Community Discus?

Question
I have had several tanks over my life but have been out of it for a while.  My wife and I are thinking about building an in-the-wall tank between 200 to 300 gallons.  An Amazonian tank does sound appealing but their are so many other wonderful species that do not come from South America that the tank will probably contain various types of tetras, catfishes, loaches, angelfish, gouramis, live bearers, etc., etc.    All peaceful community fish.  The tank's aqua-scape will range from caves and rocky out-croppings made from slate and tufa rock to gravel open areas to heavily planted sections.  300 gallons is a pretty big tank.  My question is I was thinking about adding a small school of discus, perhaps 3-4 individuals.  I have had discus before but always kept them by themselves.  Any comments on how this small school of discus would fair in a community tank like the one I described?  I understand that to best answer the question, a specific listing of every species of fish would be needed.  I cannot provide that right now but I can say that I will try to stay clear of the "fin nippers".

Thank you for your assistance

Answer
Hi Dennis, wow-- a 300 gallon aquarium. That is an awesome tank to start a amazon community. Discus in general of course always do better on their own. But aquarists from all around keep in them communities often. Both Angelfish and Discus are cichlids which exhibit territorial and aggressive behavior to some extent. But this is normally directed at other fish of the same species. Keeping both these fish in large groups of four to six should limit aggressive behavior. I mention this because there is much controversy about keeping angels with discus and I think the key to this is keeping both these fish in a school so they can keep to themselves instead of bothering the other fish. Nearly all tetras should make excellent companions, as do small to medium south american catfish, such as bristle nose plecos, royal panque, as well as the well camaflouged  royal farlowella, other S. American catfish like Banjos and the beloved little Corydoras are excellent for a sout american biotop tank. Tetras like the red-eye, Cardinal, neons and the like are excellent. The highly interesting pencil fish such the dwarf and Beckford's pencilfish are also amazonia species. Don't forget about Hatchet fish, and the unusual penguin fish whom is a also part of the pencil fish also is from the amazon. The key is the pick only peaceful fish whom mind their own business and to research any specific species before purchase to insure you can provide their proper care and can know what to expect from their temperament. Another very important procedure when keeping discus with other fish is insuring you quarentine all new arrivals since discus are suceptable to any parasites or diseases the new fish may bring in.

Your aquarium sounds just fine. It's great you are asking questions and doing your research before starting such an achievement. I really hope this helps you.
If you have anymore questions, feel free to email me...

Congratulations and welcome back to this wonderful hobby!
Best wishes,
Karen~