my discus and a few questions...

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SteveP

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 2, 2012
5
0
0
United States
Hi,

So here are my three discus. they are in a 75 gal tank that they share with a bunch of other fish and everything seems to be pretty copacetic. I do have a few questions, if you all don't mind answering them.
blue.jpg
Here is my blue diamond, he's a little bit dull on his body. any suggestions for getting his color up? is it possible to get his color up? he's also stunted and I unintentionally bought him this way from the aquarium store (yes, i've had words with them about this) so I don't know if the stunting is why he's a not as blue as he could be.

orange.jpg
this is the latest addition to the tank, is he a pigeon blood of some kind?

pigeon blood.jpg
Here is my first pigeon blood (that I know is a pigeon blood). After having them for a month he still is peppered on his face and black on his fins...which I have gathered from this forum are stress marks. the water quality is consistent and well within the parameters for discus fish. The other two don't seem to be stressed or show any stress marks. Why is this guy still showing signs of stress? Another piece to this puzzle: the other two discus do not hide in the rocks, they roam the entire tank. this guy hides in the large rock and doesn't "like" to swim around the tank. Is it possible he is just a shy, stressed discus?

thanks in advance for any advice,
Steve

blue.jpg

orange.jpg

pigeon blood.jpg
 
Steve, not trying to be unkind just being truthful. All three are badly stunted As you can see with eye size and oval bodies. The blue diamond is actually a turquoise, true blue diamonds have no stress bars. Both the pigeon bloods are peppered, the 2nd one much worse. It can be stress but it's really more genetics, high quality pigeon bloods have almost no peppering.

The third one hiding may just be picked on by the other two. Normally you want at least 5-6 for a decent school to avoid having one be picked on all the time. Try to observe them for a while when you feed and see if the other two drive the third away.

They all appear skinny so I would suggest adding more high protein foods to their diet or adding another feeding per day.
 
To be honest, I'd just get rid of them. Since they are severely stunted they will stay the same and not change in appearance or size......
 
Well, thank you for the responses. I had my suspicions they were stunted, but not completely sure. I'm not going to get rid of them, because that is completely ridiculous. It's not their fault I purchased them stunted.

If wanted to add a few more, unstunted fish, do you have any recommendations for where to get them? do discus ship well?
 
Yea, they look bad but its your choice to keep them or not! I would just add a few more to you set up and try to enjoy your investment as much as you can! I would purchase them from a sponser like Discus origins but i thimk Mark dealswith more Wilds than domestics.
Check with
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?97009-JUNE-2012-JEFFREY-YANG-SHIPMENT-READY-TO-GO!!!
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showt...eady-to-be-released-with-Actual-Tank-Pictures
or any one of these
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forum.php
 
@fattubwhale: Thanks for the response. I will look into the Discus origins like you suggested. I am guessing this is on online purchase type of thing? do you look at various pictures of fish and purchase those specific fish? or do they just sell strains? I avoided online purchase because I wasn't sure how they would ship.
 
SteveP said:
@fattubwhale: Thanks for the response. I will look into the Discus origins like you suggested. I am guessing this is on online purchase type of thing? do you look at various pictures of fish and purchase those specific fish? or do they just sell strains? I avoided online purchase because I wasn't sure how they would ship.
Click to expand...

Its pretty much all on line purchasing for me! Kenny, Hans, Mike and even Mark are well respected in the on line ordering community especially when it comes to Discus!!! If you are in the same City as some of these sponsor's i am sure you could visit them and hand pick what you want. I ordered from Kenny, Hans and Kraig @ Kingdom Come Discus and all of my transaction have been flawless.
If you look at the sponsors sales page they list all strains with prices all you have to do is contact the vendor tell them what you want and quantity send them the funds and sit back and wait for you order to be shipped :) :)
 
@fattubwhale: Thanks for your time and help thus far. I will start saving and looking at the sponsor's area for the people that you have recommended.
I have heard Hans's name bantered about when it comes to discus but had no way to find him until your lead so thank you again
 
SteveP said:
@fattubwhale: Thanks for your time and help thus far. I will start saving and looking at the sponsor's area for the people that you have recommended.
I have heard Hans's name bantered about when it comes to discus but had no way to find him until your lead so thank you again
Click to expand...

Your welcome Steve! You may want to consider looking into a group buy for your area and save on the shipping :)
 
@fattubwhale: I received a call from a pet shop several hours away from me that I contacted about Discus. They called me and said that they have a local breeder that was coming in with several different types of Discus he mentioned that there may even be some wild Discus as well as mated pairs. I am questioning this as I have learned that Wilds are hard to find. I am thinking about going down to Milwaukee to look at them. My question is What am I looking for in a NON STUNTED discus. I now know some of the signs but as they are still small I am not sure if I will be able to see the red flags. Do you have any advice? yes I know that I may have just opened a kettle of worms by asking this but I want to learn
 
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