Discus compatibility

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The festivums and severums will outcompete your discus for food unless you have a very large tank and someway to ensure the discus eat well. They can be slow eaters, preferring to pick and forage through food. Severums and festivums will usually gobble that up before the discus have time to really enjoy the meal.

Angels can work but again you have to make sure the tank size is right and the fish all eat well. I'd recommend starting with adult discus if you plan to mix them with other medium to large cichlids, just to give them a head start.
 
Not to say the above isn't sound advice, but I'd add that it depends on the tank and on the individual fish imo, maybe one of those things that what works for one person may not work for everyone. I've kept both angels and festivum with discus without any issues-- I haven't kept knife fish. In one such tank one of the angelfish and one of the discus were the dominant fish in the tank (and were peaceful to each other). I'd also add that mine were primarily discus tanks that included other fish, not the other way around.

Fish that are found with discus in the wild can include angels, festivum, and other cichlids that some wouldn't think of as living with them; in fact angels can be found swimming among discus in some locations, contrary to what some hobbyists believe (I've seen people say they're never found in the same place). Obviously, as mentioned above some of these natural combinations would need a large tank for the discus to be happy, but here's an interesting article by discus expert Heiko Bleher on fish in wild discus environments and some possible tankmates with discus. Again, some would need a large tank to work.
 
While I agree with you as far as the species of fish found in the same range is true. I also have to agree with Ryan about Dicus being out competed for food in a closed environment. This is of course as pointed out dependent on stocking density and tank size to some extent. Discus are slow grazers that like to blow water at food so raise it from the bottom before eating it. Agressive eaters will and do prevent them for getting enough food and often end up stressing them unnecessarly. In a riverine environment groups of Discus travel over large areas and graze at will if there is an area that is not conducive to this they simply move to an other part of the river. If kept with agressive feeders this is often not possibile even in some of the larger home aquariums. My wild Scalare would regularly out compete my Discus for food in a 225 until I seperated them. Geos are a definate no go. Fesavum were somewhat less problematic as they prefered the surface to midwater feeding. Severum can be agressive as well. This has been my experiance, results may vary but I'll bet not by much.
 
This has been my experiance, results may vary but I'll bet not by much.
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My results varied by much. :)

No disrespect intended for other experienced fishkeepers. But I think it simply illustrates it can go either way and one answer isn't always right. Who knows, if you took a poll I might be in the minority, but in my experience, when I kept discus with other fish, the discus were plenty competitive for food, when I later kept discus to themselves they were more laid back about feeding... actually they were more competitive with each other, something there was less of when there were other species to worry about. But I didn't have equal groups of each in the SA community tank, there were more of the discus than the other species... which, it turns out, is more what Heiko has described, other fish among larger groups of discus, not the other way around, not that I knew that back then.

Might make a difference how they're raised. In each case, SA community and discus only, I raised the discus from juvies. It's possible they learn early to compete for food when in a more competitive tank. In the SA community tank, after most other fish were done feeding, the discus were still finding and blowing little bits up to eat.

I've found something similar with frontosa, another fish that's typically slower feeding. But give them enough competition, whether a lot of juvie fronts together, or enough other fish, and as long as they're comfortable in the tank they tend to adapt and get their share.
 
neutrino said:
I've found something similar with frontosa, another fish that's typically slower feeding. But give them enough competition, whether a lot of juvie fronts together, or enough other fish, and as long as they're comfortable in the tank they tend to adapt and get their share.
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I have noticed exactly the same thing with my single front. He's about 2.5" and kept with tropheus a little smaller than him and he is surely the dominant fish in the tank. If anything, he steals food from the tropheus, not the other way around.




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:popcorn: Interesting debate. Currently have 3 sm angels & a 2" RCK in an observation tank. In another couple of weeks I plan to place them in the main 120g w/ the Discus. Have read & heard a lot of pluses & minuses. I guess both have their merits. Will watch closely for signs of trouble but believe all will be well. The tetras / GBRs will of course eventually be casualties but the Cats & Discus should do fine. "T"
 
I have six discus in a commune tank at the moment with 10 small angels , the discus are a fair bit larger than the angels so it seems ok i could see issues with bigger angels tho.
 
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