discus question

[allierw]

I know at least a couple of you keep or have kept discus. I've been reading/lurking on the Simply Discus forum, but I have what I think might be a dumb question that I haven't seen come up over there yet. So I'll ask you guys.

Do most "regular" hobbyists keeping discus for looks (not breeding) have a mixed tank?

I have an empty 75 that would be the discus tank. I guess at this point my husband and I are trying to decide whether or not to get 6-8 of one kind, or 6-8 of all different kinds. I'd hate to get to the point where we want to raise fry, only we'd have to get a new tank or get rid of the adults we already have. I did see someone mention "compatible" strains of discus...could you have groups of 2 that would be OK if you eventually decided to let them breed? Anyone know?

We definitely don't have any immediate plans to try and raise fry. I just don't want to go in and realize later that we've made a mistake with our stocking, especially since these guys can be so expensive and time consuming.

[jody]

I have kept some last year and i kept all of one kind. but in just about every picture i have seen of a discus tank there were four or five different kinds, but mostly (i guess) people keep them for color. Most discus go good together. So you could do two different kinds. But if you decide to breed the discus, i would like to get of the fry from you. I think discus are amazing.

[jgentry]

There is no issue with having several different aquarium strain discus together. As far as that goes there is no issue with breeding the different strains either. Non of them are pure wild types. They are all from selective crossing. Every month a new strain comes out from some cross of this or that. Tank bred discus are just tank bred discus. I sort of like the look of one group of solid colors and one group of lined or scribbled. But you can have all different colors with no issues. I would not recommend you mix wilds and domestics though unless you really know what you are doing.

I highly recommend that for your first try at discus you purchase at least 4" fish. Growing out juvy discus is a huge undertaking and if you don't know what you are doing and dedicate several hours per week to there care you will fail. Adults are much easier to care for.

Hope that helps,
J.D.

[allierw]

OK, that does help a lot! There are a bunch of really nice aquarium strains out there, so it helps that we don't have to quite narrow it down as much as I thought.

Yes...do people really keep water reservoirs and do 50% water changes DAILY??? That sounds like more than I have time to do.

[jgentry]

Yes, we do. For young discus I highly recommend you age your water and do at least 50% every other day with 5 time per day feeding or your discus will quickly become stunted. You will also need to have the tank bare bottom for juvies.

For adults you can be a lot more conservative in your approach. My adults get 2 60% water changes per week with nightly feedings. I also do not age the water for adults. Plus you can have a normal looking tank with sand or gravel. Yes, 4+" discus cost more money but you will spend more money on food and labor trying to get a 1.5" discus to 5" then you ever would buying adults.

[angel]

That's great advice JD. Very sensible!

[allierw]

Are the larger discus as hardy when it comes to shipping? I think most of the ones I was interested in were in the 2.5-3" range. I had planned on a bare bottom tank at first. I have no idea where I would age the water, though. That might require a bit more logistics.

[jgentry]

They all ship about the same. Most of the vendors are well versed in shipping discus and have no issues. All of them are shipped from either Asia or Germany to them to start with. Buy a 50g drum and a decent pump with some tubbing and you will be good to go.

I still recommend you buy larger discus. Not telling you that you can't raise young ones, becuase you can. For that matter anyone can. You just have to be ready for a 1 year daily commitment to the fish. You cannot waiver or get lazy or the fish will suffer very quickly.

[allierw]

I was looking at Central OH Discus...looks like most of the ones I liked the best are in the 3.5-4" range.

I'll have to talk to my husband about a reservoir. Really, if we have space, 2 of them might be best (one for aged water and one for waste water). Right now we just back up our waste water into our laundry sink in the garage, then pump it into our yard. But if we had a drum, we wouldn't have to plug the sink and could cover the drum to keep out mosquitoes.

[jgentry]

I just open a window and pump it directly to the yard rigfht from the tank.

[angel]

By waste water do you mean from water changes? We lay the python out from the tank out through the garage or upstairs out the deck and down.

[jgentry]

Forgot to mention that Mike Beals is a good seller. He has some super nice stuff. Think he is a touch high on some of his stuff but has some top quality discus. He should be able to get any of Malaysian strains in. My favorites are the Penang Eruptions and white butterfly. Most of the leopards are nice as well. I've personally never been a fan of any of the snakeskins.

[allierw]

We have screens on our windows, mostly to keep out bugs and to keep the dogs from leaping out onto unsuspecting passerby, haha. To keep the python from getting dirty, we drain from the laundry sink to the yard with a regular hose.

I like the Penang Eruptions a lot. I like the bright red (melon?) ones, too.