Huge Discus Picture

[DiscusKeeper403]

pffft, seems cruel to me, good results or not. Call me ignorant, im sorry, but i find that cruel.

Don't think its all that cruel. A quick water change, and they would get used to the water levels and probably wouldn't get too stressed out. Like Jim said, the size is proof of this.

 

[petertr]

I'd never do a 90%+ water change - Just seems harsh for no real benefit over an 80% change.

Well, I think that the results speak for themselves. Look at how big those discus are. If they were stressed out they would be dead. Not amazing. Now look at my discus. The biggest ones are barely 6", my smallest nearly 4 after 8 months in my care. The result of being raised by me. A person who didnt have the patience or time to raise the fish the way they should be. The way the guy who owns the fish in that first photo did. If I could do it all over again I would do what this guy did given the time, and I would probably have way better looking fish because of it. Barebottom, huge daily waterchanges, lots of feedings = great fish. Any other way and the best you can hope for is mediocre, and thats if you're lucky.

Can't see how leaving enough water for the fish to remain upright, whilst changing the same amount of water each day is "worse".

 

[mike os]

then you have a lot to learn about discus keeping.......

Always amazes me that people who have difficulty keeping discus alive, or manage to get them breeding once in a while see fit to criticise the practices of those who cull more discus than most of us will ever see, and produce fish of a quality, and in numbers, that no one outside of asia comes even close to. ( I have only seen one exception to that, a guy that breeds red turks to die for...but at 1000euro+ each.....)

Don't make the mistake of trying to compare what you might do in your 50 gal aquarium to what a discus farm does every day, there is no comparison.

 

[Dan Robbins]

Size doesnt seem to suggest much here to be honest as most fish farms either
1. Hatch discus and sell them as quickly as possible or
2. catch wild disus ( at the size they are now) and keep them in holding tanks until sale. I think this seems to be the case here.
In all the fish farms that i have been to, i have yet to see a daily 90%+ waterchange part of common practise.

Im all for waterchanges little and often, but i see no benefit in putting a fish under repetative stress. In my opinion, and im sure i do not share this view, this is cruelty.

 

[Weimster]

Better to employ a drip feed method and that would prevent the stress. I'm in two minds as to whether discus realld require such massive water changes. I don't see why they need it over other fish.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

I'm in two minds as to whether discus realld require such massive water changes. I don't see why they need it over other fish.

Because if they don't get really clean water then they don't grow properly...

 

[Jim Curtis]

I'm in two minds as to whether discus realld require such massive water changes. I don't see why they need it over other fish.

Because if they don't get really clean water then they don't grow properly...

Also because they dont have experience with discus. Really all you have to do is look at their natural habitat to see that fresh clean rainwater is what they live in and the closest way to replicate that in an aquarium or a "fish farm" is to empty the tank and refill it with clean water.

 

[mike os]

IMO discus come in 3 catagories

1 utter crap...about 40% of what I see
2 average... about 40% of what I see, usually discus enthusiasts
3 good... about 10%
4 very good 7% usually serious discus keepers
5 very good/excellent 3% usually from top breeders at shows ( & even there not all fish are above class 3)... I know quite a few of the guys who win discus shows, care to guess how they keep their fish?

 

[Jim Curtis]

IMO discus come in 3 catagories

1 utter crap...about 40% of what I see
2 average... about 40% of what I see, usually discus enthusiasts
3 good... about 10%
4 very good 7% usually serious discus keepers
5 very good/excellent 3% usually from top breeders at shows ( & even there not all fish are above class 3)... I know quite a few of the guys who win discus shows, care to guess how they keep their fish?

If in your opinion its 3 catagories then whos opinion did you post?

 

[mike os]

... my own, mistype.....

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

IMO discus come in 3 catagories

1 utter crap...about 40% of what I see
2 average... about 40% of what I see, usually discus enthusiasts
3 good... about 10%
4 very good 7% usually serious discus keepers
5 very good/excellent 3% usually from top breeders at shows ( & even there not all fish are above class 3)... I know quite a few of the guys who win discus shows, care to guess how they keep their fish?

If in your opinion its 3 catagories then whos opinion did you post?

 

[3ndl3r]

Well maybe it does have it's advantages, but i won't be doing this on my Discus Tank in the future....

 

[G_Sharky]

Those might not be discus......the brown coloration and that pic looks more like Uaru's or the poorman discus......

 

[Jim Curtis]

They are discus beyond any shadow of a doubt.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Those might not be discus......the brown coloration and that pic looks more like Uaru's or the poorman discus......

Definitely not Severum. Probably not Uaru.