help me buy some discus

[Justanotherfishkeeper]

Hello all,

I'm about to get started in the world of discus breeding and I have the age old question of should I buy a proven pair or should I buy a group and raise them.

I have found a great breeder in the UK who has pairs for sale, he is about a 6 hour drive from me so I would need to get this fish shipped to me. This would mean they would likely be in transit for a considerable time and I feel it would be too much stress on the fish.

My other choice is a seller of Stendker discus who is about an hours drive from me. He also has amazing discus and I would be able to travel there and look at the fish and pick the ones out I like, he however is not selling any pairs.

The pair from the first breeder would set me back £250 plus £25 shipping.

The other breeder is selling smaller discus for around £23.

My gut is telling me to get a group of 6 or so of the smaller fish, grow them out and hope for a pair. I was just wondering if you guys and girls would be inclined to do the same?

Thanks in advance for your answers

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Justanotherfishkeeper, if you are new to discus I would suggest growing out a group of discus to help prepare you of raising discus fry. Can you tell us more about your experience with discus. Also shipping discus is pretty common and discus handle it well providing they are well prepared for shipping and the shipper knows what they are doing.
Pat

[Justanotherfishkeeper]

Hi Pat,

I’m new to discus, I have mainly been keeping Malawi cichlids up to this point.

With that in mind I will most likely go down the route of getting a group to grow out. Do you think 6 is a good amount?

Thanks

[danotaylor]

I agree with Pat....discus are world travellers. I live in the US. Last Sept I bought 8 adult discus that were fresh imports from Malaysia. After a 3 week quarantine with the importer I drove 3 hours each way to bring them home. After only 2 days I had a pair form and spawn, 3 days later another pair formed and spawned. It doesn't seem that travelling halfway across the world, then bouncing around another 6 hours in transit with e bothered them too much at all. The fun thing is I had/have no real desire to breed them at all because the work involved in raising the fry to a saleable size is prohibitive with my work schedule. The one advantage of buying adults is they are a little more forgiving with water quality, but, as Pat mentioned, if you plan to breed then growing out juvies will be good practice for raising fry once you breeding project begins!

[Justanotherfishkeeper]

Thanks for the advice.

Although I’m encouraged by hearing they are good travellers I do think I’ll end up buying a group and raising them.

Is it likely I will get a pair from a group of 6, or is that too low a number?

[danotaylor]

Hi Pat,

I’m new to discus, I have mainly been keeping Malawi cichlids up to this point.

With that in mind I will most likely go down the route of getting a group to grow out. Do you think 6 is a good amount?

Thanks

The number of fish to begin with really depends on how big your tank is.
For adults the rule of thumb is 1/40 litres but peeps growing out fry offer keep a higher stock density because they're changing 100-200% of the water daily to ensure good growth rate and development of good shape in their discus fry.
I would be inclined to buy 10 or even 12 to ensure you get pairs and are able to select the best stock for shape & color to match for breeding.
Bare in mind raising discus is nothing like raising African cichlids. The water quality needs of discus are astronomical when compared to keeping African cichlids. Nitrates need to be keep 5-10 or less to ensure good growth and shape. Without this level of water quality discus stunt easily and the eye to body ratio gets off and they look meh.
Growing out your fry will teach you a lot, so get ready for action!
Have a read in the beginners section for what to do/expect. After keeping other fish for almost 40 years the shift to discus was great but I had to unlearn and relearn a lot of new practices in my routine.

[Justanotherfishkeeper]

Thanks for all the great advice. I’ve been reading and watching videos for about 2 years now on keeping discus so I’m confident I’ve done my research on keeping them, just wanted to know where to start when buying the fish as I’m now ready to take the plunge 😊

[Justanotherfishkeeper]

In terms of tanks I’ve got one smaller tank for breeding with space for a couple more if needed then two 4ft tanks for grow outs.

[danotaylor]

Sounds good. All the best to you then on your new adventure!

[Justanotherfishkeeper]

Thanks, I’ll be sure to post pics and keep you updated and no doubt ask for advice when I get into trouble!

[Second Hand Pat]

Danny gave you some great advice and here is one more video to watch. It is in the first post of this thread http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...CH-THIS-VIDEO!. The man in this video is Al and he keeps the lights on here.
Pat

[jeep]

I agree with Pat....discus are world travellers. I live in the US. Last Sept I bought 8 adult discus that were fresh imports from Malaysia. After a 3 week quarantine with the importer I drove 3 hours each way to bring them home. After only 2 days I had a pair form and spawn, 3 days later another pair formed and spawned. It doesn't seem that travelling halfway across the world, then bouncing around another 6 hours in transit with e bothered them too much at all.

I've found that discus regularly spawn after a perceived near-death experience, lol...

As far as the original question... I would grow some out before attempting to breed discus. No matter how much research you do or how many videos you watch, nothing compares to actually growing them out...

[peewee1]

Because a proven pair spawned for someone may not guarantee they will spawn for you. If you purchase one pair you have one pair but if you purchase 6 fish you do have a chance for 3 pairs one day. Or if you do find one pair of the 6 and should 2 pair then you can add 2 more the the original 4 and possibly get a second pair and still have less money invested. With one pair, 2 fish, if one dies then you have one fish. If you buy 6 and one or two dies then you still have enough fish to get one pair.

[klr-dude]

i would go for a group of small fish .
if you buy a pair there is a risk that someone unloads a pair of pensioners on you .
even if they say that they are just paring up .
just saying !

[Justanotherfishkeeper]

Perfect, thanks for all the help.

I’ve decided I will defiantly get a group of around 8 to start with.

Now just the fun decision of what strain to go for 😊