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.
The only dryfood I use, when I run out of stock from my freezer, is special discus granulate. But even this 'special' discus food should not be the main food for discus fish. It is also important to feed your discus several times a day, best with different types of food. All the food I use for my discus fish, and for the other species as well, are frozen blister packages. Be sure to let them defrost before feeding them.
I give my discus Bloodworms, they like those a lot, artemia, beef heart and daphnia, and occasionally white and black mosquito larvae.
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.
Feeding the young discus
The first couple of days the young will feed only on the skin secrete of their parents, they will do so, or at least try, for the first couple of weeks. After 6 or 7 days you can start feeding them with Artemia nauplius, these are the just hatched larvae of the Brine Shrimp.
This is the best food source for the young discus, and most other young cichlids as well. You can buy the eggs in most petshops, or order them online. The Brine shrimp is an interesting critter, they live in salt water lakes that seasonally dry out. They can overcome this dry period, which can take years, by producing hard shelled eggs ( the Cysts ). All you need to setup your own Artemia food source are some one or two liter plastic bottles, salt ( seasalt for best results ) and an airpump. And lets don't forget a very fine mazed net, you can buy a special Artemia sieve set. It is very important to clean the nauplius very carefully to get rid of the salt water they hatched in.
Now first prepare the bottle by making a small hole in the lid where the plastic tube of the airpump is fitting in nicely. Put the plastic tube in the lid, all the way to the bottom, and connect it to the airpump. Fill the bottle with one liter of fresh water and put 6 or 7 teaspoons of salt in it. You can setup multiple bottles by making a chain with them, all connected to one single airpump. I will make a drawing of this setup in the future, it seems more difficult than it is, really. Now just put a teaspoon of the Artemia eggs in the bottle, be sure to make the water as turbulent as possible to make the hatching of the nauplius easier. If they are hatched clean them and let the young discus feast on them.
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.
Diet for the Discus should be varied and contain the nutritional value that they need to survive. In a discussion with our breeder, Nick Lockhart of Perfection Discus, I asked him what he would recommend for the daily diet.
Nick feeds our Discus twice a day. He feeds live white worms generally twice per week. The white worms are cultured on site, and are kept refrigerated in a small apartment sized fridge, and temperature controlled by a device that uses a probe to maintain a temperature of approximately 55 to 65 degrees for best results.
Nick also uses bloodworms, plankton, white worms, Emerald Entree, mysis shrimp, and white mosquito larvae to give a varied diet. Emerald Entree is a good choice for Discus fish. Although originally formulated for marine fish, it has proven to be an excellent diet for freshwater fish. Emerald Entrée is fortified with omega-3 fatty acids such as EPA and DHA, which are proven to be important for optimal growth and disease prevention.
Discus fish and a lot of African cichlids eat a lot of blue green algae in the wild. Spirulina is a blue green algae, and has a special protein called Phycocyanin not found in another algae or terrestrial plants. Spirulina powder is readily available through most pet shops. Japanese scientists have linked Phycocyanin to improved kidney and liver function. Japanese fish farmers make extensive use of Spirulina, due to its positive effects on their fish.
Because good hygiene is of the utmost importance in the Discus tank, one should never feed more than the Discus can consume in approximately five minutes. As they are grazers, they tend to eat a bit slowly, so a little more time is needed to allow them to get their fill. I have read that it is good to allow a Discus to "fast" on occasion for up to two days, allowing them to get toxins flushed from the system. Nick has also stated that a fish can go two weeks without food, so skipping a day here and there is not really detrimental to the fish. Of course, you will not want to drive them to the point of starvation, but it will never harm the Discus to go for a day or two without food. It is much better to underfeed them a little than to over feed.
If care is taken, the discus will thrive in the aquarium. Much information is available for the potential Discus breeder, and a little common sense thrown in along the way wouldn't hurt either. As Discus are long-lived, the aquarist can have the enjoyment of these friendly fish for ten to twelve years.
Alden Smith is a published author, and has achieved Expert Author status. Alden has been marketing on the internet for 7 years. His website, King Discus, is an active gathering place for discus breeders and lovers of discus fish. His wife Betsy is the administrator of All The Best Recipes a site rich in online recipes and cookbooks.
By Alden Smith
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.
First of all, know that these are only guides and they are not always 100% correct as in some circumstances females have male characteristics and males have female ones.
Here are ways to determine the sex of your discus
1, The dorsal and anal fins
Take a good look at the dorsal and anal fins of your discus. Are they rounded or are they pointed. Males tend to have pointed dorsal and anal fins or sometimes have extended growth on the end rear of the dorsal fin. Females tend to have rounds rear fins.
2, The colour and pattern of your discus
Please look at the colour and pattern of your discus fish, compare them to one another in the tank. Some fish will hopefully have more intense colour and some discus will have more pattern. Male discus fish tend to have less intense colour but have more pattern while the female tends to be more colourful but with lesser pattern.
3, Size of the discus
Compare the size of your discus. Male discus tend to be bigger than the females but the size can also depend on whether the fish was stunted or are just small in genetic make up.
I hope these three tips have helped you to sex your discus and will help you when selecting adult discus fish from a shop or dealer.
If you liked this information and want to learn more about discus fish care and breeding discus please check out my website discus-fish-secrets.com
Rob owns Discus Fish Secrets website helping begginners and advanced fishkeepers with discus problems including keeping and breeding them. Please visit the site for more information on breeding discus.
Tips on Sexing Discus Fish
By Rob Mellor
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