Discus Q's

[SuckerLove86]

Hey everyone. I know very, very little about discus and was wondering if someone could shed some light on a question I couldn't seem to find an answer to...

As common as I see discus in LFS's, why are they so expensive compared to most other commonly available freshwater fish? They are extremely beautiful altogether, but surely there's a reason a little less shallow (hah, fish tank, water... shallow... punny) than that. Is the expense/difficulty in breeding them a factor in cost?

I'm by no means considering getting any kind of discus... I know my limits as an aquarist. Just trying to gain a little bit of knowledge.

 

[Adistar]

Google is amazing.

Google- Discus (click)

 

[SuckerLove86]

Yes. Google is amazing. So amazing that I ran that exact search before I posted on here.

......

So my question remains unanswered. Any takers?

 

[sylvia]

Besides that they can be difficult to breed in the first place and some types need hormones to get them going, I think a lot of it is down to the fact that they get stressed and die so easily so that an LFS will only get their money's worth in sales if the prices are high (as they'll have lost a good number on the way). Then there's the fish being in high demand so that a high price doesn't usualy discourage prospective buyers - so the LFSs can afford to raise prices and exploit this. Then there's the fish' reputation... If you saw a discus for $3, you'd probably be wondering what's wrong with it Seriously though, if LFSs and breeders can get away with high prices for any species of fish, they'll obviously go for it as it's in their best interest to do so. Even now that discus are becoming hardier and generaly easier to breed and raise, the prices are staying quite high.

 

[SuckerLove86]

thanks sylvia, there's a lot of good points in there.

i'm sure that even though the discus are getting a *tad* hardier, prices won't drop. seems to me that if a store owner got in the groove of charging x amount for a discus, they'll continue to charge that amount, regardless of how the species develops (that is unless they get even more attractive). so basically, based on your reply, and a little bit of marketing/economics, i doubt the price will noticable change unless there's a visible positive change in the stock.

regardless of price, though, absolutely stunning fish.

maybe someday...

 

[annka5]

..also, you can only rear the babies with their parents, which is more hassle, fewer separete broods per year, etc.
The little ones also need very low nitrate water, so are more difficult to raise successfully than other types of fish.
And because thats what LFS can charge for them.... although if you were interested, usually buying direct from an importer or breeder rather than LFS is cheaper and get better advice/fish.