Rainbow Fish with Discus?

[Proctoid]

Please provide opinions on the use of Rainbow fish with Discus. I currently have the two together and all seems well. However, the Rainbow fish are more active when feeding and I notice a couple Discus shy away from the turmoil. I'm debating moving the Rainbow to another tank to better suit the Discus. I have Cory Cats as well but they stay low in the tank and cause no disruption during feeding. At only 46 gallons (bowfront) my tank is much smaller than many on this site. But I want to have it "right" if possible.

[robxc80]

im using threadfin rainbows and furcata rainbows and all is fine.

[poconoboss]

My Bosmani Rainbows get along very well with my discus. Feeding works out quite well actually. While the discus attack the food at the top of the water and as bits fall to the mid and lower levels, the Bosmani's swoop down and get the food that drops below the discus.

Perfect harmony!

[rich815]

I had a school of 8 or so bosemani's that I got rid of before I put my discus in my current larger tank. I loved the bosemani but they are VERY active and chased each other around quite aggresuively and frequently. I'm only speculating, but if I had them in there with my discus now I think the discus would be spooked quite a bit by the activity.

[bayboy1205]

I have 6 rather large rainbows of various types in with the pair of discus about 5 inches or so. The discus seem to tolerate the rainbows. They do shy away at feeding time, but once the rainbows have their fill the discus will come out to eat.
They will even hang out with each other.
The tank is a fully planted 125g tank which I feel helps. I still go back and forth about removing the rainbows though. As I have cardnials and rummynose tetras in QT to go in the tank.

[rich_one]

im using threadfin rainbows and furcata rainbows and all is fine.

I really like these rainbows... if I may ask, what temp is your tank at? sorry... I don't mean to hijack this thread... just curious.

[scottishbloke]

I've kept rainbows for over 7 years but have not tried them in with discus. Bows are often very boisterous and at feeding time your discus may not get a look in! Right now I'm rebuilding my 'bow collection and have subadult Salmonreds, Praecox, Boesmanis and Madagascars in my 55g plant growout tank (moved my discus to a 90g ) and things are very fast and furious at feeding time- they eat anything and everything you throw in. I would also worry that big hungry adult discus might try to eat relatively slow-moving Threadfins or some other very small 'bow species that don't get much over 3cm (1.5"), Cardinal tetra "snack size". Bows are very pretty though and many can rapidly change colors at will (get the real species though, not hybrids- buyer beware), second only to discus IMHO. My local LFS now also has bows in his display discus tank as well. Not sure if I will try this- discus are big $$$ in comparison and I may not take the risk of my beauties from Kenny getting disease. Also, 'bows like dark substrate and dark background- the opposite of non-albino discus.

My $0.02

Colin

[scottishbloke]

Forgot to add- most bows greatly prefer temps of 74-78 degrees, with 76 as the ideal- a bit cold for discus, who like it at 84- a bit hot for 'bows, who will live in such a high temp but this is not really good for them long term. pH is not usually an issue for bows, though.

Another $0.02,

Colin

[Proctoid]

I really like these rainbows... if I may ask, what temp is your tank at? sorry... I don't mean to hijack this thread... just curious.

I keep my tank around 84 degrees and haven't had an issue with the Rainbows eventhough that is a bit higher than they may like it. Since this posting, I've reduced the number of rainbows with my discus and that has helped. Long term all the rainbow will be in a seperate tank. The Discus will be with Cory cats and maybe some tetras of some type.
Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

[ShinShin]

Rainbows require different water parameters than discus. This alone would be enough not to keep them together, but their activity would also rule them out.

Mat