I have added this to the Creativediscus topic, but thought it also warrants posting by itself for teaching and discussion purposes. Could we sticky this for a while until everyone gets a chance to read it?
While I was at Creativediscus Conrad sat down and explained to me his philosophy of the three categories of fish he breeds. This is very simple to understand and sheds new light on why certain discus cost more than others. I never thought about it in this way before but it makes a lot of sense to me after reading it. After I did the post of their store and some of their discus I emailed him the link and he was nice enough to sit down and type this out so it could be posted for all the members to share and learn from. Creativediscus not only just sells discus, but also believes in sharing their information of the knowledge they have with other hobbyists.
Conrad and Winnie please join Simplydiscus as members and feel free to part any wisdom you have on us from time to time. We appreciate the info and are egger to learn.
Thank you,
Jeff
Simple classification of discus for beginners.
To make it simple for beginners because of all the fancy names in the discus market now I have classified them into three groups for easy reference. The one step, two-step and three step fish.
One step
Discus that breeds 100% (homogeneous), which means 100% of the fries, is the same.
The breeders just have to take care of the shape and size of the fishes. (Blue Diamond, solid reds, solid yellow, whites etc.)
Two steps
Discus that have a base color and pattern. Out of 100% of the fries only about 10-20% will achieve “ Full Body Pattern “ the breeders not only have to take care of the requirements as the ‘one step’ but have to pick the best 10-20% as the rest will not attain full body pattern. (Turquoise, snakeskin, checkerboard etc.)
Three steps
Discus that have a base color, pattern and spots. Out of 100% of fries only about 5-13% will achieve ‘ full body pattern and full body spots’ By now I don’t have to tell you what the breeders have to look out for in this strain of discus. (Spotted snake, leopard, leopardsnake etc.)
I’m not saying that the one step is not as good as the three steps, to create a solid fish also has its problems. First they have to cross two fish with less patterns and pick from the fries with lesser patterns for further crossing till the desirable “Solid Color” without pattern is achieved.
As for the blue diamond and cobalt they work the other way round, by crossing fish with thick patterns and pick the pieces with thicker patterns for further crossings.
This page is just to let the beginners know what they are buying and why some discus cost more than others, due to the genetic built-up and the work the breeders put in into creating that strain. Happy discus keeping.
All the best,
Conrad and Winnie
Creativediscus
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Simple classification for beginners
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