PlanetCatfish.com

We have been having a lot of discussions about the compatability of L-numbers together with discus on a norwegian forum. It appears that very few people has had any problems with combining these types of fish, but I wanted to know what the people here at Planet Catfish has to say on this topic.

I keep 7 discus in a 70g with a selection of L-numbers,with no problems.I even have strong water flow and the discus don't mind.I also keep a selection of cory's,2 clown loach and a shoal of cardinals.The largest L No I have is a L137 "bruno",this is aroun 8" and causes no problems at all.
All I would watch for is keeping the level of oxygen high,The water temp is high so ensure you have good water movement,also use a much filtration as you can,use 1 filter purely for solids removal-it makes a big difference.
As a final word GO FOR IT discus and L-no's can make a stunning display.

R1

Well!

I would keep several L-number with Discus but by making sure that they are coming from black water and do not require high water flow and a lot of disolved oxygen... mainly L-number coming form the Rio Negro...
Cheers
Yann

Grrr.... I had a decent post about this on the old board that I was just going to copy and paste but the posts are gone, so... here goes

The first problem that people mention is plecos sucking on discus' sides. I've keept god knows how many plecos and discus together and I've never seen any evidence of this, if anyone has pictures, I'd love to see them, but at this point I consider it a tall tale. I should mention that I've never kept either hypostomus or sailfin, or any of the other large herbivorous types in there except a royal.

The second thing which I want to mention, which was touched on before, is the filtration or circulation issue. I keep my discus and plecos, as well as all tanks at a turnover rate around 12 times an hour(for a 75 gallon tank, filters that are rated for an output combined of about 900 gallons per hour) neither seems to have any problem and I've spawned the discus in such arrangements. I don't think that plecos would necessarily have a problem with it, but I haven't tried to breed any of them, so... I can't say anything about breeding plecos, but I've had them in such an arrangement for nearly 2 years and have had no problems.

pH and temperature are another thing to consider. I've found discus, tank bred or wild(excluding heckels which actually need to be pampered like everyone thinks all discus do) to be extremely easy when it comes to pH. I've had mine spawn from 6.2, when the tank was heavily planted with CO2, to 7.6, with only a few plants and no CO2. Like I said, discus can be in a wide range of pH, and be happy, excluding heckels. so I wouldn't worry any about pH. Temp is another issue, but many plecos come from the same rivers and similar temps. And Yann, Discus come from many rivers, even Xingu has discus, browns.

Next comes the food issue. I've never seen too much aggression at feeding times. the discus poke about for food some on the bottom, but mainly they get their food at the midlevel of the tank... over feed and do more water changes and you'll be fine, everyone will get food.

Hiding places are another thing to consider, obviously discus won't be in competition for these, but always have enough nooks, crannies and caves for your plecos to wedge into, although it's been my experience some prefer playing in the plants. had a peckoltia especially fond of my stargrass forest.

Hi

I've seen ancistrus sucking on the side of discus.
I believe it's only algae-eating plecs that will do this discus-sucking (funny word
I guess at first the algae-eating plec is mistaking the discus for a rock/wood and then it by coincidence finds out that the discus is a snack
If I'm right about this then you're safe with discus and non-alge-eating plecs.

-Klaus