Discus Lover Post your Discus pics!!!!

[Ocean]

Hello back to the forum again

[Ocean]

Hi Kunner here is some infomation that i got for you with regards to Heckel Discus.

Habit
These magnificent fish have become the aquarist's dream to raise. Although they are easy to keep, they are not forgiving of mistakes on the chemistry front and quickly become ill if you do not know what you are doing. So, these are for the more experienced aquarist. They require soft, acidic water with generally warmer temperatures, and no ammonia or nitrite. Having a mixture of ammonia with a high pH will lead to serious problems. They do best in water not burdened with nitrate, but acclimatised fish will tolerate some fluctuations. Use 'Aquatest' to help get the water quality to meet the needs of these fish. They enjoy large, tall aquariums. Most professional keepers will keep them alone, although they can do well with quite a variety of other fish.

SIZE These fish grow to around 8 inches.

FOOD Discus Granules , Premium Flakes ,GVG-mix and FD-Cyclops

BREEDING

After laying the eggs on a leaf, rock, or other chosen site, it takes around 2 days for them to hatch. The fry free swim in around 3 days, at which time they feed on a secretion produced on the flanks of their parents. They then slowly become independent.

[Ocean]

Please check it out the Heckel Posting.Great picture

[Simon]

Ikan, My heckels has gone discus haven.. the only one left which in my opinon is much more hardy is the Tefe green

[Ocean]

Hi there guys i have successfully rear discus pair and raise their young.However due to poor condition several young frys did not make it during the 3 weeks. Therefor i left about 11 frys now.Hope this 11 will survive till the 6 weeks which they can be seprated from the parent.Good luck to be. Keep you all guys inform of the progress!!!!

[Ocean]

Hi update you all guys abt my finding for discus.It seem that Discus still rear their young even when their frys are down to ten or lesser.In fact a good pair will still spawn again. However the successful rate of the spawn is not really successful cause the first batch will compete with the the second batch .First batch being more superior in size eventually win the match. Therefore the parent will see the second batch die with natural disaster.For the first batch i have so far left with four frys and they are about 3.5 to 4 weeks old liao.Guess they shld survive and eventual grow in size in weeks to come.I have gain much experience in rearing discus which is one of the hardest to breed and meet several failure in during the course.But my patient pays off and finally manage raise the youngs no wonder discus is name as the KING OF Cichlids.Update you all guys with my findings.Seem like no much active post from you all guys.Please dont be shy feel free to post anything with regards to discus.I will be glad to answer your guys question and share with you my experience.Thanks!!

[Ocean]

The way I SEX my Discus

Sexing discus has always been difficult, even for an expert hobbyist. However, I learnt to recognise a few difference between the two sexes that has helped sex my own Discus. Here I'll share with you my methods and hope you have better chances of selecting a pair for breeding. Even if you are not breeding, wouldn't it be nice just to know your Discus sexes?




1. Pectoral Fins When extended, longer than anal fin - Male
When extended, shorter or equal to fin - Female

2. Dorsal Fin Pointed at the rear and may have extra growth - Male
Rounded at the rear Female -

3. Anal Fin Pointed at the rear - Male
Rounded at the rear - Female

Extra growth at the dorsal fin occurs mostly in older Discus only.



If your male does not show any signs of extra growth, see if its anal fins and dorsal fins are pointed at the end. Normally you won't find both the dorsal and anal fin pointed. But either one would be pointed if it's a male.



My final method is used widely by many people is a method using "geometry" to determine the sex. Picture a discus facing to your left. You would be looking at it's side. Find the Dorsal (Top) fin and look where the fins slope down toward the Tail fin. Extend an imaginary line along the straight section of the dorsal fin, back toward the tail.



If the line crosses the pass through the Tail Fin, the fish is most likely to be a FEMALE. If they miss or just touch the Tail Fin, then it most likely a MALE.

I use these methods all combined together to make the sexing more accurate. One more thing, there is no such method or any way that is 100% correct!

Hope this article has helped you!

Regards,
Sam Chng

Special Thanks to zestweb for sharing this articles to all!!!!

[Ocean]

Anyone interested in having a Discus Farm Trip.Hope there will be people wanting to participate in this Trip.Please drop a me a message for those that is interested.Thank!!And Have A Nice Day Ahead!!!

[steve]

just wondering whether can wild discus breed at home?
if yes, how come nobody doing it? Can bring down the
price of wild discus at the same time.

[plantmania]

If breed at home.... it's no longer "wild". Wild means caught in the wild like the amazon basin.... Else you just get your aquarium breed discuses, those mass-produced like the blue-diamonds obviously will be much cheaper.

Anyway wild caught discuses also bring along their set of parasites and diseases along for the ride as well..

[Ocean]

I agree with plantmania that what he say is true.I have found something that may be usefull to you all guys.As i say i am not an expert but i think we can discuss among each as all of us are discus lovers i suppose.

Here is some information that i found

To keep the lines of one's breeding stock as pure and strong as possible, quality wild-caught stock should be introduced into the breeding line whenever possible.

When wild stock is crossed back into the tank bred strains, the result will be offspring that exhibit less of the genetic hybrid tendencies mentioned, or simply stated ( you tend to get back natures basic design.)

So where and how do you get good wild stock? Unfortunately, obtaining quality wild stock has become increasing difficult and expensive. Over seas dealers and wholesalers appear to have the inside track on the best wild discus available. A lot of Asian and German wholesalers have standing orders for the finest specimens.

This situation has made it difficult, but not impossible, for North American aquarist to obtain quality wild stock.

Tank Conditions For Wild Discus

While we hold and condition all the fish we sell, it is still important that wild discus be introduced to a well established, sterile ( no gravel, plants, or ornaments ) aquarium upon arrival in your collection. We treat all imports for internal and external parasites and any bacterial infections when received at our holding tanks. We hold the fish under such treatment until they are able to eat our special beef-heart formula and some common flake foods. We do everything possible to make sure that each and every fish we ship is in perfect health and eating well.

Water Conditions For Wild Discus

We have had fifty years of success with all types of discus by creating the following water conditions for all our discus but more importantly the wild discus we have.

Carbonate hardness ( KH ) should be considered the most important factor. We have found that a carbonate hardness of more then 2 degrees of hardness will restrict spawning and cause the discus to be less active.

As long as the carbonate hardness is kept 2 degrees or lower, you need not be to concerned about the Ph.

Water with the proper hardness can be obtained with reverse osmosis or a resin ion-exchange system.

[Ocean]

Good news i have successfully cultivate about 50 to 80 of the fry and they are in tip top condition.However the both the parent are very very aggressive and want possession of the fry.It seem that they are taking care of the young ones very very well.They are now about 1 inches in length.I hope to have a survival rate of about 80% to 90%.Will update the new to you all.Hee!! Hee!!Hope to have some weird and exotic colour and pattern from the lot and maybe who knows i may be famous from that onwards.Thanks

[Ocean]

Hi back from some trip.My fries are ready to display finally are few years of hard work my fries finally grow up.Ready for display i will display it once the photo are ready.SO watch out!!!

[Limos]

hi i am new here and also new to discus. started with a collection of 1.5 -2inches 'blue-diamond, rose-red & turqoise' 8 months ago. full scores on mistakes :P x-medications, underfeedings and not enough water changes. results: all 'mati'; 10 - 0.
restarted collection again, about 3months ago. this time wiser man and bigger fishes. 3 weeks ago, i seperated a pair from my 4ft community tank; a female snakeskin and male blue heckel. 3 days later, spawning started in the 2ft tank and hatches about 60 frys. 11 days later, i transfer frys to another 2ft tank; as father-fish was suffering 'rot' from all those hungry nibblings. on the second day of transfer, frys starts to mati, and by 6days only 5 left.
i prepared frys-tank, 2 days before, dechlinated, ph-balanced to sparwning tank, and fed frys with newly-hatched shrimps what did i overlooked?

grateful to have experienced members views

[Ocean]

Hi there sorri for the late reply.Frankly speaking i myself also is not expert of breeder of discus but maybe i can share with you my eperience.Initially when i started to rear discus i also face the same problem as you where Ph & temperature not rite and discus start to get infection and die.Mostly toxin chlorine that kills my discus.I started to use something call the sponge filter that is quite usefull cause it get removed the toxin chlorine. And i dont encounter any more dying discus.As for fries i failed a couple of time as well.They slowly start from a total of 100 and down to 60.Then i started to used medication like metronidazole methylene blue and now it seem like it has been control at 60.On top of that i also regularly change water about 10% to 20 % of water change a week depend also the water condition.As i feed then ususally with bloodworm and about 2 times per week.Sometime 3 times per week (which i will have to change water twice per week).I understand that you mention that roughly after two week you need to transfer the fries to new tank due to the fact the the fries has cause some damage to the parent discus. You started to rear brime shrimp.Normally i used to leave it with the parent and only after three week or three another half week then i removed them from the parent.Somehow i realise that in the second week they still need to parent where they start adjusting no to rely on the parent muscus and learn how to eat the parent left over(bloodworm or tubifex worm) which i guess is left over by the parent to their young when they realise that some are ready to be independ by themself.Is only after 4 week that i realise that they have all feed on the parent food (blood worm and tubifex worm) then i transfer them to another tank.However i draw about 50% of the water from their parent tank to place in to the new that i setup for their fries.The reason is that i want the fries to slowly adapt to the new environment and water condition.Of course during the course my fries started to have some weak one that dies away.Cant help it lah .So start to put medication like metronidazole methylene blue which is very good but cannot put too many orelse the fries cant take it and by using the sponge filter it also help.

As you mention that you have taken the fries in the second week which i think is too early.Cause not all fries are ready to be independent in the second week it depend on case by case. The only way to solve that problem of yours that i can thk of it to get another part and place the fries to the new pair.Observe whether the new pair allowed the new fries to nibble on their bodies.If it allow then you can leave the fires alone with the new pair.Alot of the experts who has cultivate discus use this method cause they want to increase production.Understand that you have feed them with brime shrimp as feed brime shrimp cause eaily cause the water to be very dirty and salty you need to have a very good filter system or change water regularly.Even with that the some fries also dies for the reason is that they cannot adapt to eating the shrimp which believe they still need the parent muscus.Or maybe you can buy those frozen preserve daphnias instead of brime shrimp that you breed to feed the fries.However i wont know whether it will works anot. However i believe your parent will still spawn if the water condition are alrite for them to do so.Therefore dont worry you will still have more fries coming in.For my case my parent spawn about 4 to 5 times.And they are still spawning!!Hope that what i have experience can help you in some way or another.Good luck to you .Keep me updated.

I will post some of the information that i got from the web site for your information.Some i also use it as a guide to raise my discus but of course not all are pratical.Please refer it as a reference only.Thanks! All the best!!!

[Ocean]

a. Week 1-2
We normally let the baby fries feed on the parent slime for a week before introducing outside food. After about 6-7 days of free swimming the discus fries are introduced to artemias, starting initially with very small portions twice a day, increasing in amount & frequency until they can be fed 6-7 times a day with the hatched brine shrimps.

b. Week 2-3
After about a week of feeding with artemias, water dahpnias (both live and frozen depending on availability) are given to the fries. As they consume the water dahpnias, the brine shrimp feedings are tapered off until they are about three weeks old. At about this time the baby discus will start to feed out the fine remains of the food given to their parents. This point is used as a guide for us to separate the parents from the fries.

c. Week 3-4
They are now ready to be fed finely blended heartmeat. The finely blended heartmeat is dispersed in water and poured into the fry tanks. Excess or uneaten food need to be siphoned out. This we do as we perform daily water changes. For the fries a 10-20% daily water change is sufficient. At about this time the parents discus will be removed. The actual time which parents are separated from their fries depends on the sizes of the fries and the comfortability of the parents. Sometimes a single parent may be left to carry the fries. The discus babies are then fed the heartmeat and the daphnias. Total number of feedings from 4-5 times daily.

d. Week 4-6
The amount of heartmeat given to the baby discus is increased slowly and the daphnias feedings are slowly tapered off. We then introduce our egg formulas to the baby discus. Towards week 6 small portions of tetrabits are also introduced to the fishes.

e. Week 6-8
During this periods the baby discus should be able to feed quite well on finely blended heartmeat and tetrabits. To supplement their feedings cut HIKARI tripple steralized bloodworms and egg formulas are given to the fishes. Sometimes frozen baby shrimps are given to the discus babies at this stage. As the baby discus grow into very small juveniles supplements like calcium and protein powders are added to their feeds. After they have grown to more than 2 months they will be fed 4 times daily mainly with the heartmeat preparations and tetrabits and supplemented with HIKARI tripple steralized bloodworms and our egg formulas. At about this time the baby discus are tranferred to bigger holding tanks. The young juveniles are fed in this manner until they are become young adults when they will be fed 2-3 times a day.

[Limos]

thanks for the infor. ocean. will try out the surrogate parenting part on another pair. hope the adopted parents will not eat up the frys!

[Ocean]

Dont worry the adopted pair will not eat up surely.So far from my experience on discus.Discus are generally very gentle and calm fishes.Seem like ever though they may be smart to know that the fries are not by them they still can adopted the fries.So far what i have seen from proffessional breeders.However so far they try on two method one is that after the eggs are hatched from one pair. They use the wired mesh to protected the egg before they place the eggs to another pair.Another method is that they let the parent raise until a certain level (for your case is 2 weeks ) they place it to another pair.

Take note that i realise that even though that discus are gentle and calm at times they can be very aggressive esp the fries.Cause in my case i realise that they eat a lot sometime even 3 to 4 feeding a day.Due to growth rate are different for individual fries. I have some grow in size very fast and some very slow.If the size doesnt differ much is okie.If not you will realise that the big size will chase off the smaller size one away for the sake of food even though i have given them sufficient. Sometime due to this result the smaller one got firghten off and never eat slowly turn dark and die away. I got a few fries that is like that. Therefore a bigger size tank i have change to two feet and now it seem well cause there is plenty of room to roam about.The surface area of the tank is bigger and it help.There is about 40 to 50 fries in it.Initialy is smaller than 2 feets. Hope every success to your discus breeding.

Keep in touch!