How Old is Your Oldest Discus?

[redlines]

Ok,

A post recently got locked before I received sufficient answer to my question.

[glow=red,2,300]DO NOT MAKE THIS ABOUT THE FOODS YOU FEED PLEASE JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION[/glow]


Here was my original question:

How many of you out there even have Discus that are 4 or 5 years old?

The first time I got into the great Discus adventure I raised my first fish from fry and did a really poor job too I might add. That said, I did manage to keep alive more than 2/3 of the Wattley & Shmidt Fockes I purchased but I only hung on for a little more than three years before my moving was to great a dissruption. I traded in 6 adults to the fish store for credit & they were all just over 3 yrs old. Ignorant me I fed them Flake, Brine Shrimp, Black worms, beef heart & yes Tubifex too.

Suffice it to say I have learned a great deal since my first pathetic attemps at keeping these wonderful fish.

Given the great fish I have now I plan on breeding them but have no plans on seeing how old I can keep them. I figure 4 years would be tops for a male & maybee 3 for a female before I would retire them and since tank space is a premium I doubt that I will have a geriatric tank.

DENNIS,

Of course health is of primary importance. I just don't see myself keeping ANY Discus for more than 4 years. :P

Flogger,

I am not a breeder I just hope to have 2 or 3 breeding pairs so I can enjoy this hobby to it's max. I highly doubt that I will EVER make money or ever break even for that matter.

[Rod]

Oldest discus i owned was a ghost discus i bought at 2", he got to 9yo. Most of my discus seem to average around the 6 to 7 yo mark.

This is him a few months before his death.

[redlines]

Rod,

Thanks for the response. At what age do you place the older discus that have been breeders, back into a retirement / community, discus only, tank to live out their days in comfort?

Any one else oth there??

There seem to be very few people who keep their discus for more than 5 years why is that?

[Rod]

Hi Redline,

I have found that discus breed quite well until they are around 5yo, sometimes they will still breed occasionally but really they are past it and thats when they go to the retirement tank. That is a 150gal tank i use just for that purpose. I get very attached to my discus, specially ones that have been special to me and tend to hold onto them forever.

Rod

Andy the poll really don't carry much weight. What's to say the 6 people that voted 2-3 yrs so far have only been in the hobby that long?

Don't under estmate your fish they may just suprize you.

I remember a few of my first pairs. I could never part with them.

Mike

[fcdiscus]

I have a Royal Blue male, born in 1994, and he has been a headstander since about 1997! Last month, he was laying on the bottom and not eating. Did some extra WC's and now he is back to normal. These fish are tough! Frank

[Liz_Streithorst]

My oldest is under 3 for the reason Mike stated. I don't want to skew the results.

Liz

[redlines]

Mike,

I wasn't looking for a scientific poll to substantiate anything. I just wanted to see how many people on our board have been into discus and committed to keeping their discus for as long as they, the discus, lived.

So far I count 10 that have raised their discus & kept them for 6 or more years. That in itself is pretty impressive considering the recent growth of the hobby. You are quite right. There may be many who have only been into discus for 3 years or less that might keep their fish long term.

I would still like to know how many of those 10 people got their fish to grow to at least 7 inches and consistantly fed them BLACK WORMS but I am not going to ask. :P

I think I already know the answer to that anyway 9.25 out of 10 right

Andy

[redlines]

I am not saying that it won't happen, me getting attached and keeping them til they finish out all their years....

BUT I only have space for a 50 gal, 60 gal, three 29gal a 100+ gal and a 65 gal. The wife wants me to make the 65 gal a pretty planted tank so that one is out of the picture for any more that 2 or 3 retirement fish. I hope to have 2 or 3 breeding pairs eventually. That fills the 29's and I am left with the 50 & 60 for grow outs and the 100+ gal for an adult community tank. I just don't see myself keeping older fish in there either.

So that said, I don't see myself keeping too many discus that are up there in years.

It's not an issue of not wanting to do so who wouldn't want as many tanks full of Discus as they could get???

Unfortunately, I would face certain death if I purchased any more tanks than I currently have. I just got the wife used to the idea of me getting just ONE MORE tank. Yep it will be the 100+ gal one I mentioned above. ;D

Andy

ps. yes I aleady asked if I could use the bath tub. What do you think tha answer was?

[redlines]

Liz.

Go ahead you won't be skewing the results.

The question was:

How Old is the oldest Discus you have ever had that [glow=red,2,300]YOU[/glow] raised from 2 0r 3 inches to adulthood?

I am sure there are some who bought adult discus and have kept them MANY years. Just as there are also some who burn out on the hobby in less than a year.

AND I am just as sure that there are people on this board who have only been in the hobby for 1, 2, 3yrs or even less that have fish onlly as old as their time in the hobby.

My Senior Citizen Tank has about 10 decagenerians in it . the oldest red turquise is about 11. they eat well for now... when there comes a time to send them to the Amazon in the sky, it will be painful as my charges have served me well! Joe :'(