How do you feel about Discus?

[Second Hand Pat]

I'm curious of something and wanted to get a sense of the level of passion our current membership has for Discus. On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is the the lowest and 10 the highest with regards to how much you enjoy the Discus Hobby, where do you see yourself.

Do you just keep Discus because they are fish and you keep fish , thats a 1.

Do you spend considerable amount of time caring for your Discus, spend lots on buying your Discus, and watching and reading about Discus Related stuff. Does your circle of friends include discus keepers, Thats a 10.


Do you think the Hobby is growing? Shrinking? what about Discus as the King of the Aquarium.. Is it still a KIng among fish?

Do you try and breed DIscus? Do you plan to?


Obviously after all the time I have been here at SD I tend to live and breath them, a good chunk of time is spent on discus related things and I have a large circle of friends in the hobby themselves.. More than I have out of the hobby for sure.

I am trying to gauge the pulse of the forum and hobby and if you could take a few minutes to share your thoughts and feelings here it would help me.


Thanks,
al

First off I love discus, especially wild discus. I have had my ups and downs with them from the dreaded whirling disease (or whatever you wish to call it) to having wilds spawn and raising their fry. I can honestly say that I have been from a 2 to 10 in the time I have kept discus. Currently I am about an eight. Between SD and NADA I have a good circle of friends. Nobody local to me keeps discus that I know of.

I recently returned to keeping discus after sending all my discus away in 2016. I had a crisis with my elderly parents which placed me into a care giver role and not knowing how much of my time would be needed I gave up my discus (one of the hardest things I ever did ). I currently have 10 wilds, six adults and four sub-adults in two QT tanks. I spend more time observing then I spend doing water changes and feeding. I also spend quite a bit of time helping out with Simply and related things.

Judging by what I see on Facebook and SD I think the hobby is growing. These's a ton of discus vendors out there and discus related groups on FB. Is discus still king??...a definite YES to that lol.

Do I plan on discus breeding...totally if my wilds will breed for me again. Plus I want to give the holy grail of discus breeding a try...wish me luck
Pat

[14Discus]

I enjoy and follow Discus fish in the 9 range. I've kept many fish for many years and am newer to Discus. While they require some additional time, my thinking is .....nothing ventured, nothing gained. I do use them for purely awe inspiring beauty and my goal is simply to keep and maintain a spot of supreme enjoyment and relaxation. So many visitors to my home think the Discus tank is saltwater because of the vibrant colors.

Keeping Discus is a 9 for me, but there are higher and lower times of activity. I also keep Angels, Gouramis, and Koi for fun. Discus and Koi are my two absolute favorite fish and the keeping of any fish requires dedication.....period. It is not a fair-weather hobby. Both Discus and Koi seem to have higher degrees of "fish personality". I really enjoy this facet of keeping D. And K.

Time.....gotta ba an 8 or 9 when one factors in care, viewing, reading abt, chatting w Discus friends, and Forum visits.

Growing or shrinking.....hard to say. My guess is growing some. King of tropical, yes. King of all fish....?......as Koi are right up there in my passion. Sadly, many people do hop into Discus too soon or wo a good grasp of fish husbandry and get frustrated and quit the hobby which is sad. Discus kind of get bad press in that so many writings almost scare off potential keepers of this fish. It is not impossible to keep them these days and is, in fact, maybe easier because of the Forum as a resource along w decades of breeding these guys outside of the Amazonian environmental factor.

Since I have a history of breeding everything I've gotten into which really expands the time taken and all, I have elected to not breed them (famous last words). My goal is to keep them as healthy as possible and simply enjoy the serenity of the adults wo the pressures of breeding. This is a change for me overall and I'm not saying I'd never breed, but keeping them for now is enough.

Yes...there are those who r not among us in the Forum, but this Forum is key in my success with these fish. Not only does it have the friendly followers of Discus, but is a huge source of information which I value deeply. I dare say that wo this forum, many would not have gotten into the hobby or would have bowed out after one of the Discus setbacks. I'm involved w many Forums and often see many visitors.......people who visit, but wish not to jump on or feel they are not experts. I know this is silly as we all learn constantly and pick up new tricks, but know that those of us who are in the Forum need it.

[jeep]

I'm curious of something and wanted to get a sense of the level of passion our current membership has for Discus. On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is the the lowest and 10 the highest with regards to how much you enjoy the Discus Hobby, where do you see yourself.

Do you just keep Discus because they are fish and you keep fish , thats a 1.

Do you spend considerable amount of time caring for your Discus, spend lots on buying your Discus, and watching and reading about Discus Related stuff. Does your circle of friends include discus keepers, Thats a 10.


Do you think the Hobby is growing? Shrinking? what about Discus as the King of the Aquarium.. Is it still a KIng among fish?

Do you try and breed DIscus? Do you plan to?


Obviously after all the time I have been here at SD I tend to live and breath them, a good chunk of time is spent on discus related things and I have a large circle of friends in the hobby themselves.. More than I have out of the hobby for sure.

I am trying to gauge the pulse of the forum and hobby and if you could take a few minutes to share your thoughts and feelings here it would help me.


Thanks,
al

Well, years ago I was an instant 10. I learned all I could learn, I met new friends due to this site and enjoyed everything about these fish. But, after several personal set-backs, as well as eventually losing all my discus due to a lightening strike followed by equipment failure, I went to a 1. Discus never left my mind, but I just didn't have the energy or motivation to re-start at that time. 10 years later I am a 10 again, lol...

I think with the evolution of Facebook, forum participation has been affected but interest is still alive and well. There are many discus pages and still many people with heavy interest in discus on FB, but the personal touch and education is missing there. This forum is an extremely valuable resource that every discus keeper should take advantage of...

[Paul Sabucchi]

When I said I would not breed it may have been not definitive...Management has graciously agreed to shift her two goldfish to the tub pond so the 45 gal would be available, sure I could offload some fish at my lfs

[jeep]

I have been at 10 and I have been at 0 (which means broke my heart) Right now I'd say I'm at about 5 but could shoot right back up to a 10 tomorrow if I have a bit of luck

Maybe you should consider entering the new contest and boost yourself back to a 10?

[LizStreithorst]

Maybe you should consider entering the new contest and boost yourself back to a 10?

The parents of those fry are to die for, but they have no spots and they are not blue. I have a breeding project going now, despite some setbacks. My project requires blue and at least a hint of red spots. I'd love to, but I can't. I'll get back to 10 my own stubborn way.

[dagray]

I am probably at about a 7 on Discus keeping (currently don't have Discus, but am getting the tank back in shape to keep some, and am saving funds so that I can purchase Discus).

Part of this is the fact that there is only one local fish store an hour away that has any good equipment and livestock, the other two "Pet" stores are Pet Smart and Petco, and I try to not buy from them. The town I live in has more cows than people (people population 3300). Also I have a couple other items that take up my time when I am at home (I work the standard 40 hour week), and those are bicycling and photography (the cycling to help keep my diabetes in check).

I will have some wild type Discus such as the Red Alenquer from Discus Hans as I can't afford true wilds at this time. Currently I am feeding the new tank arrivals to get them to grow some, and saving money for discus.

Other than people on this forum I don't have friends with discus, and only one or two of my friends have aquariums (under 30 gallons).

Dave

[warblad79]

I'm curious of something and wanted to get a sense of the level of passion our current membership has for Discus. On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is the the lowest and 10 the highest with regards to how much you enjoy the Discus Hobby, where do you see yourself.

- I consider myself as 10 for now at my current state but can drastically change if plans didn't go accordingly.


Do you just keep Discus because they are fish and you keep fish?
- I keep them because I enjoy watching their life cycle and have passion for them.


Do you spend considerable amount of time caring for your Discus, spend lots on buying your Discus, and watching and reading about Discus Related stuff. Does your circle of friends include discus keepers?
- I do spend considerable amount of time caring for my discus due to flexibility of my work schedule and that allows me to do daily water changes and watching them. I never owned and not even a single discus book, I only have hands on experienced. Also I like read different forum sites to gather information. No friends just FB acquaintances who shares the same passion.


Do you think the Hobby is growing? Shrinking? what about Discus as the King of the Aquarium.. Is it still a King among fish?
- I definitely think the hobby is growing, I noticed a lot of people are engaging into importing discus. I would assume the demand is very high especially for high quality. Discus is still the king IMHO


Do you try and breed Discus? Do you plan to?
- I've always have been since 2009, to keep me afloat and be able to afford the expenses. But also at the same time, it provides extra income.

[JamesW]

Do you just keep Discus because they are fish and you keep fish , thats a 1.

I also chose discus specifically though I only have a single display tank and I'm trying to grow plants while keep the discus happy and healthy. So maybe that makes me a 3.

Do you spend considerable amount of time caring for your Discus, spend lots on buying your Discus, and watching and reading about Discus Related stuff. Does your circle of friends include discus keepers, Thats a 10.

The discus only get 2 x 30 % WC's per week so not much time, I've bought my discus and grown them to the best of my time/ability and I spend a lot of downtime at work on Simply but aside from here I don't have any friends that keep discus.

Do you think the Hobby is growing? Shrinking? what about Discus as the King of the Aquarium.. Is it still a KIng among fish?

I think it is growing however the movement in breeding desirable saltwater fish, the improvements in artificial live-rock, the advancement of filtration equipment and all-in-one saltwater aquariums have made the barrier to entry for saltwater SO much lower so that's where the most growth is IMO. The interactive nature of discus is pretty special but it is tough to compete with watching clownfish swim through an anemone and a bunch of soft corals eating. Freshwater though the discus is still king!

Do you try and breed DIscus? Do you plan to?
No and no.

Overall I'm a 6, more interested in them than not. I've been successful in terms of keeping my single tank of fish happy and healthy so haven't experienced the up's and down's that are chronicled here. If I had the time/space/money I'd love to expand my keeping and possibly get into breeding but the chance of that happening is about the same as me retiring in next year.