Strains for Beginner

[Jason_Wong]

I am new to Discus and very interested to have a few of them. I see there are so many strains with different patterns and colors. Are there certain strains which are hardy and more disease/parasites resistant than the others?

I want to start with six 3" discus. Should I have all six of the same strain? I prefer to have 3 pairs of different strains. Will it be fine?

Thanks for your advice.
Jason

[larry lob]

Hi Jason and welcome to simply,

I don't beleive there are any strains that are akward except for wild caught fish, i would suggest you steer very clear of wild caught as they don't aclimatise easily and can carry many difrent diseases.

as to domestic bred fish i think the choice is yours. decide what colours you like the most and go with it, If you want 6 difrent fish that would be fine, 3 pairs is also good, basicaly it's upto you.

A couple of things i would like to add.....make sure all 6 fish are from the same source unless you can quaranteen all fish separetly, take time in chosing your fish, watch them for a while if you can (assuming your picking them out) read the threads that tell you what makes a good healthy fish. and DON'T buy anything untill your tank is totaly settled and cycled.

Good luck Hope this helped

Larry

[law15]

Jason,
I am a beginner like you, and after much research started my discus tank in November. It has been great watching the fish grow. I strongly support Larry's suggestion of getting your fish at one place. I got 2 red turks, 2 blue diamonds, 2 red pidgeon bloods and 2 red marlboros, they look great!
Good luck on your discus adventure!
Alan

[DarkDiscus]

Jason,

I strongly suggest getting all your fish of one strain that you absolutely love. Why? Actually a bunch of reasons.

First is not all fish of the same strain are created equal, some are less attractive, have minor flaws and some just won't grow, for whatever reason.

If you have 6-8 fish of the same strain from a great breeder, you are extremely likely to get 4+ fish that end up top notch. If you get 3 pairs of 2, some of those fish won't be just perfect and then you don't really have pairs.

I bought 7 fish to start out and ended up with 10 (the infamous fact that Cary can't count contributed to this!). 3 sets of 3 strains and a lone Marlboro Red.

Of my 3 RSGs I had one die and one turned into the runt of the litter. So I have one very nice RSG. My 3 Super Red Royal Blues (red turqs) are all big, fat and healthy. Etc.

The thing is, the SRRBs ended up being slightly larger and picked on the other fish, which, I believe, was the cause of the one runt and the dead fish. If you get all fish of one strain, they should all be very similar in size and this should be less of a problem. I am also of the opinion that fish of one strain stick together and pick on other strains. This is NOT scientific, but a personal observation. Whether this is based on familiarity or color scheme or something else, I don't know.

In any case, there are a lot of nice fish out there and it's tough to choose, but were I you, I would go with all one strain to start.

John

[Carol_Roberts]

I agree with John. Discus of the same strain will all be the same age and used to the same germs and already have the pecking order set. This will make it much easier for you to grow them out to pairs. If you buy at least 6 discus you should get for sure one maybe two pairs.

No one can reliably pick males or females from juvenile discus. You coul easily end with a male pigeon and a female turquoise.

I've found that pigeon bloods, red turquoise and snakeskins have been hardy as a general rule. The most important consideration is the source of your discus. Discus kept in poor conditions are not going to be hardy period.

I have not seen any that are more hardy then the other. Some handle abuse better then others...

Including WILD FISH...

Its more important to know your source..

Mike

[Chris-C]

I thought leps were not a good strain for beginers because of all the inbreeding made them more prone to disease

Chris

Here is some very good advice: Look at what you like and then get ahold of one of the many breeders/importers here at Simply. Listen to what they say and in the end you will be glad you did.

HTH
Miles

[fossil]

Everyone always told me red turqs were more hardy but I'm not sure.

[sammosammo]

Jason,

I just started with discus also and here's what i would have done different
1. i should have got same size discus: i got different size instead because i thought the variety would look nice in the tank, but the big guys do bully.
2. beware of specials: i saw a specials tank at a lfs, i said to myself "i'll start with these, they'll probably die on me anyway". With this forums help, they're still alive and doing great again. The specials are cheap, but i guess they are cheap for a reason
3. be choosey: i had chosen which in the tank i wanted, but after seeing the lfs employee having such a hard time netting them, i said just get me anyone. I wish i wouldn't have done that

hth, and good luck