German and Asian

[seanyuki]

Both discus sources are good......Devotedly Discus (Stendker) and Chen Discus (Na Discus).

I'm what could be described as "between discus" at the moment. Currently I have a 500-litre soft coral marine tank. However, my other half has always preferred discus, and I still hanker after the discus tank I used to have. No pics remaining of that, unfortunately, although here's a pic of my present set-up:


Attachment 130101



Despite being retired, this kind of tank does hoover up a great deal of my time. Thus, I'm pondering a return to the relative simplicity of a large discus tank, especially since the supply of good-quality discus to the UK is much-improved with places like Devotedly Discus and Chen's Discus not too far away.

[tacks]

Your tank is beautiful Ed

[glyn]

Thanks! At the risk of sounding falsely modest, I do have to confess that my corals have a mind of their own - I've had to let them create their own aquascape. When I had a discus tank I could reassure myself that the aquascape was all my own doing, and the plants I had there tended to behave themselves. With soft corals, you're never sure what ones will like the tank, and where they will choose to grow. I find that you have to go with them, as it were. I alawys felt much more in control when I had a discus tank.

[Discus-Hans]

If this all was just a marketing point, I would fire the person responsible for the marketing. Remember about 90% of the Discus in the USA are none German Discus (called by most "Asian" Discus), this means you tell 90% of the Discus keepers NOT to buy the Stendker Discus. Think not a real strong marketing point.

[Iminit]

After rereading a lot of this thread I read that German discus have problems digesting black worm. First I’ve read this. That’s all mine eat is fdbw. Some flakes and pellets. But mostly black worms. Now I try to buy small discus. My Hans came as 2.5” fish and were started on fdbw from the start. So they digest them fine. But if you were to buy bigger older fish yes I could see this being a problem. Their system has only been digesting beef heart. Another thing I read a lot is don’t add small discus to a planted tank buy bigger discus and add them. Well if you add 2” discus to a planted tank that’s what there used to. Add a 5+“ discus to a planted tank and you’d have to believe you’d have a stressed out fish! Mine all grew in planted tanks.

[Discus-Hans]

Don't know where you saw that Tom but if a vegetarian eats a good steak, he or she will not die lol

[pablos]

Actually it’s not about black but bloodworms
https://www.diskuszucht-stendker.de/...l,index,0.html

[Iminit]

Ok sorry . Yes blood worms fed daily can be a problem! Blood worms are a treat.

[farebox]

Everybody got a theory on mixing different sources of discus, personally, if I had to do over, I would never mix them in the same tank period. I lost 10 discus fish from Hans in a snap of a finger, after adding just five three-inch from Chicago Discus. The very sad part is that the fish lost I raised from three inches to adult size over a period of three years. Man what a loss! Just my two cents, but everybody's tank is different, and people tend to do what they want to do with their fish, good luck on all that mix the fish.

[Willie]

Amen to that. Every case is unique and there's no logic to such generalizations.

Back when I had many more discus, I was able to acquire really nice Red Turquoise from two different sources. I kept them separate and raised them in a double stacked 55-gallon setup, one batch on top, the other batch on bottom. They were separated for almost a year before they reached maturity. I mixed them together for breeding and they got sick. Not horribly sick, but they turned grey, sank to the bottom and compressed their fins. I lost a few, but the rest recovered.

What did I learn from this?

1. Use the least desirable fish to test for pathogens before putting them together. Quarantine alone is insufficient.
2. Don't have a quarantine tank? Get out of the hobby while you can...

[Discus-Hans]

Amen to that. Every case is unique and there's no logic to such generalizations.

What did I learn from this?

1. Use the least desirable fish to test for pathogens before putting them together. Quarantine alone is insufficient.
2. Don't have a quarantine tank? Get out of the hobby while you can...

Willie, people "advanced" in the hobby some times forget that there still is a (big) group of people out there who just have a tank to enjoy in their living room. Not a basement full or tanks all over the house, just 1 tank. This is a big group of people I sell to. For those people it's just better not to mix, who ever they buy from, just buy from 1 source. My simple opinion.

[pablos]

Hans ... it’s the greatest summary of this thread !!!

[Iminit]

Lol I think that’s the way this thread started. With Stendker saying don’t mix there discus with Asian discus. Hans your right. If people just bought from one seller! But the people with the one tank are the ones who are having the problem. Because they’re just fish keepers. Not breeders or growers. These are I’d say the bulk of the hobby. They buy what they like. Most don’t have a qt tank and have no idea of this problem till their old fish are all black. I qt everything. Just from experience with new fish bringing ick into an existing tank. Most people buy their first discus from a pet store. Than buy online. No qt and their fish die. It’s not just German to Asian it’s more seller to seller. It’s a shame. On the Facebook site there’s at least 3 people dealing with this now. All are keepers who joined after getting discus. Seems like nobody joins before . Didn’t have this problem in the 90s. Discus did get sick but it was usually only one and had something to do with live blackworms. Once I stoped feeding them I rarely had problems.

[Willie]

People with just one tank, people who don't change water, people who feed black worms... None of them are going to succeed in the hobby anyway.

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Willie, people "advanced" in the hobby some times forget that there still is a (big) group of people out there who just have a tank to enjoy in their living room. Not a basement full or tanks all over the house, just 1 tank. This is a big group of people I sell to. For those people it's just better not to mix, who ever they buy from, just buy from 1 source. My simple opinion.

I really appreciate what Hans has written here. Thank you Hans.