Bethzb
06-18-2017, 11:40 AM
Good morning. My name is Beth and I've been keeping fish for around 30 yrs. I've worked in fish only shops and regular pet shops and mail order shops etc.. I have always had a fascination with life under water and since I was a child and converted my first wading pool to a pond, I've always brought some of that fascination home with me.
Up until a couple of years ago, that fascination was with a living reef system that I had in my 125 for 8 or 9 years. Due to some medical issues, I had to break the tank down and decide what I would do with it. After a year of thought and planning, I decided to go with discus, in particular the German Stendker discus as I did not want to do more then keep them fed, clean, and warm.
I now have 9 discus fish in the 125 with a dirt bottom and a layer of course gravel, assorted plants that are tolerant of the high temps discus require, and a few "dither" fish. The discus seem happy and are growing well and aside from one I refer to as the "genetic anomaly", every one is as beautiful as I expected.
I chose to begin with fish already past the childhood woes and started off with 4" fish. This allowed me to keep the feeding, and associated waste down to the minimum required for adult fish though they still get fed 3 times a day and still get a once a week water change.
Although I had no intentions of breeding, the fish did not get that message and have decided to do their own thing with multiple spawns happening what seems like all the time. Unfortunately, the males (assuming they are males) don't seem to understand their part beyond displaying, nest cleaning, and guarding their turf. So, I have joined here to ask questions in the breeding forum. If ever a male actually fertilizes the eggs, I may give it a shot.
Up until a couple of years ago, that fascination was with a living reef system that I had in my 125 for 8 or 9 years. Due to some medical issues, I had to break the tank down and decide what I would do with it. After a year of thought and planning, I decided to go with discus, in particular the German Stendker discus as I did not want to do more then keep them fed, clean, and warm.
I now have 9 discus fish in the 125 with a dirt bottom and a layer of course gravel, assorted plants that are tolerant of the high temps discus require, and a few "dither" fish. The discus seem happy and are growing well and aside from one I refer to as the "genetic anomaly", every one is as beautiful as I expected.
I chose to begin with fish already past the childhood woes and started off with 4" fish. This allowed me to keep the feeding, and associated waste down to the minimum required for adult fish though they still get fed 3 times a day and still get a once a week water change.
Although I had no intentions of breeding, the fish did not get that message and have decided to do their own thing with multiple spawns happening what seems like all the time. Unfortunately, the males (assuming they are males) don't seem to understand their part beyond displaying, nest cleaning, and guarding their turf. So, I have joined here to ask questions in the breeding forum. If ever a male actually fertilizes the eggs, I may give it a shot.