# questions on natural tank with discus or angelfish



## t2000kw (Jul 29, 2006)

We have several natural "Walstad type" tanks working very well right now. One of them that we're cycling for angelfish or discus had fancy goldfish in it from our other tank to provide what was needed for the nitrifying bacteria. (We had a surprise spawning from two of them and will be letting the fry grow before we add either discus or angelfish--but not both.)

*If you know of any other slow moving, medium sized fish that are graceful in their movements, we may consider other types also. *

*Anyway, is there anything we need to know about aquatic plants and discus or angelfish, the temperatures they will be at (low to mid 80's F unless treating for a disease in the 90's F), how it will affect maintenance of the tanks compared to a bare bottom tank, etc.?*

We do not want a bare tank, even though we could use just floating plants to provide many of the benefits of aquatic plants.

*Do the plants modify the maintenance intervals of discus much, i.e., do they allow less frequent cleaning and water changes?*

In our other tanks with goldfish, guppies, white clouds, etc., our water changes are a rare event. One hasn't had a change in months and they are doing quite well. Others need a change at intervals of one to two months.

I suspect that for discus, I would not be able to get by with intervals like that between water changes. I don't know enough about angelfish yet to know what to expect, either.

*Maybe some of you who have these fish can give us some feedback on how a planted tank simplifies maintenance for these two types of fish? *

We already have a good idea on how it simplifies things for many other types of fish.

We are looking forward to feedback from some of you on these questions and comments.

Thanks!!!

Don & Melissa


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## Minipol (Jul 4, 2006)

I've just changed one of my angel setups to a NPT.
Both angels and discus need at least 50 litres per animal and angels (don't know about discus) are best kept in groups of at least 5.
Put them in all at once then you won't have much problems.

Also, they like a bit of subdued light so you might keep bright light put do put in some floaters. Great for maintenance and decreasing light in the tank.
Put some Amazon swords in, maybe echinodorus magdalensis or a similar smaller sword and make sure the swords arent next to each other so that they allow the couples to spread out if they start laying eggs.
Also, IMHO, vals need to be used in an Amazon setup. Great fast growing plant and Angelfish love to swim through them.
Only use the smaller one and only use the americana variant if you have a big & high aquarium.

I would think you can put discus into a NPT regarding the water quality BUT they prefer softer water unless you can get some that are bred in water from your parts in other words that don't require extremely soft water. That would make sure you don't need to soften the water yourself AND most plants do better in hard water.


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## SnakeIce (May 9, 2005)

Discus can be done in a planted tank, but any people I've talked to that have do 50% water changes every week. to make things slightly easyer introduce the discus to the planted tank as adults or near adults and allow more water volume per fish than is usually recomended for adults. A bare bottomed tank for juvenile discus is like diapers on babies, much needed but they will grow out of it.

Unless you can get a proven mated pair, they need to be in a small group. So minimum a 4' 75 gallon tank or larger if you are going to keep a group. Discus are large fish and can produce alot of waste so either way about it you are going to have to do water changes to deal with the disolved organic compounds they produce.


Angels in comparison to discus can be a bit more rowdy. Mine thinks nothing of going halfway across the tank in the blink of an eye if he gets excited or spooked. Angels do need space, but it isn't as much about waste management as it is about territory issues that could arise.


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

I keep angels in one of my NPT tanks and they do just fine. No extra maintenance, water changes, etc. and the fish are healthy and growing quite fast.

-ricardo


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Yea, ditto info given here. I keep 2 55g tanks with 5 small angels a piece. When they pair off in the future I will sell the others and have 2 in the tanks. So less is better for them. 

Angels aren't too picky about water conditions. They don't seem to mind ferts so much.

Not sure about the discus from personal experience (haven't received them yet). But I have heard/read that they are far more picky about water conditions, and will not tolerate anything over 10ppm nitrate/1ppm phosphate. 

Apparently they don't eat at anything higher than this point and start to waste away until they die.


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## t2000kw (Jul 29, 2006)

Zapins said:


> Angels aren't too picky about water conditions. They don't seem to mind ferts so much.


I'm not concerned about fertilizers, so the angels won't be, either. I won't need them in a natural aquarium with soil substrate. Haven't yet, and it's supposed to work that way for many years, with just a few exceptions with certain particular plants, which I don't have anyway. No CO2 to worry about, either.


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