August 19, 2005
Discus Food
One of the primary factors in keeping your discus fish healthy is feeding them properly. In my opinion feeding your discus the regular tropical fish flakes isn't enough, I would even recommend not feeding them those flakes at all.
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Posted by Front at 03:45 PM
August 16, 2005
The Assassin Method
You wonder how the Asian Breeders breed their discus in large quantities? They use the Assassin Method.
The original brown assassins were usually of the same breed as their cichlid employers. Specifically, they would take care of eggs from other browns. The breeder would typically identify which browns were the more diligent egg layers and which were the most proficient parents. Eggs, as soon as they were laid and fertilized would be transferred to the assassins. Ideally, they would be transferred to an assassin tank that had just laid eggs; but not so many, being inefficient egg producers.
This allowed for a kind of mass production that filled the coffers of many early discus breeders in Thailand. There were those that said, "when the eggs are laid, the money can be counted." Thus at this time, the kind of foster parenting that most often took place, was one of egg care. From this, it evolved into fry care.
Read full article on pompadua.com
Posted by Front at 10:56 PM
Artemia
Artemia is a good food source for both adult and young discus fish. I would not recommend to try to raise the Artemia in to adulthood, adult Artemia is very cheap and widely available in most petshops in blister packages. The Artemia larvea ( the nauplius ) to feed your young discus are only available as eggs, also referred to as cysts.
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Posted by Front at 12:34 PM
August 04, 2005
Cardinal Tetras in the discus tank
Nice article about keeping Cardinal Tetras with your discus.
I have noticed a very odd phenomenon, however. Whenever I write about planted Discus show tanks, inevitably I mention Cardinal Tetras (Paracheirodon axelrodi) because most planted Discus show tanks house them. Indeed, all of my show tanks contain cardinals, as they come very close to being my favorite fish (I say "very close" because my passion will always be Discus -- but I also know I would never be happy with JUST a bare tank of Discus fish). One of my favorite things to do in this wonderful hobby is to simply observe my fish. Geek that I am, I like to just watch them and study their behavior - I never get tired of it, and can literally spend hours in front of my favorite tank, just watching.
Reed full article on Wetwebmedia.com
Posted by Front at 10:33 PM
Proper Diet For the Discus Fish
The Discus fish has its habitat in the South American waters of Brazil and Peru. Discus fish are classified as "grazers", and in the wild constantly forage for food. Discus are tall, and have a laterally compressed body. Their swim bladder is located on top of the stomach. They have small stomachs, and short digestive tracts, and with these small stomachs designed to hold small amounts of food, over feeding the Discus can be a problem. Even a minor case of constipation can cause serious problems for the Discus fish.
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Posted by Front at 10:26 PM
Sexing Discus Fish
Do you have some adult discus fish and want to know whether they are male or female. In this article I’m going to share with you some of the tips and techniques you can use to determine the gender of your discus or those you wish to buy.
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Posted by Front at 10:20 PM
August 02, 2005
Sponge filter cycling
I have a small Discus hatchery with 3 20 gallon tanks with breeding pairs, one 75 gallon tank, 2 60 gallon tanks, and two 30 gallon tanks. I use the "Rainbow" brand double sponge filters (each sponge is about 6 inches x 2 inches. My large tanks have two filters (4 sponges) in them and the small tanks have one (2 sponges). I moved to a new home almost two months ago and I tried to preserve the biological cycling on the aged sponge filters by packing them in 5 gallons cans with aquarium water. When I setup my tanks in the new location I discovered 4+PPM of ammonia in all my tanks. It seems all my sponges had un cycled. I had to use a triple dose of Amquel daily to remove the Ammonia and all the fish became very lethargic. I recognized that they were under extreme stress.
Read full article on CLC Discus
Posted by Front at 09:51 AM
Nutrition for Discus Fish
The Discus fish has its habitat in the South American waters of Brazil and Peru. Discus fish are classified as "grazers", and in the wild constantly forage for food. Discus are tall, and have a laterally compressed body. Their swim bladder is located on top of the stomach. They have small stomachs, and short digestive tracts, and with these small stomachs designed to hold small amounts of food, over feeding the Discus can be a problem. Even a minor case of constipation can cause serious problems for the Discus fish.
Read full article on King Discus
Posted by Front at 09:46 AM
July 29, 2005
Water Chemistry
An in depth article about water Chemistry for the Discus tank.
Much has been written about the Discus, or Symphysodon aequifasciatus, its Latin name. The Discus has always been given a bad rap for being hard to raise and difficult to keep. Actually, these long-lived fishes are easy to keep as long as certain guidelines are followed. Here, we discuss the different water parameter that MUST be followed if we are to insure that our Discus friends are kept happy and healthy.
Read full article on King Discus
Posted by Front at 12:28 PM
Parasites in Discus
An interesting read about internal parasites in Discus, I only disagree with the author on preventive medications.
Discus Worm, Symptoms of internal parasites in Discus
a) not eating
b) not growing
c) dull color
Why discus fish refuse to eat?
Healthy discus fish eat anything you give, when they are hungry. If they do not eat, there must be something wrong the fish and not the food. They have no appetite to eat because of internal parasites.
Read full article on CLC Discus
Posted by Front at 12:20 PM
Plants in the discus tank
In short, most plants need three things to survive/thrive:
correct lighting and water temperature
gravel/substrate (unless they are floating plants)
food of some sort
All three of these needs must be met and must be balanced for planted aquaria to thrive. The reality of Plant Success 101 is that all things need to be correct, in balance, and constant. Without that foundation, you'll eventually end up with dead plants, algae gone wild, and a spouse insisting you "take down that eyesore right now!"
Read full article on Wetwebmedia
Posted by Front at 12:05 PM
July 29, 2004
Discus Breeding
Breeding discus is still quite an achievement for the aquarium hobbyist but also one of the most interesting aspects of keeping this beautiful fish. The view of a couple of mature discus fish swimming around with their offspring is really fascinating. The discus has an unique way of feeding their young, they produce a skin secrete that is the only food source in the first couple of days. Right after the young fish are swimming free they start to graze their parents, if one of the parents is consumed, well the skin secrete, they well be transferred to the other parent. But before you see these wonderful youngsters and their parents swimming around there are a few guidelines to take care of.
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Posted by Front at 11:30 AM
Discus Fish colors
There are 4 'real' discus variants, with their own Latin name. The rest of the color variants are captive bred and the list of these color variants is nearly endless. They have exotic names like, 'Snake Skin', 'White Diamond', 'Blue Diamond' etc... The color variants displayed here are just a few examples, more will be added in the future.
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Posted by Front at 09:31 AM
Water conditions
Discus fish come originally from the Amazon river, this water is soft acidic and has a brownish color. The water generally has a temperature between 26 and 31 °C ( 79 to 88 °F ) and a PH range of 5.5 to 6. The hardness of the water ranges from 3 to 10° dGH.
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Posted by Front at 12:19 AM
July 28, 2004
Aquarium filtering
Talking about water conditions, to keep the water clear and healthy a good filter is needed. There are several ways to filter the aquarium water. The best filtering method is a biological filter, but that's not always an option, depending on where and how the aquarium is placed.
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Posted by Front at 08:18 PM
The Aquarium
Discus fish are large fish and should therefore be kept in a big aquarium, about 50 liters ( 13 gallons ) for one mature fish is a good guideline. Because the discus is a schooling fish it should be kept in small groups with a minimum of 5. If we calculate a little further we come to the conclusion that a tank of 250 liters ( 66 gallons )is a minimum size to start with. The discus is a high shaped fish and when selecting an aquarium a higher tank is recommended.
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Posted by Front at 08:05 PM
Discus background
The Discus is a large cichlid form the Amazon river, and floodplanes, in South America. The discus and it's variants are first described in 1840 by Dr. Heckel as Symphysodon discus, this name is now in use for the Heckel discus variant. The three 'original' color variants received their own name, the Green Discus Symphysodon aequifasciata aequifasciata, the brown discus Symphysodon aequifasciata axelrodi, and the blue variant Symphysodon aequifasciata haraldi.
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Posted by Front at 04:01 PM
