Cichlid with Discus

[CoKen]

hi guys

do u think discus can live with African cichlid in the same tank? i wanna put a few african cichlid into my 44 gallons tank. are african cichlid aggressive?

your opinion are welcome and appreciated.

rgds
Ken

[Ryan]

No. They require different water conditions and most African cichlids are far too aggressive. Discus are best kept alone or with peaceful South American fish like tetras and rams.

Ryan

[LizStreithorst]

Ryan is correct, of course.

But I've put West African Jewels in a tank with Discus and Angels. The Discus beat the crap out of the Jewels!!!! Until one day, the Jewels decided to raise a family. At that point the tables turned and the Discus were running for their lives. I'd like to try it again one day with a group of all female or all male Jewels.

[poconogal]

hi guys

do u think discus can live with African cichlid in the same tank? i wanna put a few african cichlid into my 44 gallons tank. are african cichlid aggressive?

your opinion are welcome and appreciated.

rgds
Ken
No, unless you want to kill your Discus. Africans are very aggressive, and have vastly different water requirements.

Connie

[Kindredspirit]

I have tanks of both Africans and Discus ~ they are correct ~ very aggressive! I have Rams with my Discus too and all is well ...except once the Rams spawned and they turned into Africans real quick!!

Discus are so mellow and beautiful ~ Africans IMO .....at least mine are lil piranahs!


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/29/29_2_15.gif

[t_j]

I wouldn't IME I couldn't even keep a placo with my cichlids because they killed it.

[Adam Robinson]

Agreed my chilids are so aggresive if i was to put any "new" fish in from my lps they would kill the fish in less than a week "I seen it Happen". However, In my discuss tank i am keeping 4 wild caught angels as an experiment 3 months and a bit in all is well the discuss and the angels are actually liking each other....i also have two catfish who patrol the bottom for me and they seem to be very happy as well. But as for Africans with Discuss no chance,....my bad for telling everyone my life story.

[nicholswc]

I have a 125 planted community tank with 12 Discus and 2 yellow Lab cichlids, 2 fire red gouramies, 1 dwarf gourami, 2 powder blue gouramis, 2 white tetra, 14 Neon tetra, 6 Blue Ram, 5 fancy guppies, 5 Ottos, 1 bn placo. 2 zebra loaches, 1 Angelicus Botia

I have had no problems with any of these fish together for 6 months. The only thing fighting are the occasional Discus males around the females. The colors on all the fish are wonderful! Health of the fish is very good. I change 40% of the water 2X's weekly. The Discus and the Labs swim by each other and never have seen a hint of aggresion. It is the most beautiful tank I have ever had.

Filtration
planted tank
30 gal planted refugium under the 125 that the water flows from the top tank to the refugium under.
fluvol 404
Aquion 75 HOB
regular water changes.

Wild Wally

[whaddisfish]

why dont u go for dwarf south american cichlids instead?
these are compatible with discus and are not as agressive

[myofibroblast]

Until the SA cichlids start breeding. I have a pair of rainbow cichlids I raised since they were babies. They are the most chill SA cichlids. 5-6 months into their young lives they decided to spawn, eat their young, and spawn again every 2-3 weeks. Normally their fry provide delicious nutrition for the cardinal tetras, but they become so aggressive in parenthood (even towards much larger fish) that keeping them with discus is very sketchy, unless you have bad *** discus...

[Dat.Fish.Guy]

I agree! Rift Lake cichlids need a different type of water than discus and are agressive. Some species of the West African cichlids work, I have a West African butterfly cichlid with my discus and he doesnt bother my other fish.

[discuspaul]

Interesting stuff here. I've never kept African Cichlids with discus, but I can't help but think there may be a few varieties that can be compatibly kept with discus.

[bluelagoon]

NO,especially if they're under a year old!!Rule number one;it's a discus tank.They may be able to live together,but I wonder what folks' discus/tanks look like who do things like that.To a trained eye it may appear odd to some people.JUST SAYING.....
hi guys

do u think discus can live with African cichlid in the same tank? i wanna put a few african cichlid into my 44 gallons tank. are african cichlid aggressive?

your opinion are welcome and appreciated.

rgds
Ken

[jmf3460]

I have a 125 planted community tank with 12 Discus and 2 yellow Lab cichlids, 2 fire red gouramies, 1 dwarf gourami, 2 powder blue gouramis, 2 white tetra, 14 Neon tetra, 6 Blue Ram, 5 fancy guppies, 5 Ottos, 1 bn placo. 2 zebra loaches, 1 Angelicus Botia

I have had no problems with any of these fish together for 6 months. The only thing fighting are the occasional Discus males around the females. The colors on all the fish are wonderful! Health of the fish is very good. I change 40% of the water 2X's weekly. The Discus and the Labs swim by each other and never have seen a hint of aggresion. It is the most beautiful tank I have ever had.

Filtration
planted tank
30 gal planted refugium under the 125 that the water flows from the top tank to the refugium under.
fluvol 404
Aquion 75 HOB
regular water changes.

Wild Wally

This guy isn't lying, somehow he manages to keep the peace between all these fish, he even has discus/bn plecos spawning in this community tank and has gotten wrigglers before, I've seen it and I can vouch for him.

[kris2341]

It can work, is it optimal? definitely not, but as people are able to keep and grow discus in hard tap water, naturally one can throw in a few rift lake cichlids in there as long as they are healthy.

Now AGGRESSION is one thing that varies between fish and there's no guarantee a rift lake mbuna cichlid won't tear up a discus or even the other way around. Though typically peacocks and labs are usually more docile so they can work more often than not. Considering what we tend to feed discus though, I would be worried about bloating the african cichlids as most are omnivores/herbivores save for haps.

[jsullins]

it will end badly if you do it......

[briztoon]

As has been mentioned, the only cichlids I would consider keeping with Discus would be specific dwarf South American cichlids. Those that can handle the higher temperatures that Discus prefer.

Blue Rams are the obvious choice and has been done for years. Otherwise you could look at a lot of the Peruvian, Columbian and Venezuelan Apistogramma species. Maybe some of the dwarf acaras from the Laetacara and Nannacara genus'.

[Ryan]

There are just a lot of variables and differences in parameters that could cause issues. I'll expand on my first post in this thread, from eight years ago (yikes).

For instance, there are some West Africans that love soft water and are probably peaceful enough for a discus tank (Enigmatochromis lucanusii comes to mind), but that fish would burn out at temperatures over 80F because they're often kept in the mid to high 70s. I learned the hard way that albino krib fry would burn out in a warm discus tank. I tried to grow out fry from some of my kribs years ago by throwing them in a 150 with my discus, and they would always end up lethargic, then bloat and die. Their siblings in non-discus tanks were fine.

Pelmatochromis is fairly peaceful and they are very adaptable to water conditions, but I can tell you from the group I had that they are fairly boisterous and active as 6"+ adults, so they'd not only out-eat discus, but they would also probably stress the discus from all the romping around.

Some Tanganyikans that have been in the trade for years are adapted to a range of water conditions. Several years ago I bought two tiny Neolamprologus brichardi, about 2", from a local cichlid guy and put them in a 60 gallon tank with a giant pair of angels. Within a week, the brichardi had paired off and were tormenting these two big angels to the point that the angels were cowering in the corners of the tank. And those brichardi weren't even full grown, and hadn't even spawned yet.

So I get that there are some situations where it may seem plausible, but with each African cichlid I can always think of a reason why it may be detrimental to one or both species. It often boils down to either water parameters or aggression issues.

Having said that, I have kept several West African cichlids with South American cichlids and they have done surprisingly well. West Africans are very similar in temperament and water requirements to several SA cichlids. But again, these are in tanks with temps at 78 - 80F, which is a bit on the low side for discus.

[musicmarn1]

Agreed my chilids are so aggresive if i was to put any "new" fish in from my lps they would kill the fish in less than a week "I seen it Happen". However, In my discuss tank i am keeping 4 wild caught angels as an experiment 3 months and a bit in all is well the discuss and the angels are actually liking each other....i also have two catfish who patrol the bottom for me and they seem to be very happy as well. But as for Africans with Discuss no chance,....my bad for telling everyone my life story.

would love to see pictures of this, sounds lovely!!

[brewmaster15]

I think the question of if they can be kept together is too open ended. The question is more of should they be. Many fish can be kept together... but shouldn't be. I can keep Discus with Piranha, they even come from roughly the same habitats... but should I? Not if I like my discus.:)

Sometimes keeping any fish other than discus with your discus can adversely affect their health and Growth, even ones from the same waters. Thats why most Discus nuts go for largely all discus tanks. You can try any combination of fish you want in your tank... but maybe instead of a geographic mixing pot..start a tank for each and enjoy their natural interactions. with their own kind.

HTH,
Al

[nicholswc]

Thank you Jacklyn! You are a good friend. I currently have another batch of BN pleco, fancy guppy and Discus! It is time to think the herd! ;-)
I now have about 50 new Leopard/Pigeonblodd Discus and I have not even sold the first batch!
Gonna have to rethink a few things.
walter.

[jmf3460]

Thank you Jacklyn! You are a good friend. I currently have another batch of BN pleco, fancy guppy and Discus! It is time to think the herd! ;-)
I now have about 50 new Leopard/Pigeonblodd Discus and I have not even sold the first batch!
Gonna have to rethink a few things.
walter.
Goodness walter, you are going to need to get those plecos under control or you will have 1 million plecos, they will start to breed exponentially.

[John_Nicholson]

I know everyone realizes this but I just can't ignore the title any longer....."Cichlid with Discus"...Discus are cichlids......LOL. There I said it...I just could not let it go any longer....LOL.

-john

[Cabe]

Non related, but it cracks me up when I hear someone say "Chicklids" LoL! Makes me think about the gum. :p