The Mythical 8" Discus

[Filip]

umm..aren't you putting a price tag on it every time you buy stuff.... ; )

Yes indeed Jack. I reconsider and even bargain with sellers about every peny I spend on this hobby but I can completly understand and relate to the urge of spending ridiculous amount of money for having the biggest or the rarest showcase discus batch in my tank as a reward and trophy , just for my pleasure .

Most of the times we can't pull that quallity or size out of our 50 dollar 3"discus , no mater how hard we try .

So I think its a money well spend and paid for someone professional who dedicated his whole life and energy to breed and raise this rare beauties.

[Jack L]

Yes indeed Jack. I reconsider and even bargain with sellers about every peny I spend on this hobby but I can completly understand and relate to the urge of spending ridiculous amount of money for having the biggest or the rarest showcase discus batch in my tank as a reward and trophy , just for my pleasure .

Most of the times we can't pull that quallity or size out of our 50 dollar 3"discus , no mater how hard we try .

So I think its a money well spend and paid for someone professional who dedicated his whole life and energy to breed and raise this rare beauties.

I understand and agree, years of enjoyment in hobby is worth more than a fifty in wallet.

[John_Nicholson]

I once saw a blue diamond pair in a store that was 8-9 inches body size without fins... I couldnt believe they were even discus... in fact they were so big it looked abnormal to me you could see those body lines that blue diamonds tend to show more and they looked like stretch marks. Like they were some juiced up muscle freak in the gym... Honestly i prefer my discus normal sizes... 4-6 inches is fine for me.

The store wanted $350 each for them or 700$ for the pair

4 to 6 inches is not the normal size for healthy adult discus. The minimum that an adult discus should be would be 5+ and that would be for a small female. In reality healthy adult discus should be 6+ inches. A 4 inch adult is either inbred, unhealthy, poorly raised, or a cull.

-john

[bluelagoon]

Will anyone have an 8" discus in 2017?

Yes,I'll have one TL will be over 8".

[Jack L]

I agree, but i have so many hobbies proably more then most of you. That i cant spend my money on just one.. I mean im just as nuts anyone here.. I have 8 tanks in my house.. recently downsized 4 of them by putting em in storage or selling them.. but i got a 34 year old 135g tank. Re-sealed it, sanded down the angle iron stand and repainted it.. did all the work restoring it.. And i onlyspent $100 on the tank and stand, and maybe $60 on the silicone and paint. VS someone who tosses money away and spends $800 on a new 125g tank and stand. I've spent alot of money on discus.. but i refuse to spend more then $80 on a discus. You can buy nice discus for under $100 just have to find the right person . I also usually prefer buying babies myself and raising them myself.. Buying a fully grown discus is cool and saves time.. but it you dont get to see em grow up really.. Its like me and my car Hobby. I have 3 Jeeps, 1 is 30 years old i paid $4500 for it an old grand wagoneer wood panel Jeep.. I could have spent $15,000 on a mint condition one.. but why do that ? I bought a decent one and with the repairs im doing myself you learn more about the car then you ever will buying one where someone already did all the work.

Thats just my 2 cents of course

i like raising too and seeing them develop

[Candydiscus]

4 to 6 inches is not the normal size for healthy adult discus. The minimum that an adult discus should be would be 5+ and that would be for a small female. In reality healthy adult discus should be 6+ inches. A 4 inch adult is either inbred, unhealthy, poorly raised, or a cull.

-john

whatever you say.. It took me years to get to my 135g 6 foot tank.. not everyone can feed half a pack of beefheart every 2 days and have a 100+ gallons tank, you have to use what you have.. The average discus i have seen isnt much bigger then 5-6 inches.. nothing bigger... The only time they are bigger is in controlled enviornments or bought from discus hans or similar already grown.. I GARUNTEE you 80% of the people who have discus order them from online fully grown adults all they have to do is cut the bags and dunk them in their tanks.. and after years of doing that they automatically become discus experts.. I have so many hobbies and discus keeping is one i usually stay away from on forums because there are so many "experts" who have never raised discus from little 1-2 inch babies and IMO they dont know jack. I agree with you.. but discus only get that big in the perfect setup..

And yes i have 4 juvies right now.. 3+ inches and they eat half a pack of beef heart every 2 days, 3 cubes 3-4x a day.. That means every week i go through 20$ almost of fish food.. lol thats crazy.. and this is with my 135g tank.. when i had juvie discus in 55-92g tanks they didnt eat so much.. So again it depends on the enviornment

[Willie]

... So again it depends on the enviornment

Of course it depends on the environment. But any adult discus < 6" TL is either genetically compromised or stunted. It doesn't require perfect conditions to get a discus to that size, just standard water quality.

Willie

[Filip]

whatever you say.. It took me years to get to my 135g 6 foot tank.. not everyone can feed half a pack of beefheart every 2 days and have a 100+ gallons tank, you have to use what you have.. The average discus i have seen isnt much bigger then 5-6 inches.. nothing bigger... The only time they are bigger is in controlled enviornments or bought from discus hans or similar already grown.. I GARUNTEE you 80% of the people who have discus order them from online fully grown adults all they have to do is cut the bags and dunk them in their tanks.. and after years of doing that they automatically become discus experts.. I have so many hobbies and discus keeping is one i usually stay away from on forums because there are so many "experts" who have never raised discus from little 1-2 inch babies and IMO they dont know jack. I agree with you.. but discus only get that big in the perfect setup..

And yes i have 4 juvies right now.. 3+ inches and they eat half a pack of beef heart every 2 days, 3 cubes 3-4x a day.. That means every week i go through 20$ almost of fish food.. lol thats crazy.. and this is with my 135g tank.. when i had juvie discus in 55-92g tanks they didnt eat so much.. So again it depends on the enviornment

You are throwing away ,way too much money on beefheart CD.
Find your self a butcher's shop in your neighbourhood and buy it from there instead from a LFS.
Feeding cost should be least expensive when you don't breed professionally.

P.S. your previous discus batch ate less because they were raised in a poorer water condition then your current batch . The more fresh water they have the more they eat and more hungry they get .
Thats how people raise 7 inch discus ,lots of fresh water and lots of food .

[Second Hand Pat]

Some wild discus get quite large. They are called Trombeta and the one I had was 7.5 TL and yes, I did put him to a ruler...not exactly perfect conditions.



Pat

[John_Nicholson]

You have a some valid points but you are also dead wrong on others. I raise LOTS of baby discus. I do not have a single tank larger than 75 gallons.....I do have 24 of them but that is a different story. I have multiple generations of discus in my fish house. With any kind of water quality an adult discus should be 6+ inches. On the beef heart deal quit being lazy. The crap you buy is mostly water and not worth a crap. Make your own. You will save tons of money and have better food. Raising discus is really, really easy. All it takes is starting with healthy fish, feeding them a high protein diet, and keeping the water clean and warm. Nothing else to it.

-john

whatever you say.. It took me years to get to my 135g 6 foot tank.. not everyone can feed half a pack of beefheart every 2 days and have a 100+ gallons tank, you have to use what you have.. The average discus i have seen isnt much bigger then 5-6 inches.. nothing bigger... The only time they are bigger is in controlled enviornments or bought from discus hans or similar already grown.. I GARUNTEE you 80% of the people who have discus order them from online fully grown adults all they have to do is cut the bags and dunk them in their tanks.. and after years of doing that they automatically become discus experts.. I have so many hobbies and discus keeping is one i usually stay away from on forums because there are so many "experts" who have never raised discus from little 1-2 inch babies and IMO they dont know jack. I agree with you.. but discus only get that big in the perfect setup..

And yes i have 4 juvies right now.. 3+ inches and they eat half a pack of beef heart every 2 days, 3 cubes 3-4x a day.. That means every week i go through 20$ almost of fish food.. lol thats crazy.. and this is with my 135g tank.. when i had juvie discus in 55-92g tanks they didnt eat so much.. So again it depends on the enviornment

[brewmaster15]

Hey John,
How tall are you?

al

[brewmaster15]

Personally, I think theres more variability to what the range of a healthy full size Discus is... Genetics isn't so hard set in rules that All Healthy Adult Discus would be 6" Minimum. It really doesn't work like that.. Even with Humans! Theres always Genetic Variability.

grp.jpg

[Second Hand Pat]

Being short stuff myself I agree Al
Pat

[John_Nicholson]

Well I am short, but I still think quality discus should be at least 6 inches....Just because I am not quality does not mean a thing.....but I so still have hair...............


-john

[brewmaster15]

Well I am short, but I still think quality discus should be at least 6 inches....Just because I am not quality does not mean a thing.....but I so still have hair...............


-john

yep you do have some hair left. Looked to be graying and Thinning a bit last time I saw you, says the bald guy in the Pic.



Theres a world of a Difference between this...

In reality healthy adult discus should be 6+ inches

and

but I still think quality discus should be at least 6 inches

One is stated as a fact...which its not, and the latter is stated as John's Opinion, which is fine, a tad narrow in scope, but definitely in the range of typical John commentary.

al