I know that a lot of Discus owners keep their fish in bare tanks,is it possible to keep them in a fully planted tank? What kind of plants can tolerate the high temperature required for maintaining Discus?

I know some folks that keep discus in planted tanks.
The one I currently have is low light with a red wendtii crypt, an amazon sword, water sprite, sunset hygro,spiral val, dwarf sag and another small crypt that I don't remember what it is. I don't see any temp related issues with these plants. Not sure what temp level you are refering to...mine is maybe 82-83.

I kept and bred them in this tank:

Many discus folks and a few plant folks seem to think they are incompatible.
They are very mistaken. Perhaps they failed themselves due to a lack of understanding and execution? That's what I've seen, but I've had no issues issues keeping either together for a decade or more now.

Have been listening to Discus zealots again? haha

If the goal is max sizes, max brood from breeding, where fish are the absolute primary focus, then bare tanks are good.

If the goal is having nice looking tanks with plants, nice healthy fish, then planted tanks are great.

Fish may be grown out in bare tanks and then transferred or you may raise them up in planted tanks with a little less feeding etc. Depends if you want the largest most massive fish. That's not my personal goal with any fish though.

I want them healthy, happy, and in a nice home they can live in for many years. Not 4 ugly glass walls. Same for any fish. I raise fish in nice somewhat natural environments, not cattle on a farm. But there are fish farmers trying to get the most production and size/growth out of their livestock so they give their advice, but you need to keep in mind what is your goal.

When folks say Discus and plants are not compatible?
You know they are off their rockers!

I hear this all the time on the web which is why I'm dicussing this in such terms, it's not a personal thing here directed towards you.

Discus are pretty hardy critters truth be told.
So are plants.

Most every plants can be kept at 82-84F which is about where I keep most of the SA tanks I keep and tend to.
Soft water is fine also for plants.
High light is fine, fish will hide in the plants if they are tired of it or swim under a root etc.
CO2 is fine if you also make sure the O2 is also good(they turn black/darker if the O2 drops).
Adding KNO3 is not the same as Fish waste from fish food etc, which starts out as NH4 and drains O2 levels or is used by plants directly which also adds O2 through photosynthesis.
There are other misconceptions and no Discus person to date has provided good evidence to counter the arguments I've made in the past.
I have been able to falsify each one of their claims. Thus such hypothesis must be rejected and a new alternative one is made.

Regards,
Tom Barr

The breeder got my discus from kinda splits it down the middle.
He has bare bottom tanks, but has a nice big chunk of planted driftwood in the tank. The fish get the benefit of the plants, the tank looks nicer, and he still has a tank that's easier to clean.

The discus very much benefit from having the plants behind which to hide.

Knowing that Discus love to forage food from the substrate,is it better to have sand or gravel for substrate in a Discus tank?

I'm keeping discus in a 180 gallon planted, at 80-82 degrees. I've had no problems with the fish.

The only issues I had was when I was feeding them beefheart. It seemed to pollute the tank to the point that the water was always murky. I switched to a high quality flake instead. The water is clear now, but the growth of the discus is extremely slow.

Personally, I think discus in the 3-4 inch range are just right for most planted tanks. If you have 6-8 inch discus in the tank, they seem out of proportion with most aquascapes and make the tank look smaller overall.

For example, the tank in the link below loses all of it's impact and intricacy because of the large discus. Looks like something out of a 60's monster movie: "Attack of the Killer Discus"


2006 AGA Aquascaping Contest

Interesting quote from a sheet of acclimation instructions that I received when I ordered discus from an on-line merchant:

"Do not keep your discus in water under 85 degrees or THEY WILL DIE!"

He must have accidentally sent me an arctic discus species, because even at 78 degrees, they're completely fine.

Have some rocks, driftwood etc, they can feed from those.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Quite a number of folks have breed them at 82F, clearly not too wimpy if they are breeding at such temps.

I think scare methods are applied by many breeders.

Regards,
Tom Barr

From what I understand from talking to discus folk..the picky conditions are more for breeding purposes. You do have a variety of info out there. I feed mine blood worms and brine shrimp, and flake. I stay away from the beefheart becasue I'd heard it mucked up the water, I use either a worm feeder for the blood worms, or a turkey baster. It tends to keep food frm getting all over the place , and the liittle rascals practically suck out of the end of it anyway
When they are hungry...they rattle their wormfeeder against the side of the tank. they have me trained.