am i ready for discus?

@ Ian , I have to say I really like that phrase;

"Cynical philosopher of science" .

Zoom wrote:

@ Ian , I have to say I really like that phrase;

"Cynical philosopher of science" .

Part of that cynical philosophy is that if one takes everything too seriously then one has missed a point or two.

finally got my first discus don't know much about him, just told it's adult..

apparently he or she is very fuzzy regarding food.. I was told to feed tetra prima only, but he is just bossing arround the rest of the fish, when it comes to the food, not a lot of activity ...

I'm going for 2 weeks holiday and would like to be sure the fish will survive

please comment:

sorry it's a bit unfair to the fish, but will take a proper picture with proper camera when I'll get more time.

Draco wrote:

How old is the discus? (at first sight looks like a female)?

ok let me in on the secret, what makes you think this is a female, always found discus the most difficult to sex until they spawn

I was told the discus is arround 2 years old. I really trust the man, dealing with him for a while now and it's from his personal tank.

sheag35 wrote:

Draco wrote:

How old is the discus? (at first sight looks like a female)?

ok let me in on the secret, what makes you think this is a female, always found discus the most difficult to sex until they spawn

I have my pictures turned off on the browser at present, but there is only 2 ways to be defo about the sexing of discus (and this can be done from a very early age):

is to look at the internal organs (strong light behind the fish); and

using the same method of vent investigation as used for other cichlids (ie the female has an internal concentric ring very close to the size of the outer ring on the vent region).
This method will also show that there is a difference is angle and length of the ventral region of the fish (but deformities and stunted growth would hamper those observations).

If the fish are ready to spawn then the latter is easy to see from the side....but it can be seen with careful examination way before that.

Methods like head shape, fin shape, behaviour are a bit like saying someone with a temper and short-hair is a bloke.....it may be a close guess or a gut feeling, but it ain't defo.

ian

Thanks everyone for the comments.. like I promissed will take a proper picture at a later stage..

The discus lived together with cardinal tetras in ~90L aquarium.. no other discus grew up with him.

sinse I only have one and its a start, breeding is not a major concern so is gender

my question was more like what should I know regarding keeping this kind of discus and how do I see if he/she is not fed well?

Well, I hope that's not the case..
The previous owner bought some ciclid fish with very simmilar colors, but new fish kept attacking discus, hence the reason I took the fish of him so quick.

There are no plans for purchases of another discus possibly even this year. In fact the only plan this year is to swap 4 plecos (getting massive incredibly fast and becoming a threat to discus) with 6 bamboo or simmilar size shrimp.

You should certainly try to get some companions for him/her alright. Problem is that they are best kept in groups of at least 4-5+. One fish could feel isolated, as they are very social. However, if you only have two or three the smallest will very often be bullied, often leading to stress and deaths. In a larger group the bullying should be spead around and no one fish will get too stressed. It helps if all fish are in or around the same size.

Is it true that adult discus sizes vary, depending on the species?

And this might be some dwarf type?

am i ready for discus?

i don't know about you, but with that fantastic info from the lads i am well ready if i ever decide.

should we start a website suggestion topic, asking for a "top thread" section , where if a thread that supplies quality info gets so many hits it is put in the said section. it is a shame to let such good advice slip away out of view

Glad this thread is beneficial to others. Big thanks to the "advisor team"

smitas5 wrote:

Is it true that adult discus sizes vary, depending on the species?

And this might be some dwarf type?

There's only 2 species of discus, but there are some geographical morphotypes and the man-made mutts along with that.

There is a difference in size of the wild species and across the various morphotypes.

However, with the man-made morphs, the sizes vary substantially.

Discus are very rapid growing fish, but they are easily stunted in that growth by either poor parent stock being used or by conditions when younger.

Solitary discus? well, there are times when you will be forced into having a lone discus in a tank, and you won't be able to place another discus in with him.

ian

Do you know how big this type grows?

Now there is some debate on the exact classification, but I do not necessarily agree with some of the classifications of discus. Hence, I will use some of the synonymous names as they have a sound historical publication record.

Irrespective of exact taxonomy, there is still a notable difference in sizes between the various species or sub-species or morphotypes.

The variation in maximum size ranges from 5 to 6 inches to 10 inches.
The Heckel (Symphysodon discus) tends to be on the smaller side; whilst some of the morphotypes of Symphysodon aequifasciatus would be the larger types.

The old ‘Blue’ discus (synonymously known as Symphysodon aequifasciatus haraldi) would be the largest type in my opinion (and experience)….I have had 10-inch specimens at 2 year old (but they were bred from wild-stock in the days when I used to bother breeding them).

Of the S. aequifasciatus types, the green tefe (synonymously known as Symphysodon aequifasciatus aequifasciatus) would be one of the smaller types and possibly reach 6 or 7 inches body length (but 6 inches being the more usual size). Even when I used to import and breed wild specimens, I never got anything to grow to the size of the ‘blues’.

As for man-made mutts……who knows, but certainly I have not seen any large ones (well, they may be called large but not as large as discus can get).

Often, the ‘world’ goes by the, for example, FBAS judging show sizes…..they are based upon what is the max placed upon a show-bench: but my feeling is that there is possibly no place for a full sized discus on show-bench in the first place (and that would be in keeping with FBAS rules and recommendations).

But a note on length of fish…….discus are not like having a 6 inch long eel or Malawi cichlid: a 6 inch long discus is also a 6 inch high fish and that makes it a large heavy fish inch-for-inch. A 6 inch discus is quite heavy compared to a 6 inch eel.
That extra body weight means that when calculating aquarium volume based upon fish length then fish such as discus and angels require more water volume based on fish mass.

ian

I was told it's a male. hope this picture is slightly better:

I'll have to take couple pictures on this one.
I purchased another 4 young discus couple months ago, even tho one of them (the smallest) is a bit fussy eater, all looks great. I have 5 of them. Starting to believe discus is one tuff fish. Among all the trouble with clowns, cori, cardinals and rummys never had any problems with discus.

an update with pics would be great and fair play mate

sean

Smitas5,
I always like reading and referring back to a good book on Aquarium Fish..
For Discus I would recommend the following..
Discus Fish A Complete Pet Owner's Manual (published by BARRON'S)
Discus World by Chris Ingham (owner of Plymouth Discus)

I would be interested what other Discus books are recommended by the Forum's Discus Experts.

Greg

ghart wrote:

Smitas5,
I always like reading and referring back to a good book on Aquarium Fish..
For Discus I would recommend the following..
Discus Fish A Complete Pet Owner's Manual (published by BARRON'S)
Discus World by Chris Ingham (owner of Plymouth Discus)

I would be interested what other Discus books are recommended by the Forum's Discus Experts.

Greg

I'd recommend the following books:
Robert Goldstein's Cichlids of the World (the chapter on Discus). TFH;
Gunter Keller's 'Discus'. TFH; and
Dieter Untergasser 'Discus Health' TFH.

Great books and have more text than pretty pictures.

Goldstein removed discus from the snobbery element (ie this is how to keep them without the old nonsense); Keller was a pioneering breeder and shows how to keep them no nonsense; Untergasser because he knows what he is talking about (in general).

ian

i have found that the majority of aquarium books to be very expensive what do ye think ...... but i found a nice one in one called "Dicus" by bernd Degan handy little book i got it for about 12€ on ebay delivered.

couple pics of my setup

well done good use of colour in the tank.....

Update:
one of the yellow discus laying eggs on a plant leaf. 2 seconds and eats it all.
Anything I can do? It's still in the community tank and loads of other fish arround.

other one is laying eggs too.
so 2 yellow ones are females.

Lovely setup Smitas
What temperature do you have the tank set at.
Can you also identify for me the large variated leaf plant on the right in the third picture of your first set.
I find a lot of plants do not last well in my discus tank with the temperature set to 29-30C

Did you get the two yellow discus from seahorse.

Greg

yes, I bought them in seahorse and I keep at 30C.

all my plants are ok, but I use CO2 + ferts + easycarbo.

that plant would be nymphea lotus

It's thriving now with CO2.. I will get a picture for you or a cut if you like, so you could grow it.

I think it was Marlboro, but not 100%.. will check tomorrow. will go back to look for male