 discus (as you probably know they require 10 galls of water each as adults) I would keep 5 if it were me, perhaps a few Tetra's and a small clean up crew (have to be selective though) cory's and maybe a small pleco or Otto's.

On the other hand you could buy a nice adult pair and keep them with a couple of Angels, I know some people say they shouldn't be kept together, but I know a guy who has kept both for the past couple of years without any problems. In fact his Angels and discus are beautiful. You would still have room for a few other fish.

Apparently it best way to get the Angels much smaller than the discus. They will grow along side their cousins and learning to respect the bigger fish. Angels are greedy fish and can get quite bossy at feeding times, smaller discus would not compete for food


Anita...

 

[metfan581]

g thanks
all
u made my day
well
i was wondering
bout what other kinds
of fish can i get too

 

[kev_kb]

One thing to consider is that a fully grown Angel will probably eat all the Cardinals, Discus also may do this but I've heard mixed views on it. I had an Angel in with my Discus and had to take him back to the LFS as he kept fin nipping them, plus they are much faster eaters than Discus.

If it was my tank I'd get 5 Discus, a small pleco and some tetras. If you buy good quality Discus, use RO water, and change a couple times a week, keep them at the right temp and feed them right you should do fine and they will make a stunning display.

 

[Anita]

Hi
My discus never touch any of the smaller fish, however they will eat any algae shrimps I put in the tank

Anita...

 

[annka5]

I'd go for 4 or 5 discus, as near-adult as you can afford - a least 4" as when you have plants and substrate in your tank it is far harder to keep it scrupulously clean. Young discus are too sensitive for this IMO.
Personally, I'd skip the angels or at least delay their addition, until the discus are settled in and growing nicely.
I'd be inclined to add cardinals first as then they will be settled and hopefully have grown a bit before you add the discus.
I keep cory and cardinals with my discus and they get on fine.
Have heard you need to watch out with plecs as they can take a liking to the slime on discus and attach themselves to them causing stress and injuries. However, this is much disputed by others.
Also heard that angels carry a parasite which is not harful to them, but bad for discus. Again, this is much disputed.
IMO you just have to decide on that for yourself.
Have a look at www.simplydiscus.com for advice etc - it's pretty useful.

 

[Gourami Lover88]

Rocky Mountain Discus Has Info about keeping plecos with discus.

Also heard that angels carry a parasite which is not harful to them, but bad for discus. Again, this is much disputed.

Yes angels to carry a virus that wont harm them but it can be fatal to discus. And full grown angels would out compete discus for food and the angels would proabably eat the cardinals anyway.

Since discus need higher water tempreture then most fish. Discus should be kept at 82F as the minimum. The only corys that should go with discus are the commercial breed corys like peppered, albino, bronze.

 

[Durbkat]

I spoke to a member on here that has discus and he said that if he had a 55g that he wouldn't get it because the discus that are reasonably priced have dull colors like gray and are expensive. At my lps they have discus that are about 3"-4" long and they were like $35 and they were gray which to me is a dull color for such an expensive fish and you have to do so much extra work for them and the water has to be perfect all the time and you have to feed them beef heart and in order to have that you have to have a bare bottom tank. Personally I think its to much work and it will be alot cheaper and easier to get angels. Plus you can get other fish with them to. So for a 55g I would get 4 small angels and about 6-8 black widow tetras and then once the angels get bigger and 2 of them form a pair return the other 2 angels then enjoy the tank.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

i'd think that considering all the extra work necessary to keep discus in a 55g, you'd be happier in the long run getting some koi angels. or you could save up some more money and get a 70g (just as long as a 55, but wider).

as for cories to go along with discus, there are species of cory that naturally live in the same temperature water as discus. how long a particular species has been domesticated has very little influence on their temperature/metabolic needs. i suggest that you seach for "discus" in the cory catfish forum to learn which type would work well for your tank.

 

[kev_kb]

No Discus should be gray should it???

Mine have cost from £20 to £40, which I don't consider all that expensive for Discus but I guess it depends on the person. Apart from very young fish I've never seen a Discus in an LFS I would consider dull or unattractive, but maybe that's just the shops I visit. Discus develop their colour as they mature, so you can't really complain about the colour of very young fish.

Also you don't need to keep them in a bare bottom tank, it makes cleaning up after them easier, but it's not by any means essential.

 

[Durbkat]

Well thats what I meant, it doesn't HAVE to be bare bottom but it will make it alot easier and some people have said with beef heart thats its very messy and that it can alter the P.H if you missed a piece while vacum cleaning it out.