Angelfish and Discus

[SethKaatz]

Hi I'm seth, I'm relatively new to discus. I have read some books on them and set up a 55g tank. The aquascape is all done. The water has set for 2 months. My question is if I can keep some angels with discus.
My ideal plan for the tank is:
3 discus
2 angles
8 cardinal tetras
1 bristlenose cat
4 blue rams
2 dwarf gourami
6 corys.


I imagine this is too much. But I'm just starting up so if you could plz help[

[judy]

dwarf gourami can be nippy and aggressive. and the experts tell us discus should be kept in groups of at least five or six to ensure any aggression among the discus gets more evenly distributed-- how would you feel about five discus instead of the angels? You could get different colors for variety in appearance...

[SethKaatz]

So maybe get 5 discus, ditch the gourami's and get... what to replace them. I dont want more tetras, maybe some silver dollars?

[Discus.Lover]

silver dollars grow quite big...so no..i wouldnt get those...but depending on the size of discus..id have to agree with the fact that dwarf gouramis can get quite nippy...ive never had a problem with them with large disus but have had a problem with the sometimes giving a little nip now or then to my smaller discus...you could replace them with blue or bolivian rams...never had a probalem with rams in the tank with discus..blue rams are beautiful and you will love them way more than dwarf gouramis

[digthemlows]

my dwarf gouramis didn't like the heat.........and silver dollars are fast and can be aggresive..........I wouldn't keep them with discus........

[pcsb23]

Hi Seth, welcome to Simply

I'm assuming from your first post that this is a planted tank, so the advice I offer is based on that assumption, though most would apply to a non planted tank too!

Ideally the discus would need to be adults or near adults as growing out discus in planted tanks is like trying to plait mist!

Even dropping the gouramis completely and not "replacing" them with anything would still leave the tank fairly maxed out for maintenance. You can always have more fish in a tank but above a certain level the hassle to pleasure factor gets skewed the wrong way!

Silver dollars are a no-no imo as they do grow big, and will eat all of your pants in a heartbeat.

I said 5 discus as any less and you most likely will end up with one literally being nagged to death.

fwiw you can quite happily keep angels and discus together, I do!

[guille2007]

Keep your discus alone and have another tank and test there all fish mixing you want,you will avoid a lot of headaches that way, personal experience

[SethKaatz]

well I only have one tank. The tank isnt planted. It has some silk plants. I;m gonna slowly add live plants though. So just out of curiosty do I need to have 6 corys. What I really want to have is discus, cardinals, angles and rams. Those are my favorite fish. So do I need cats?

[Elite Aquaria]

You could ditch the Corys and add about 3 bristle nose plecos...they will clean your tank glass eliminating the need to wipe down the sides on a regular basis.

[SethKaatz]

So does this sound good?
5 discus
2 angles
6-8 cardinals
2-4 rams
3-4 bristlenose cats

[pcsb23]

So does this sound good?
5 discus
2 angles
6-8 cardinals
2-4 rams
3-4 bristlenose cats

For a 55 this still sounds heavily stocked to me. In a 75 it would be well stocked. If you go with this you will need to be on top of your tank maintenance all the time, one or two weeks of (it'll do later" and you will end up with problems, maybe not immediately, but....

[phidelt85]

So does this sound good?
5 discus
2 angles
6-8 cardinals
2-4 rams
3-4 bristlenose cats

I may have missed it, but are you going to get adult or subadult discus or juvies? I'd go with the adults or sub-adults. You're still a bit heavy on the stockin' still my friend by about 2 angels. The cardinals really won't contribute a whole lot to the bioload at those numbers. The crap factories are the bristlenoses as with any pleco for that matter. I agree with Paul; that would be a good stock for a 75gal. Consider upgrading if it's a possibility, if your really deadset on keeping both Discus and Angels. I think it would be a cool tank.

[SethKaatz]

well theres no way I'm upgrading tanks, I've already spent a lot of money on this one. I dont have to have the angles, but just thought it would be cool

[GrillMaster]

I agree with Paul an Jose!

Ditch the angels...

You will still have the tank maxed out, so make sure you do regular WC's.

tc
Mark

[Max Power]

Angels will snack on your cardinals.