Just for fun...

nice fish tank all around never had discus i resently got in to severums from LFS to wild ones

Very nice discus.

thanks,... they are hard to keep healthy but goegeous species...

I agree lol, i lost a couple the last time i tried to keep them. But was told they are fairly easy to care for from the lfs.. Maybe one day, i will try again

I was told the same thing... i had 17 at one time and one by one they were dying.. so now i have about 9 and 2 of the younger ones arent doing so great... they are nice too look at and very peaceful but hard to keep healthy..

the hormone that all fish release in the water also is harmful to discus, whereas it isnt harmful to other fish, this is the hormone that stunts a fishes growth. thats where the old "fish grow to there tank size" theory comes from, people when that theory came along didnt do many water changes if any at all. water changes remove this hormone to allow fish to grow, when a fish senses that hormone, there growth essentially turns off, but if they have had it in the water long enough, it will permanently stunt them, it takes a large tank longer for the hormone to fill, which is why they grow larger in large tanks which gives the elution that fish grow to there tank size, which in reality, if you do water changes, they grow irregardless.


now that ive gone completely off topic, you have beautiful discus, i have always loved the look of them, but never had a tank to try them, being 15 i only have my bed room to work with

This post has been edited by Gage: Mar 30 2008, 11:31 PM

wow. 15???... you don't "type" like you are 15.. lol thanks for that very useful info.. the funny thing is though... we started doing water changes in our fry tank (flowerhorns) and they have started growing much faster... now it all makes sense to me... i'm not very "educated" when it comes to fish... but learning more and more every day.. thank god for these forums...

well i wish you luck in your future aquarium purchases... trust me before you know it you'll be on your own in your own place and get as many tanks as you want.. lol people call my apartment aquaworld.. lol

here is another pic of my discus tank...

Very nice discus setup you got there.
Let me fill in a little info about discus.
Discus are very easy to keep and to breed. I had them for over 10 year before I became fascinated with FH.
General rule of thumb:
1. Fry from half inch to 4 inche needs warm water, 90F, feed 2-3 times daily, 10-25% daily water change, and 50% weekly water change.
2. Adult fish 85-88F.
3. Breeding tank 82-84F.
4. Have a variety of food including frozen bloodworms, frozen mysis shrimp, tetra color bits and other pellets, and flakes.

As for the hormone thing. That is a theory that adult fish release to stunt the growth of the young fish as a natural competition method.
I found this to be not true. Smaller fish tend to get stunt because they are at the bottom of the pecking order and not able to compete for food and get bullied all day long. This is true in any discus tank.

Its all about temperature and the water changes.
For this reason alot of discus keepers like bare bottom tanks and sometimes with sword plants in pots and drift wood.
A school of cardinals, rummy noses, and a few bristtlenose plecos do look very nice with discus.

well thank you also for the helpful info... i do have some rummy nose and glow light tetras in there as well as some glass fish, guppies (male fancy tales) a royal plec and an albino common plec.. we usually have the water temp perfect for them but slowed down on the water changes because we are spending more time with the flower horns... i guess we have to appreciate what nice fush these discus are and pay more attention to them... after all that is my show tank in my living room..lol


Thanks for the help!

oh sorry.. i'm not even going to attempt to try to breed these guys.. lol i have enough fry as it is...lol..

no problem for the info, but your right, that is why water changes is a big factor in growth rate.

i find everyone that trys to keep cardinals with discus, the cardinals disappear lol.


tnanx :), most of the younger people on here dont go in the shoutbox or chatroom either , but i believe i am the youngest one on here, oh well, ive got a big mouth (ask Vittleking ) but i get along with the people on here (i think :S)

This post has been edited by Gage: Mar 31 2008, 10:59 AM

well you have chosen a great hobby at your age.. so kudos to you..:)

I'm only 24 so i'm fairly new to this hobby.. with work and school when i was 15-20 i didn't have time for the taking care of fish but now i'm working 9-5 and have the rest of the days to watch my fishies grow...lol

Yes the people on this site are very helpful and nice at that!...

It's a beautiful thing........

your right, this is an awesome hobby, gotta love it!

I agree with Dr. RoundHead Ive had cons where the largest fry was almost 2 inches and a few where about .5 inches when the large ones were removed the smaller fry exploded and are large

The problem with discus, is once they get stunt, they just don't grow no more.
Sound cruel but I jsut leave the stunted fish in there so that he is the only stunt fish of the shoal.
These are the little guys with huge eyes.

yup i had one of those but he / she didn't survive...

i have 2 babies left from 6 that i had purchased.. they were sick not too long ago but the medication we bought for them is making them better... we are thinking about giving them all to a friend and changing our show tank to a flowerhorn show tank or maybe even a parrot tank...

ahhhhhhh so many fish to choose from.. my apartment is turning in to aquaworld...lol

GOTTA LOVE THE HOBBY!!!!!

This post has been edited by christinaD: Mar 31 2008, 11:58 PM

but that could also mean less hormone becuz the largest producer was removed, im not saying bro RH is wrong, but i dont think it is completely right either, as this is the first time ive heard of this being a theory, and trust me, ive done my research.

of course the most dominant fish leaving will make them grow faster, less waste, more food for the other, just more nutrients for everyone else, but are we sure this isnt the reason why they are growing faster, i need better proof to believe your theroy bro RH.

so with that in mind, bro RH's comment doesnt prove the hormone (or i guess technically closer to a pheromone) is incorrect, as it could be the other reasons mentioned above being enhanced that caused more growth in the less dominant ones.

as i said, i may be very young, but i do my research :D, please do prove me wrong though, im always wanting to learn more.

dont get me wrong, it could be theory, but i need much more convincing.

sorry for the debate in your thread Christina, hope you dont mind :)

This post has been edited by Gage: Apr 1 2008, 08:19 PM

Not at all Gage i don't mind... but i kinda like it because it helps me learn...:)

Thanks guys!