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Does anyone know if a clown pleco and discus interact o.k.? I have discus in a 105 gal. tank. I have read on discus boards about how bad plecos are with them. I have no plecos and miss them! I had a large Brown albino pleco with them for a while and he didn't hurt them at all.
Thanks,
Shamgar1

hey there,

I am going to yet again go into a holy tirade against the mindless repetition that occurs on the subject of plecos with discus.

Discus and plecos can peacefully coexist, it's going on in my 90 gallon with a group of discus and about 2 dozen plecos ranging from zebras to royals. There is a minor possibility that a pleco would suction to a discus, but this is easily prevented by feeding well. I, on the contrary, love plecos and discus together and suggest it very strongly, discus seem quite interested in the funny looking things that hop about the bottom of the tank. I've never had them disturb the discus and have spawned the majority of the discus with the plecos in there, although breeding with them would be nearly impossible. If you want proof that it works, poke about on my website, all the plecos shown except for 2 are in with the discus.

I've never seen pictures of a discus being attacked, or the damage left by an attack from a pleco, so I'm guessing it's rare, considering no one I know keeping the 2 together has ever had a problem.

If you're worried avoid the larger species, hypostomus, panaque, and such, the smaller species would seem to be less likely. Your clown pleco will be fine, as would any hypancistrus, peckoltia or ancistrus.


I wish some of those who badmouth discus and plecos would actually try the combination...

Thank you , thank you , thank you. I have always felt this to be true, but needed some reassurance. Your website is great and made me very envious.

by the way. What was that green pleco on the second page? 3rd picture down on left. I looked really nice.

no problem... I've been on and left enough discus boards because of a very closed-minded "Oh lord no, of course you can't do that" atmosphere that I don't visit them anymore. The people know discus inside and out but lose track of other important things.

That's a very poor picture of my L200

I have to agree about the discus boards. I visit them when I need info or am bored. I get tired of that attitude. "YOU don't change 100% of your water daily? Your discus will die !!!" They are very closed minded about different approaches.
Thanks again,
Shamgar1
Oh yeah, I went and bought the clown pleco right after reading your post.

Shamgar,
You certainly can mix loricariids and Discus (as has been pointed out). That said, I would not mix Discus with Panaque maccus, the fish most commonly sold as "clown plecos." P. maccus come from white waters and thus the water chemistry they prefer is not what Discus prefer. Stick to blackwater loricariids with Discus.
-Shane

shane, discus can be quite adaptable... I'm currently keeping mine in tap at 7.6...