You’re my velvet Elvis, I ain’t never gonna take you down,” sings Kacey Musgraves on a track from her Grammy-award winning album Golden Hour. While we can’t all win Album of the Year, we can all work towards creating an aquarium that will be “makin’ everybody jealous when they step into [your] house.” Why not add a velvet Elvis of your own with the XXL Wild Atabapo Altum Angel Fish? With its Pompadour-esque dorsal fin, it will appeal to fans of the King as well as anyone looking to add some stripes to their life. It may not exactly match the black and white stripes from Elvis’s iconic Jailhouse Rock outfit, but hey, it’s pretty darn close. This fish’s flamboyance is tempered by its neutral coloration, making it a subtle addition to even the boldest of color schemes.
Category |
Rating |
Care Level: |
Moderate, see our Learning Center for comprehensive care. |
Temperament: |
Peaceful |
Color Form: |
Huge variety available |
Lifespan: |
15-25 Years |
Adult Size: |
8-12 inches |
Diet: |
Omnivorous |
Family: |
Cichlidae |
Minimum Tank Size: |
50 gallons |
Tank Set-Up: |
Bare-bottom, or Intermediate |
Compatibility: |
Often compatible |
Natural Habitat for Discus
Discus are found in floodplain lakes and flooded forests of the lowland Amazon River basin and some of its tributaries, including the Rio Negro. These areas experience extreme changes in water level due to seasonal flooding. Discus tend to congregate near fallen trees, known as “galhadas”, along the shore. They prefer quiet water, and are rarely found in areas where there is strong current or wave action.
Discus Water Requirements
Discus prefer warm, soft, acidic water. pH should be between 6.0 and 7.0, with hardness between 1° and 4° dKH (18 to 70 ppm). Temperature should be kept between 82° and 89° F. Water conditions for both wild and hybrid discus are the same. While captive bred discus can be kept in dechlorinated tap water reverse osmosis or deionized water supplemented will ensure the the best conditions. Discus require pristine water quality, and depending on the filtration system being used, a weekly or bi-weekly water change of 10% to 25% is highly recommended. Don’t forget to treat tap water with conditioner before refilling your aquarium!
Housing Requirements for Discus
Discus grow to be quite large, and full sized discus will require an aquarium of 50 gallons or larger when they reach adult size. Tall aquariums are best, to accommodate their body shape. Current should be gentle, and décor if used at all should include large broadleaf plants and driftwood that is arranged vertically to simulate downed branches and trees. A few floating plants can also be added to provide shaded areas and cover. Substrate should be fine to medium grade and smooth surfaced, as discus like to forage along the bottom for food.
Discus Behavior/Compatibility
Discus are generally calm, peaceful fish, but as cichlids they can be aggressive toward one another, especially when attempting to pair off and spawn. Shy or submissive fish should be removed if they are unable to compete. Most serious hobbyists do not mix their discus with too many other species. However, suitable aquarium mates include cardinal tetras, neons, emperor and rummy nose tetras, as well as clown loaches and dwarf cichlids such as rams and Apistogramma species. All of these fish tolerate the high temperatures and low pH/hardness required by discus.
What do Discus Eat?
In nature discus eat a considerable amount of plant material and detritus, but also forage along the bottom looking for worms and small crustaceans. They are omnivores and will thrive on freeze dried black worms, beefheart, frozen blood worms, and a variety of pellet and flake food. Frozen and live foods may be fed as treats or to help induce spawning. For best results, rotate their diet daily and feed only what they can consume in 2 to 3 minutes, once or twice a day.
Discus Breeding Level – Difficult
Captive bred discus will pair up and spawn relatively easily, but young, inexperienced parents may eat their eggs the first few times, particularly if other fish are present. After hatching the young feed on heavy body mucus secreted by the parents for a few days until they begin to free-swim. Parents will transfer the young back and forth several times a day.
He, his website, and business practices are a complete joke! I regret ever buying fish from this website or him. What a dishonest business man! Just type of "discus.com reviews" and you'll see countless negative complaints. I wish I would have read all of these reviews before ordering, not just looking at his positive reviews on his website.
I ordered 6-8inch Atabapo Altums and paid him $450 for them. He sends me 3-4 inch fish, explaining those were the largest that they can send. If they're not as you described, why did you send them?
He readily takes my money, and says I'd like to make this right after the fact. After several heated exchanges with him, he says he can give me a $70 refund for the mistake. Keep your stinking money! I will not order from him if he was the only fish shop online.
Learn from m $450 mistake. Money is not the issue. His dishonesty, greed, and unscrupulous business practices are the issue.
From Michael: FYI -- the reviews on my website are far less than "positive." If you look carefully, there are plenty of negative and not-so-great reviews. I publish everything because it's important that consumers receive all types of opinions--not only positive ones when making informed choices. This order illustrates the difficulty of running a business involving shipping live tropical fish, and anyone thinking that discus is a get rich quick scheme needs to reevaluate their notions.
Every seller has a different way of measuring their altums, but I measure mine vertically from tip to tip. Although I starve my fish prior to shipping for 48 hours, it's still very common for altums' fins to be ammonia burned during transit and for them to lose a few vertical inches, which usually heal within a few weeks or so. We're nearing the end of the Altum season, and I shipped this customer the absolute largest fish I had on hand. I acknowledge that a few specimens were at most an inch shorter than advertised when I shipped, but the order as a whole was correctly fulfilled. I tried very hard to work with this customer. In the end, he was very unreasonable and refused my partial refund offer. He even went as far as to ship me back the entire shipment without informing me. Needless to say, all the fish perished by the time they were returned back to me. Fern, I'm sorry it didn't work out, and I wish you the best of luck.