Greetings everyone!

[kiwi]

Hello everyone and thank you for having me in this wonderful forum. I became very interested in discus, and have been reading constantly about them for the past month. I absolutely love these fish, but I have a serious obstacle. I have been reading time and time again, that 50 gallons is the absolute minimum for a group of five discus, which in turn is the minimum before aggression becomes an issue. I have a 37 gallon tank, which is roughly cubical in shape (almost as tall as it is wide/long), as well as a canister filter which were gifted to me. I can't get a larger tank in at least half a year due to budget constraints. This probably means I can accommodate four discus at most, and even that is stretching it. What are your experiences in keeping less than five discus in a tank? If I buy five juveniles, how fast will they outgrow the tank (or potentially get stunted :cry:)?

[LizStreithorst]

Glad to have you here Stoyan. It's obvious that you've been doing a lot of reading. Your English is perfect. How did you learn to speak our language so well? Americans are rarely fluent in other languages.

I have 2 tanks like that. I love them, but I only use them for breeding tanks. Still, if you get 2 adult Discus, one male and one female you won't have any problems with aggression. Good luck with your Discus dream. They are beautiful fascinating fish. Keep us updated on your progression.

[kiwi]

Thank you for the reply. Getting a male and female in the tank is a long term goal of mine. The tank appears to be almost perfect size for it, but getting a breeding pair is way over my budget. I can't sex discus myself either. My plan is getting a few juveniles and growing them out in the 37 gallon. Meanwhile, when my budget allows it, I will construct a larger tank. In the larger tank a pair may form which will be moved back to the 37 gallon. As for my English, I have studied it since first grade at school. I have spent countless hours on the internet as well, which really broadened my vocabulary. Also, the red lines that appear below wrongly written words are a great help in spotting and correcting my spelling mistakes.

[LizStreithorst]

Heck, I have dyslexia. Those red lines under the words allow me to come across as intelligent. Granted, a 37 is not an ideal tank for grow out but you can make it work for you. If I were in your situation, I would buy a group of Discus of compatible breeding types and as they grew, cull or sell the ones you like least and keep the two that get along best. I think that's your best choice of ending up with a pair. That would allow your time saving money for the big tank where you can grow out fry. (I think like a breeder because that's what I am.)

Do you have a trusted supplier with quality fish you can order from in Bulgaria? As part of the EU you should have some good choices if you were to get them from another EU country. I know of one in Germany and one in England with good reputations.

[kiwi]

I have searched the Bulgarian forums and there it was stated that the quality of the discus here is worse compared to western Europe. Mind you, these forums are almost dead now and the information I got was from around 2010. Visiting the shops in my city and checking out how the fish look will get me up to date information. I read about discus proportions and potential deformities that occur from bad care, so I think I can identify the good ones. Germany does seem to have great quality fish, but I can't get them at this stage as it is a big financial investment. Discus here go for 10-30$, several times less than a good quality imported fish. As for compatible breeding types, I plan on getting only a single type. Brown discus interest me the most as they resemble the wild ones ( I can't get real wild ones, because they are not imported here). This reminds me of a question regarding stress bars. Wild discus always seem to have them as well as some domestic types. They are regarded as an indicator for bad care for the most part, but does this apply to brown discus?

[LizStreithorst]

Gosh, I love browns I've always been taken by San Merahs. They are totally stripeless. The best ones have a beautiful blue halo. Pat will have to answer the question about wilds. They are out of my area of expertise.

[peewee1]

Glad to have you here Stoyan. It's obvious that you've been doing a lot of reading. Your English is perfect. How did you learn to speak our language so well? Americans are rarely fluent in other languages.

I have 2 tanks like that. I love them, but I only use them for breeding tanks. Still, if you get 2 adult Discus, one male and one female you won't have any problems with aggression. Good luck with your Discus dream. They are beautiful fascinating fish. Keep us updated on your progression.

Liz, some Americans aren't even fluent in their own language.

[LizStreithorst]

Liz, some Americans aren't even fluent in their own language.

lol Including some very important ones.

[peewee1]

Thank you for the reply. Getting a male and female in the tank is a long term goal of mine. The tank appears to be almost perfect size for it, but getting a breeding pair is way over my budget. I can't sex discus myself either. My plan is getting a few juveniles and growing them out in the 37 gallon. Meanwhile, when my budget allows it, I will construct a larger tank. In the larger tank a pair may form which will be moved back to the 37 gallon. As for my English, I have studied it since first grade at school. I have spent countless hours on the internet as well, which really broadened my vocabulary. Also, the red lines that appear below wrongly written words are a great help in spotting and correcting my spelling mistakes.

http://www.diskuszucht-piwowarski.de/versandengl.htm will ship to Bulgaria. There is a large discus seller with two locations. One is in Czech Republik Petra-Aqua may recommend someone to you.

A long time breeder of angels and discus, mid 70s vintage, recommended to me to begin with 4 4 inches fish if 30 gallons so perhaps you could using that measure have up to 5 with 40 gallons.

[peewee1]

lol Including some very important ones.

Donald the Red for example.

[LizStreithorst]

I would die to get my hands on some Powowaski's.

[peewee1]

Kiwi, you will be okay with a wild cross. I began this hobby with breeding wilds, left the hobby for family and car racing, other expenses and priorities. Now the car is stored and the son is almost done with college. I am back now to discus but I started with the colors. Red, blue, yellow. Then I moved to wild crosses. If you will look at the Alenquer varities and the Heckel crosses they are very easy to keep. Most all wild and wild crossdiscus have 9 bars. A variation of the wilds will be the Heckel. Heckles are different from in that three of the nine vertical bars are more prominent – the one through the eye, middle bar and the caudal bar. The middle bar is usually very pronounced. When I look for a wild cross I look for straight and even spaced bars. I have raised some fry crooked or even crossed bars, if I recall correctly. The bars are the discus do not fear them. They are a part of the over all beauty of the fish itself.

[peewee1]

By the way, Kiwi. Not that you could buy them from Kenny because I do not think that he ships international he does have, in my opinion, the best photos of young discus on the net. Go to his space on this forum and then search back to maybe March through August and look at the photos of the various wild cross discus. They will be noted as such. You will develop some good ideas from this.

[kiwi]

Thank you, I will take a look at his photos.

[Kingdom Come Discus]

Welcome,
Hope all goes well with your discus future.