Are Heckel Wild discus easier to keep than domestic discus?

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Plecostomus
MFK Member
Dec 26, 2007
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Antelope Valley
I was at my LFS and the owner told me that wc discus are easier to maintain because they are hardier stock than domestic bred discus. Is this true?

I was looking at getting my first discus and I wanted to know what would be a good starter discus. They have heckels for sale at $25 at 4."

Also, the LFS told me that you could keep discus solo, in 3's or more. And they'll do good.

Please confirm or deny these claims.

Thanks.
 
easiness is relative, to me pretty much the same but most discus hobbyist would agree that the heckle discus is a bit challenging. discus are schooler/social fish AND should NEVER be kept alone, 5-6 min is best.
 
the wild discus are more hardier yes, i dunno about being harder to keep they seem the same too me. one thing i know is the wild ones are happier in brownist water
 
hey mate, when i kept discus i found domestic alot easier to maintain then the heckles they arnt as sketchy, and the domestic are usually used to higher ph levels where as the wilds prefer alot lower i used to keep my hecks at 5.5 and would be able to keep my domestics at 7.0 and they were fine

best domestic to me was any turks, blues, reds, whatever. worst would have to be blue diamonds
 
for the most part discus folks tend to recreate the wild environment, so you might have to play with water before you get it right and STABLE(ph, softness, etc). a massive/regular water change is done with domestic and couldnt stress it more with wild ones. it takes time before they actually stablized to captive care and would be freaking out every now and then... and thats another good reason to have them in a group to feel more secure. wild caught discus tend to also have parasites that can be very tricky to get rid of completely. some hobbyist say these parasites maybe the reasons why domestic tend to grow faster bigger and thicker compare to wild ones. i personally think that care for wild and domestics are pretty much the same, daily water change and power feeding shouldnt be questioned....

if your gonna do something, do it right ;)

PS i wouldnt trust that guy from your LFS.
 
Best to start with domestic discus. Domestics are a little more forgiving if a novice keeper makes a mistake. This is due to the fact that the domestic has had many generations to adapt to captivity. If you make a mistake with wild discus, they will quickly succumb to parasites and likely die. Once a person learns the basics of keeping a stable discus environment, and the fish are stress free and growing, you can move on to the wilds. Wild fish are generally more expensive as well, so the loss of any wild fish is going to sting the wallet even more.
 
Also, never keep solo discus. Always keep groups. The more the better. Stay away from any "wild" discus that only costs $25 unless you live in South America. This is a ridiculously low price for any wild discus in the US. Very suspicious. Quality Heckel Discus normally start at around $75 each, and go well over $100 each for really good specimens.
 
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