My Discus

Hi All

A new bug bit me, well actually my wife first and I ... well I just followed the new trend...lol.

I bought her's first, 2 x Blue Pigeon Blood's and then a month or so later mine, 2 x Blue Diamonds and 3 days ago a Red one, think it might be a Red Heckle Discus but not sure, he/she is very beautiful, absolutely a stunning fish and colour. He/she is the biggest of the five we now have.

Some pics of my wife's fish



Just realised that I don't have pics of my Blue Diamonds on my phone yet... will correct that asap.

Here is a pic of my red fish



Can anybody identify him for me please.

 

Wow Charles they are truly beautiful. Try @Marco to get him to identify it, he is usually clued up with this.

 

Oh! but I really miss my Discus, these are stunning fish!! Congrats!

 

@Charles,

Rose red or Virgin red or whatever -Red name the Asians have for it now.
I'd guess Rose Red if looking at the manner in which its filling up in the body region.

Dont know if you were guessing or if you were told some rubbish at a lps, but there is no such thing as a Red Heckel. Im not saying this to belittle your comment, just to clarify.

Rgds

Marco

 

Yes its a rose red, I use to own 1 myself...Heckel will have the dominant thick line thru the middel.

@Charles you seem to be going thru allot of phases....haha, Bettas, Plecos and now Discus.

I went thru the same stages years ago, the problem is that we have very expensive taste...and our bank managers dislike this taste of ours...haha

 

Is it true its hard to keep discus?? need to change 25% water every week, only eat certain foods, must have temp of 28-30C, ph of 6 and low dh?? Sorry but i dont have any experience with discus keeping and would like to get some in the future

 

No its not true....and its not so hard, but they do require some extra attention. Slightly more maintenence then your average Angel. But well worth it.

 

What size tank are they in @Charles ? Great looking fish by the way!

 

@Charles, Awesome fish! Welcome to the brotherhood of discus worshippers
@Nick, Re your question: Temperature and water changes - pretty accurate. You need to change even more water than that when they're young. Food - well, you need to give them good food. But they're not like the fussy species of fish that will only eat live food or something. Quality flakes and frozen food are great. pH and dh - totally not true. Domestic fish will handle almost any pH. In Cape Town your water is pretty soft anyway, no worries there.
I wouldn't say they're difficult as such - you just have a couple of rules that you absolutely have to follow. In particular, you have to feed them well and keep their water absolutely clean of all nitrogenous wastes. But if you follow the rules they're actually really tough fish.

 

Hi @Marco, were only guessing, could not find the precise description for this fish so went with what auntie google spat out...just shows you how much incorrect info there is on the net. No offense taken whatsoever.

@Hennie, hahaha... not so much as stages, but my wife always wanted Discus so I had to make a plan! I'm still into Betta's and yes the pleco bug bit me bad and it's less labour intensive for me...hahaha.

@FishLover, they are in a 250 liter tank, Sun Sun 304B 2000l/h external filter, 700l/h internal filter and a large black round type Boyou sponge filter. Loads of plants, big piece of wood, 50% water changes per week.

@Nick, it's like @Hennie Roux says, it's not that hard or difficult, does require more attention than your average Angel and provided you keep to certain "Rules". @Marco for one is very knowledgeable about keeping and breeding Discus, so if someone wants to know more in this regard, please contact them, they know what they are doing. I am merely keeping them for their beauty and for my wife. One day when I am propperly setup for breeding I will have a go at it but that is not in the near future plans.

Thank you for everybody's comments, it's appreciated.

Regards

Charles