angels & discus

[freshfishies]

Can they be kept together?

[2075turner]

yes in a large enough tank

[ottawa_fry22]

Yes angel and discus are fine together as long as angels don't pair up and terrorize the peace.  Discus will get stressed from that. 

[freshfishies]

So they are okay, but not if either is breeding?

[cichlidicted]

as prvsly said, but if you dont mind me asking is there a reason you wanna keep both in one tank? in my experience when having both in one tank, i feel sorry for the angels, when comparing the colors and beauty discuss always takes the attention. 

[freshfishies]

as prvsly said, but if you dont mind me asking is there a reason you wanna keep both in one tank? in my experience when having both in one tank, i feel sorry for the angels, when comparing the colors and beauty discuss always takes the attention. 

  I didn't think of it that way to be honest! You are completely right. I should have them separate. The discus would definitely grab the attention. Thank you

[Chinaman]

Also it's the feeding habit. Angels are fast and tend to "siphon" up the food
even before discus can get to it.  In feeding, discus is very slow and
laid back.  Just a personal observation.

Cheers,

Sam

[Fishnut]

When we had the discus guy at the meeting for his talk on Discus, I remember him comparing the way discus and angels eat.  Discus like to slowly pick at the food.  He said that they pick it up, chew it, spit it out, pick it up for some more chewing, etc.  Angels on the other hand just eat .  So not only are discus slower to get to the food, they take longer to eat it.

It's been a while since I had discus but I do remember them taking a while to eat.  The first few bites would be taken quickly, then it would peeter off to slow grazing.  My angels, on the other hand, had eaten all their food by the time I had finished feeding the rest of the fish in my fish room and they were looking for more.

[ciaus]

I am not sure about the feeding habits of the Angels, and if Evelyn says it can be done in a large enough tank, then it can be done.  I have never tried to keep Angels with Discus for a much more sinister reason.  I have seen it written, in more than one source, that Angels can carry a parasite which is harmless to them and deadly to Discus.  I have never seen it, but I am also unwilling to put it to the test.  I have seen other people with Angels and Discus and every time I mention this, they too acknowledge having heard about this, but no one I know has ever encountered the problem first hand.
Do you really want to mix expensive Discus fish with creatures that may cause them to die?

HTH
Ciaus

[2075turner]

With regards to the eating habits.  As long as you don't have a group of older discus that take their time eating and young angels that gobble up everything in sight you should be okay.  My juvies that I have gobble everything in sight as angels do....but like I said before you have to have a tank large enough to house both.  The problem that arises is that you have two cichlids that become territorial (especially when breeding) and will defend their turf.  This is why you have to have a large tank to keep them in.  As for the "angel disease" I haven't come accross anything in literature that can prove this theory.  I have seen angels with discus in person, on the net, in books....so I would assume that you can keep them together with no problems.  I myself have angels and discus in the same house (but not in the same tank as I like strain specific tanks...well maybe two strains but no more than that)

[fischkopp]

I have seen angels with discus in person, on the net, in books....so I would assume that you can keep them together with no problems. 

I want to add that I have seen videos taken in the Amazons that show discus and angels side-by-side. That should answer all questions.
As stressed earlier, make sure that each fish gets their share for space and food and there will be no problem.

[ciaus]

 I went looking for the references that I had seen for not not mixing Discus and Angels and I have subsequently found this page, and the quotation below...

http://joshday.com/discusfish.htm

"Some aquarists still believe angelfish and discus cannot be kept together due to the angelfish being a carrier for the parasite that causes "discus disease," a fatal, incurable malady, but due to angels, as well as discus, now being bred in vast numbers commercially, this has become a rare occurrence."

If you are looking at obtaining F0(wild caught) fish that would maybe invalidate the above quotation.  I suppose that the bottom line is still going to be good animal husbandry, and using a quarantine tank before adding new fish, regardless of the species, will be the best method  to mitigate health risks.

HTH
Ciaus

[2075turner]

he does go on to say...
"I keep my discus with bala sharks, clown loaches, an angelfish, a royal pleco, and a black ghost knife. All get along fine."

Not sure if I agree with all his thoughts as well.  But everyone has their own opinion, and everyone raises fish differently

[Fishnut]

On the subject of parasites, wouldn't it easily be corrected by quarantining each species separately and treating each with prazzi followed by a treatment of that med that gets rid of calamanus worms? 

I also used to keep angels and discus in the same fish room.  I had 4 discus and hundreds of angels, so if that angel parasite was common, my discus would have succumbed to it.  The same nets, siphons etc were used on everything and I consistently double dipped my hands in various tanks.  The discus were very healthy and never showed signs of being sick.  The only species that had their own set of supplies was the goldfish and the quarantine tank...which were on the bottom shelf to prevent any accidental splashing or dripping into healthy tanks.

I'm not saying that to convince someone to go ahead and keep them together.  I'm just adding my experience to the pot.

It sounds like there are many fish combos that people can try.  I'm not a fan of a bunch of them but that's just me and how I feel fish should be kept.