Discus. Facts and myths

[strawberryblonde]

Again, Welcome!

Who is Sverting?

Just an FYI because I was bored and well, it's the not knowing that drives this lady nuts. LOL

Sverting appears to be a university student who lives in Poland and who has an interest in some mighty fine looking freshwater fish species. So far as I can tell, he doesn't have discus and has never owned any. Gotta hand it to him, he's abrasive and stubborn as a mule when it comes to doing things his own way, but he also has some nice tanks on display on YouTube. (uh huh John, there are other experts on other fish forums who blast him on a regular basis for some of his outrageous ideas!)

Oh and he's been called out on more than one occasion on other websites for handing out bad advice and opinions that he calls "facts". LOL

And nope, Sverting is NOT our newest member on this thread.

[Chad Hughes]

Well now that it is cleared up I am going back to sleep.......


-john

Exactly... Also notice how the NADA folks stick together here on Simply. LOL! They're HARD CORE discus addicts!

Thanks a lot. At least all leads to good things and the benefit of our water pets.

LMAO!

Well I have seen your fish so it would probably be an improvement.....LOL.

-john

Very, very interesting.... When you posted "he's abrasive and stubborn as a mule when it comes to doing things his own way, but he also has some nice tanks on display on YouTube." I thought you were talking about John. LOL!

Just an FYI because I was bored and well, it's the not knowing that drives this lady nuts. LOL

Sverting appears to be a university student who lives in Poland and who has an interest in some mighty fine looking freshwater fish species. So far as I can tell, he doesn't have discus and has never owned any. Gotta hand it to him, he's abrasive and stubborn as a mule when it comes to doing things his own way, but he also has some nice tanks on display on YouTube. (uh huh John, there are other experts on other fish forums who blast him on a regular basis for some of his outrageous ideas!)

Oh and he's been called out on more than one occasion on other websites for handing out bad advice and opinions that he calls "facts". LOL

And nope, Sverting is NOT our newest member on this thread.

[strawberryblonde]

Very, very interesting.... When you posted "he's abrasive and stubborn as a mule when it comes to doing things his own way, but he also has some nice tanks on display on YouTube." I thought you were talking about John. LOL!

Oh you pot stirrer you! LOL

I shall make no comments regarding John, his tanks or his purported mule like tendencies.... cuz well... I am Switzerland!

[strawberryblonde]

Oh hey, just wanted to add one teensy little factoid regarding discus. Though there are claims that no wild discus have ever been found with fish in their stomachs, I have proof positive that mine find live fish quite tasty!

My Marlboro Red got a taste for them the first day that I put Cardinal Tetras into my tank. Scarfed a little one right down in one gulp. After that 1 fish per day disappeared into his maw till they finally got big enough that he couldn't fit them into his mouth.

And then there's last night's WC. My husband saw the whole thing right along with me, so I have witnesses...even if they'd refuse to testify on my behalf. LOL

As I was finishing up the water fill, one of the smaller cardinals...maybe 2" tops, got separated from the school. He flitted around the driftwood looking for them, but wasn't quick enough. Marlboro Red saw him, shot across the tank and gulped. A minute later he spit it out...the part that was stuck in his teeth apparently. It was a small piece of one of the fins. I scooped out the fin while my husband hollered "You go fish, eat those little buggers!"

And that is what happens when you have a 9" discus with a big mouth. They don't eat fish my a**!

[Chad Hughes]

Oh you pot stirrer you! LOL

I shall make no comments regarding John, his tanks or his purported mule like tendencies.... cuz well... I am Switzerland!

[Tazalanche]

Seven pages & now I'm out of popcorn.

[magewynd]

And we all thought it was your feeding regime that got you the serving platter size discus. There you have it folks , a FACT, straight from Toni. Live Cardinal Tetras grow big discus. Out with the beef heart.

Oh hey, just wanted to add one teensy little factoid regarding discus. Though there are claims that no wild discus have ever been found with fish in their stomachs, I have proof positive that mine find live fish quite tasty!


And that is what happens when you have a 9" discus with a big mouth. They don't eat fish my a**!

[strawberryblonde]

ROFLMBO!!!

[Chad Hughes]

And we all thought it was your feeding regime that got you the serving platter size discus. There you have it folks , a FACT, straight from Toni. Live Cardinal Tetras grow big discus. Out with the beef heart.

It's the heart healthy choice. Lol!

[Second Hand Pat]

And we all thought it was your feeding regime that got you the serving platter size discus. There you have it folks , a FACT, straight from Toni. Live Cardinal Tetras grow big discus. Out with the beef heart.

They don't necessarily need to be dinner sized just quick...even wilds can acquire a taste for live cardinal tetra. My guys prefer a little barbecue sauce with theirs

[ro_nin]

you know, this reminds me of the debate about what is a "natural and healthy" diet for humans. It has been scientifically proven that humans did not have so many ailments in the days we were eating meat mostly and whatever could be gathered seasonally (basically detritus, a mushroom here, a leaf there and fruit / root in another place). Does that mean that we were healthy as a species? were we more successful?
truth being told, speaking for a good part of the population we are worse off healthwise then those hunter gatherers, but, it' not the mainstreatm population that leads to the development, improvement and success of a species, it's the outliers. As such, even with all the dental and digestive and plethora of other problems that out "farmer" diet induced into our species, I do not see us building atomic reactors and keeping discus for pets as hunter gatherers.
To eat his/her own, but, unless you are willing to experiment, I would stick with what's proven to work.
P.S. don't have any Discus, yet, looking to get some anytime soon.

I don't think it was your first post that was tipped the apple cart, it was probably your second post, which I've quoted below. In that post, even though you were just summarizing, you made some very bold statements about how wrong it is to EVER feed fish of any kind to discus as well the part about it being WRONG (you capitalized it) to give them hearts of warm-blooded animals.

The final paragraph states that it makes them sick, destroys their organs and that this diet is the cause of discus being hard-to-breed fish.

So much in that second post is naive and lacks any practical basis that it boggles my mind just reading it.

How about if you take a few minutes to fill us in on who you are and what your goals are regarding discus by adding to this thread: Tell Us About Yourselves

[strawberryblonde]

They don't necessarily need to be dinner sized just quick...even wilds can acquire a taste for live cardinal tetra. My guys prefer a little barbecue sauce with theirs

Aha! So yours have been going hunting lately too? I am SO not gonna tell Marlboro Man about the Florida BBQ sauce...nope nope, not gonna happen. That guy is spoiled enough as it is!

[Second Hand Pat]

Toni, I once have a beautiful school of nice, fat cards...about 30/40 strong. That school still exists but the fish which are left live in the overflows. If I net them out and put them in the tank they get ate. Yum, yum. Down to three rummy nose. I have pretty much given up on dither fish except for the cories.

[Ryan]

Discus are odd in that sense... they obviously forage in the wild and if the gut analysis is to be believed in the original post, they do eat bugs and copepods and whatnot, which would lead you to believe they'd go for any small prey including fish. I have watched discus decimate small tetras. Then, in an attempt to cull an overabundance of angelfish and kribensis fry, I dumped some fry into my 150 discus community and none of them would even give the fry a second glance. I ended up raising a bunch of 2" kribs in that tank because the discus wouldn't eat them. I have no idea why they'll go after something like tetras but not tiny fry.

[MaiaDee]

They'll go after cory fry, poor babies.