Discus ?

[Jkhuu]

Hello,
New to this forum and was curious to see if there's other discus keeper here?

Here's a pic gallery I like to share...Enjoy!

http://www15.brinkster.com/jkhuu/Discus/FrameSet.htm

John

[Mishy]

Jk,

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you on your page. Your Discus is gorgeuos! I mean WOW...I can't believe thier beautiful colours and its so sharp. I wont be getting into the Discus for awhile(need more tanks ;))

[Toirtis]

Very nice fish, John! I used to keep a few discus a number of years ago (my father was big into breeding discus in the '70s, so I just naturally kept some), but I haven't had discus in nearly a decade.

[rottn]

I'm not a discus keeper, but sure enjoyed your gallery! WOW - they are beautiful! :D

[Jkhuu]

Hello again everyone,
Thanks for the kind remarks. I am glad you liked the gallery. Alot of people find discus beautiful, but for one reason or another shy away from them.

Mishy... I also find it hard to have enough tank space. I always manage to run out of available space.

John

[rottn]

Hi John - I'm sort of weaning myself off of FW tanks - going to SW only tanks - but I know that when I was researching FW fish, the discus was ALWAYS said to be a difficult fish to keep. It was very rare to find anyone that would say different. So, I know for *me* personally, the combination of the warnings, the price of the fish (discus are pricey fish!), and the requirement of a high tank (don't have one) is what made me shy away from them.

I always said that once I felt experienced enough, I would give them a try. But then I became obsessed with SW. :D

[Jkhuu]

Hi Mary,
Thats great that you are moving towards SW. Is it going to be a fish only or live corals, etc? We had a fish only 200 gal SW several years back. Its something that I like to tackle again some days in the future.
What works for me so far for discus is to keep things simple. I seldom use medicine and have gotten my fish used to aged tap water. Even the wild caught ones are used to it.

John

[rottn]

Working on 72g reef right now (tank is cycling). Once this is up & going, my current 33g FW will be turned into a SH tank, and once this is done, my final project will be a 300g reef. I'd also love a 180+ predetor tank, but hubby (so far) is drawing the line at the 300g. :D

John - in *your* opinion, are discus as tough to keep as everyone says? What about home bred ones? Wouldn't they be hardier than wild caught?

[Jkhuu]

Hi Mary,
Its sounds like the plan to move towards SW in underway. Exciting!
Discus to a degree, are tougher to keep than other FW species, but I don't think they are neccessarily as hard to keep as some people think. They can also be surprisingly forgiving. I remember when I first started with discus (Nov, 2000), there was alot of trials and errors. Mostly caused by me, playing around with the water parameters in the hope of replicating the optimal conditions seen in the wild. This ofcourse worked against what I wanted to achieve and became very time consuming. Especially if you work fulltime. I find out now, through my own experience that the less you mess around with the water, the better my success rate is.
Domestic bred fish are definitely hardier and do not necessarily need low pH or soft water to thrive. I've been able to raise all my discus, including the wild-caugh and frys in age tap water. They all tend to do better in bare-bottom tanks (...not good if you like the asthetic of plant and pebbles, etc), a well balanced diet and stable water works in my case. If someday you plan on trying discus, find a breeder in your area where you can pick the best ones from the bunch. The healthy fish available through breeders would definitely increases your success rate as well. And ofcourse, this is all in my opinion ;)

Regards,
John

[afss]

Hi John.

First of all NICE pictures.

I currently have a 73-74 gallon tank that is setup with comunity tropicals. I am considering converting it to discus. Do you have any links etc or other info that you can pass on to me so that i can make a more informed decision.

Scott

[Jkhuu]

Thanks afss,

I'll send it to your personal email. Too tire to figure out if I am permitted to post links on this forum.


Regards,
John

[afss]

Thanks for the info.. boy that was fast :D

I think that you are alowed to post links to other forums etc as long as it isn't in the form of an advertisement.

Scott:cheers: