We're beginning to enjoy keeping some young discus. We have to travel a fairly long ways to find any fish store that will even keep them in store regularly at all (60 min drive one way). We had our local shop order in some young ones a little while back.
Here's the first one we've had for a number of months now:
Here's two others we ordered last month, just before COVID-19 shut-down:
These really young guys were bone-white when we got them, barely larger than a quarter in diameter. They've started to color up more, accepting a fairly wide variety of foods that will fit in their little mouths.
So -- being new to discus -- there seems to be a rather high-strung attitude to keeping them among some folks online. We've found no problems at all. We already keep our tanks reasonably clean, and find that the same water temperature and chemistry that suits Rams and cardinal tetras works for them wonderfully. They are active, engaging to watch, and all-round seem like great fish.
Can someone explain what we're missing? Why do they have this reputation for being extremely finicky fish?
Discus tank is going great. Just using two large sponge filters. Temp is between 82-88 degrees F. Varied foods. Small water changes several times weekly. More plants always better.
Here's what we've found makes them go catnip crazy . . .
Good job! Where did you get your discus from? Also, have you tried Sera pellets?
Just wanted to follow up on this thread from some time ago . . . we finally landed our groove with discus. Very happily enjoying them!
I go to this guy on Craigslist: https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/for/d/herndon-discus-fish-babies-for-sale/7182477119.html
Other than that, there’s Jack Wattley Discusoria and Hans Discus outside of Baltimore
These came in through our LFS. I’m not sure... they may have gone through Segrest Farms in FL. updated photos below, they do color up as they’re cared for. We’re told that the “peppering” on the orange / red one is just due to the tank being dark background.
Thanks Jae! These are all pretty young yet. We prefer to buy young (usually less expensive) and raise them in our water to full maturity. Even if these do not turn out to be major head-turners when they grow, they are proving that we're able to keeping them just fine. We feed them a pretty wide variety: Bug Bites, Xtreme, Frozen Daphnia, Frozen Blood Worms, Frozen Baby Brine Shrimp, Live Baby Brine Shrimp, North Fin Community, and some more.
I‘ve not had any problems with them being finicky. They are usually shy if you put them in tanks with other sized discus, but mine eat everything I put in the tank are are always out for me to look at (and for me to feed them - which I do a lot Thanks to COVID-19)... Glad they are doing well for you. Just remember when you buy them from a LFS, make sure they are feeding them all types of food; some places will only feed them blood/black worms and when you get them home, they won’t eat anything else.
Some wild discus can be much more sensitive than captive bred discus. Another possible complication is that some can be aggressive to others; maybe when you get 8-10+ fish the aggression gets spread around more. Fewer and one gets picked on much more.
Nice looking Discus. I am looking forward to hearing how they grow for you.