To Discus Or Not To Discus?

[Cooper2085]

Hi all, this is my first trip into this section of the forum!

My 6 x 2 x 2.5 will be empty by this time tommorrow. After a good scrub down I intend to start restocking during my christmas break. Iv been looking at setting up a "as close to nature as possible biotope" with my tank and am looking at making discus the centrepiece fish.

However I keep seeing so much conflicting information regarding this species that it's putting me off! Do you have any useful links? Any advice?

The tank is a 850l monster tank so there is plenty of space

 

[thereverendturtle]

I would start here.... http/www.rockymountaindiscus.com/Discus_Fish_Care.htm

 

[simonas]

Id say go for it. I did it with my 150g tank and it looked fab. I only changed it as I could not afford to stock it as I wished due to a change in finances
A large tank planted with a big shoal of discus and a large shoal of cardinals looks so fab and ignore what people say about them being boring they look so stunnning thats not relevant

Look at devotedt o discus's thread at the moment that should sway you as its an ace looking tank

 

[Cooper2085]

Thanks for the replies and link

The main thing that is putting me off is that I want an authentic biotope. I'm just struggling to find information about the streams and lakes these beautiful fish end up in. The money isn't too big of an issue as I see it as buying a family pet, and I was looking at going with wild discus.

Il keep soaking up information, I'm not rushing into this one!

 

[thereverendturtle]

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwDCseB-D0Y&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[Fish_keeper203]

Hey, I'm no expert as I myself have just started with two pidgeon blood dicus's and two turquoise. But I would really suggest not even considering wild. They are not meant for domestication and are often sold illegally (well here anyway). Plus they are a lot more fussy about food, water and light. I strongly suggest you start off with some cheap 5-7 cm discus. Try your LFS or find a breeder as they generally sell cheaper. If you want a natural looking one try a turquoise (don't know full name) they are the closest you are going to get to natural. Though they display a bright blue cookout with black stripes as young fish. Hope this was helpful.

Hey, I'm no expert as I myself have just started with two pidgeon blood dicus's and two turquoise. But I would really suggest not even considering wild. They are not meant for domestication and are often sold illegally (well here anyway). Plus they are a lot more fussy about food, water and light. I strongly suggest you start off with some cheap 5-7 cm discus. Try your LFS or find a breeder as they generally sell cheaper. If you want a natural looking one try a turquoise (don't know full name) they are the closest you are going to get to natural. Though they display a bright blue cookout with black stripes as young fish. Hope this was helpful.

 

[Zante]

You might want to try getting them from Chen's. That's where I'm getting mine.
http/www.chensdiscus.co.uk/

I only heard good reviews of his stock.