How long do Discus live?

[Tristanyyz]

Everything is relative...

As to life span, Discus are no exception...

But under very good conditions, WHAT IS THE LIFE EXPECTANCY OF DISCUS?

Regards,
Tristan

[KEVINT]

I think the life expectancy was about ten years maybe longer.
But lets leave it up to the experts.

[afick1975]

Until they die.

[afick1975]

About ten years.

[andyl9063]

do they really live ten years????????

[John_Nicholson]

I have had them hit 10 years. The oldest I ever heard of was 12 years. I once had an 8 year old female that spawned successfully.

-john

[ShinShin]

The oldest I have ever heard of was 14 yrs. Jack Wattley mentioned that in one of the talks I attended that he gave. I had one live for 9 yrs. before I traded him. He was still fertilizing eggs, but only 25-30% as I recall. This fish was a LFS marlboro red I picked up when they first became available in the States. It was 2.5" SL when I got him and never saw any medications while I had him.


Mat

[moon_knight1971]

I'm thinking the average life span for the common discus keeper is probably more like 6 or 7 years.



Joey!

[ShinShin]

With exceptions of course, there should be no reason a properly cared for discus should not routinely reach 10+ years. I can easily see though, on the other hand, that the way people are keeping their discus today, (their water parameters, diet, w/c's, overcrowding, etc.) that the life expectancy has decreased.

Mat

[ShinShin]

No one is talking "John Wayne's" here. No one said that no one knows anything here. There are some great discus people here. Others have left. Look at what's happening. It was mentioned in another thread about a week or so ago. Inexperienced hobbyists get a set-up in their heads w/o thinking of what a discus really needs, tells everybody their plan. Asks if it will work. Experienced discus keepers say no, noobs say yes, and the inexperienced guy does what he intended to do in the first place because somebody who has discus for 6 months tells him that it is working for them. Why ask? Read the disease section. Most are from stress related causes. Wrong water parameters. Not enough water changes. Flake food is just as good as mixes. 3" of rainbow gravel, Barbie dolls. Poor filtration. CBW's are just fine. They don't carry disease or toxins. It goes on and on. Try and help, and you have all the sharpshooters trying to pick you off. Most of those will not be here 2 years from now. Hell, somebody just attacked me in the food section for offering what I have learned over the years to someone else, not even him. So, what the hell. I just made 6 lbs. of salmon/shrimp mix. Maybe I should have posted step by step pictures for him. Gave him the model number to my electric meatgrinder. Showed the discus eating it.

What do you want? Larry Bugg just posted to a thread, and somebody else had to chime in. Larry is 100% correct in what he said.

Mat

[jimg]

all I'll say is re read you posts in the last month or so. maybe you will get an idea.
everyone learning a new thing makes mistakes at least they thought enough to come here to ask. we were not all born with 50 years of experience.

[ShinShin]

What are you saying? Do you think I never killed a discus other than an intentional cull? I killed my share over the years. I didn't have the internet. Neither did a lot of other people here. Knowledge was gained by trial and error and reading books and articles in magazines when they were available. Basic concepts were learned. Other ideas were tossed out the window because they did not work.

Many people don't want to do the necessary work involved in keeping discus. A successful discus keeper cannot keep discus the way they would keep angelfish or a lot of other cichlids. When they understand this, they will either quit or be successful.

The best advice I ever heard given was by Jack Wattley at a talk n Long Island ~ 1994-95. He said to be successful at raising discus a person has to decide if they want to watch TV or keep discus. The general idea behind what he was talking about in that portion of the talk was that discus are work and they require your time to be successful.

If you don't like my ideas, jimg, that is perfectly okay with me. I do not mind. Or, when you see my handle on a post, you could just skip over it. That is okay by me as well. Why get all bent out of shape over it when other options exist?

Mat

[warblad79]

Calm down guys

[ShinShin]

I didn't just come on here. I have been here since day 2 of the forum's existence. The date is wrong on the left. You are making comments about things I have never said about myself or others. You stuck your nose into something that did not concern you. If you cannot keep discus alive for more than 5 years, it is not my fault. You reread some of the things that are being posted about discus husbandry, and tell me that there are not people here who do not have basic fishkeeping concepts in place and are trying to raise discus. Tell me that there hasn't been great advice given by some of the best discus keepers here that is routinely ignored because someone chimes in saying its your tank do what you want I have had discus for 6 months and mine are thriving. Read the disease section and tell me how many of the sick fish there are not a result of people not knowing how to keep discus. Forget about how to treat them. I am talking about just keeping them. Read the breeding section. Who has a plan? It is Mutt City for the most part. This is not good for the hobby. People were told that 5-6 years ago. Can't hurt anybody's tender feelings these days so they are told how wonderful their cross breeds are. How great that arrowheadshaped MR x RGD x SS x albino Red Turquoise female looks with that humpheaded, crosseyed PB x Mercury x Calico x San Merah male. The fry from this interesting cross will be fabulous.

I am, always have been, and hope to always to be for improving the discus hobby with quality fish and techniques to achieve this. If you or anybody else here has a problem with that, understand this: 1) it is your problem and 2) I don care if you do.

Respectfully, and very sincerely,

Mat

[PleiadesSTi]

Wow a nice thread takes a complete dump cause some people get a huge ego when they log on. So tired of this. Thank God I'm not a moderator cause the ban hammer would be coming out.