Discus ID

[ek]

Hi Discus expert,

I'm new to discus. Care to help me ID my first adopted discus .
What is the potential size of this breed?

Discus

Thanks.

[unicorn]

Garenteed ..... Brilliant aka Empror Blue Turquoise. Critical phase during maturity ie; 8-10 months....water condition to be slightly acidic. The final look of these fishes also largely depends on the gene pool. A bad one will have the 9 bars on the body after maturity. So good luck...cause I have some juvenile myself from the 1st spawn...

[ek]

thanks for the ID.

presently the bar is only more visible when the fish got a shock. Most of time can hardly see the bars. BTW , i can only see 7 bars incl the one across the eyes and tail.

Any recommended food other than beefheart?

I found this guy quite aggressive. It was "pecking" at the other one. Is this their normal behaviour?

[unicorn]

Hi ek,

If your fishes are are between 3-5 inch and have a good gene pool (including gd water condition), the bars will not be visible. Cheers ! means you have pretty good strain there. 7 bars ? count again from head to tail....that again, I may be wrong.....

Discus generally are aggressive fish, there should be 1 dominant guy arounf which is larger then the rest. He will start pecking during feed time. Try using hand feed, it should eliminate the dominant feeding behaviour. It works for me.

Yes you're right I feed them with home made beefheart diet. The recipe goes like this.

Go market buy half or quarter beefheart ( depending on your fish size and quantity for a fortnight feed of 2-3 meals a day). Along buy some shrimps, baby carrot and lettuce.

Do not use this quantity as a guide as it is base on my tanks needs :

1. half beef heart
2. I steal 2 - 3 shrimps from my wife marketing and remove all the shells and clean thoroughly.
4. 3 baby carrots
5. 2 leaves of lettuce
6. 1 egg yolk.

mixed all this in a grinder till they are reasonably minced. Use a tea spoon to scoop them up to a tray in a form of 'cube' form. Your feed shall base on the number of cube. Freeze the prepared stuff in the freezer and that's all.

Hope this helps.

[ek]

My discus is only about 2.5" so too early to deduce on its strain at the moment. anyway I like its overall rounded shape.

Wah, u really feed your precious discus good food. Actually i am looking for those pellets suitable for discus and will not dirty the water so easily.

[unicorn]

Dear ek,

For dry food I'm feeding them with sera 'blue' formula. Sera brand come in 2 formula, the 'Red' and the 'Blue' 1 may suites you. To have added punch to the fish diet, add a few drops of Dennerel Vitamins to the pellets. Here's how you do it :

1. Strain adequate pellets into a small net.

2. Drip the Vitamins into the pellets and carry out a little toss action to mix the vitamins with the pellets.

3. Soack the pellets into the water using the net by not letting any to float to the surface.

4. Feed adequately. Small juvenile must have buldging belly all the while.

Hope this helps .

Cheers

[ek]

Hi unicorn,

Thanks for the recommendation. Just bought the "Tetrabits for discus" at C328. Hope it is equally good. But will take note of the method u mentioned above.

i'm puzzle abt point (4). One of my the other discus(not sure abt the breed though) is not eating and is pretty thin. I beleive it is under stress cos being bully by the slightly bigger Blue Turquoise. Would u advise i separate the weaker one and put it back when it has grow bigger?

BTW, this discus is abt 1.5", is it consider as a juvenile?

[unicorn]

Hi ek,

Sorry for the late reply, I am going through a terrible ordeal myself..see slime desease..

Anyway, In a school of discus, there will always be a dorminant fish and the weakest fish. 1 has to except it. This the way of the nature. You could seperate the weaker fish now as it is small if you want, But you need to keep it till maturity and I have no gurentee that it will survive that long. after the stress it has gotten.

Next, nature has it that after it has been stuff a while, it will feed and if it has a strong will to live, it may turn out to be the strongest fish in the school ! it does happen ! trust me. If it still continue to starve and eat little, then it will not parish but will be stunted at most. It's always the case. If you have a planted tank The ecology might be different if there are enough foos drifted around the tank and enough hiding place for refuge. The weak one may grow normally.

I know its a bunch of **** I've dump here, but I try my best to offer my experience which I have encounter. No theory stuff here.

Cheers ek !

[unicorn]

Junvenile is a discus anything below maturity...that is about a year old.

Cheers