Discus from lfs?

[peewee1]

Taco, do not listen to discouragement. Remember the great "Eddie the Eagle" who as a teen dreamed of becoming an Olympic ski jumper. The UK had not had many if any jumpers but that did not kill Eddie's dream. His mother did not tell him that his dream was impossible but instead she made a box in which she placed a replica of an Olympic gold medal. Some years later Eddie found himself competing the the Olympics ski jump competition. Just go raise discus and if you fail you try again, and a again until you have the largest and most beautiful breeding discus in all of Chicagoland.

[TacoLoco7]

Thx peewee, I'm leaving out all the discouragement. Keeping discus is like a rollercoaster. You know you can get on a rollercoaster, but your too scared. Same with the discus, I know I can keep them, but it will be a challenge to keep them perfectly healthy.

[peewee1]

Taco, you might find this thread of interest. Roy is an experienced aquatic plant hobbyist who also raises discus.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...reen-Discus-F1

[SpeedDiscus]

Taco, I hope you get your discus and learn a lot along the way.

Don't listen to the negative people around here, if it were up to some you would need a PHD to even buy discus. I too started at a very young age keep fish and I always tried my very best to give the fish the best life I could, it sounds like you are much the same.

Someones age doesn't mean you should discount their passion or ability to learn and adapt. Taco is asking the right questions and doing the best he can with the resources he has. I have seen MANY MANY adults make completely incomprehensible decisions when buying and keeping pets, so why should we discourage an eager to learn teen with the right intentions?

TacoLoco, do your thing. I hope you have great success.

[peewee1]

I just now recalled, Taco, that I began my first experience with Discus before the advent of the internet. My information came from a small thin book of general information and misinformation published by Dr. Herbert Axelrod. I bought my discus from a local fish store located in San Fransisco which is still there. Fairy Lake Discus. With virtually no information I did succeed at breeding my first batch of 12 discus. Fast forward to now. With all of the information via the inter-web how could you in spite of your age not be successful. Even if you bought your first fish from your local fish store. I would, however, accept the offer from Miranda. Why not keep a journal and post your experience here? In doing so you will show anyone how not so difficult it is to enjoy the hobby of raising discus. It seems to me that you will succeed if you fist begin with healthy fish.

[Vinni Smith]

I just now recalled, Taco, that I began my first experience with Discus before the advent of the internet. My information came from a small thin book of general information and misinformation published by Dr. Herbert Axelrod. I bought my discus from a local fish store located in San Fransisco which is still there. Fairy Lake Discus. With virtually no information I did succeed at breeding my first batch of 12 discus. Fast forward to now. With all of the information via the inter-web how could you in spite of your age not be successful. Even if you bought your first fish from your local fish store. I would, however, accept the offer from Miranda. Why not keep a journal and post your experience here? In doing so you will show anyone how not so difficult it is to enjoy the hobby of raising discus. It seems to me that you will succeed if you fist begin with healthy fish.

Axelrod wrote EVERY fish book in the 70s and 80s

He and Jaques Cousteau were our only two good sources back then.

[Willie]

Axelrod wrote EVERY fish book in the 70s and 80s...

Actually every book Axelrod authored in the 70's and 80's was ghost written by someone else. I've spoken to two ghost writers.

[Vinni Smith]

Actually every book Axelrod authored in the 70's and 80's was ghost written by someone else. I've spoken to two ghost writers.

Yeah, I believe that.

[Iminit]

Yes Axelrod had his name on a lot of books but Innes wrote the handbook!80121842-FA41-4556-A292-E5DF78F947EA.jpg

[peewee1]

That's the book I had. I thought it was an Axelrod. There may have been another Alelrod but this is one of the book that I had.

[TacoLoco7]

I was given 4 beautiful 4 inch discus from miranda last week on Thursday, 2 red Marlboro and 2 albino yellow Marlboro (4 inches). 1 died 2 days for unknown reason. It was one of the yellow Marlboro, it didnt eat at all and was always breathing fast at the front corner of the tank. Sometimes it schooled with the others, and sometime isolated itself. No clamped fins or anything. No external problems were seen. So I assumed it could have been an internal parasite and something was wrong with it. It didn last a week in the tank. Two of them eat like crazy on the beef heart. They also started eating mysis shrimp yesterday! The only thing I'm concerned is one of the marlboro isnt eating much. Whenever its feeding time, I put the beefheart in, sit back (7 feet away), and observe. The two eaters seem to push away the other discus that dorsnt eat much. When he goes near the food, he doesnt show interest in the food like the others. I haven seen anywhere stringy poop, so I'm assuming theres no internal parasites. Since the other discus died, I have put the beefheart in a metro solution just for precautions incase there was an internal parasite going on. Does anyone know they think why the discus isn't earing much like the others? I feel like it could be aggression and they are not letting the single discus eat.

[TacoLoco7]

Forgot to mention. Before I was given the discus, I had prepared a qt tank for them. Before I walked out of her store, I asked for her opinion whether I should treat immediately for any internal parasite or only treat if there are symptoms. She told me she qt them for a month, so then I asked her if I should quarantine. She responded with a no since I had no other discus present in my aquarium.

[TacoLoco7]

Anyone here?

[peewee1]

Forgot to mention. Before I was given the discus, I had prepared a qt tank for them. Before I walked out of her store, I asked for her opinion whether I should treat immediately for any internal parasite or only treat if there are symptoms. She told me she qt them for a month, so then I asked her if I should quarantine. She responded with a no since I had no other discus present in my aquarium.

That would be correct. Not all fish have same apatite. Put different food at different area of aquarium. Some food floating, some mid way, and some sink to bottom. Some fish will peck at food on surface and some will eat later at bottom. Try all.

[TacoLoco7]

That would be correct. Not all fish have same apatite. Put different food at different area of aquarium. Some food floating, some mid way, and some sink to bottom. Some fish will peck at food on surface and some will eat later at bottom. Try all.

I do, but it still doesn't seem to want to eat it. I observe the fish for at least half an hour every day. The red Marlboro that doesnt eat seems perge tly fine, schools with the others, and doesnt breathe fast. I have not seen the red Marlboro that dorsnt eat poop, but the other I have and have normal waste. Maybe it can have an internal parasite. When the albino yellow Marlboro died last week (Wednesday), it barely school with the others, it breathed fast, and was always at the corner of the tank. It didnt have clamped fins or darken, it just was like that most of the time. I have done what you said by leaving some to flat and sink, and putting the food on opposite sides, but still refuses it. I shot a video during feeding time and when the red Marlboro went near the food to eat, the other red Marlboro always pushes him away. Do you think this can be due to aggresion since I sometimes see both the discus pick at him or an internal parasite (I havent seen ang white string poop )? All discus ars fat and healthy.