Help Me Choose to Buy!

[Mughal]

Hello everyone,

My tank is ready for discus I believe. I was given 2 small 3 week old fry that were going to be culled just so I could test out my water parameters (THANKS SO MUCH ALAN). Well they are happily swiming around and after 1 hour with the lights off already were eating happily and discovering my stingrays.

So now I am trying to decide what discus to get for the aquarium. (I'll grow them in an 80 BB till at least 6 inches then move them up to the 125 planted tank as they get bigger)

So far I have/want

have***2 fry that should be culled (they look like dirty gold, gill flaps hanging off one, and other one is big and ugly) I'll feed them to my piranhas when I get the good discus.

want***4-6 more of the nicer looking ones from Alan (dirty gold color now, red melon x Red Turquiose) We both don't have a clue if they'll look any good.

want***2 mosaic leopards from Dan at GulfCoastDiscus

want***2 Golden Melons from Dan at GulfCoast Discus

want***4 Malboro reds from Hans and Hans Stendker (sp?)

want***2 Blue Cobalts from Hans

want***I'm trying to decide whether to add a couple red turquiose or some blue diamonds, maybe scribblets (sp?) and who I should get them from. Please help me decide! Or any other discus that I should get?

I am on a waiting list at KC discus for Mandarin passion discus (I WISH THEY HAD SOME NOW, I'd sign away my left leg (because I won't have any money after this) for a couple of mandarin passion from them!

You all know what a BB 80 looks like but here's a pic of the right half of my 125 just in case you needed the info to decide how they'd look in their final home.

[Giniel]

I have one word of caution. If you are going to buy from a lot of different people then be prepaired to quarantine each set of discus seperately for a couple of weeks .That way you don't kill off all of them if one is sick.
I usually quarantine all my discus from each seller that way and have had no problems yet. Also each one of the sellers may have different water parameters and ph etc.

All of the ones you have picked have great fish .And youhave made good choices .
hope this helps
Debbie

[Discus_KC]

Very sound advice Debbie.

Mughal,

We are working on the MP's !!!! You will get some !!

Jack

[jeep]

Very sound advice Debbie.

Mughal,

We are working on the MP's !!!! You will get some !!

Jack

Not before me!!! Besides... shipping is easier to my house ;) :D

[Mughal]

Only if you're above me in the waiting list! I do so solemnly swear!

[Mughal]

Some one still needs to tell me whether I should get some type of turquoise or Blue diamonds.... And from where

[cowboy steve]

Hans.

[JimmyL]

You can'to wrong with turquoise and blue diamond. As a first planted tank. I will buy from a local breeder who actually breed their own fish and have grade A fish or any dealer who sells locally breed fish like Cary,Willie and KC. The basic classic fish that are sturdy and tough as nails. Pay a little bit more for the larger fish cause they are more forgiving in a planted tank. I will leave the other fancy type for the next purchase after you have a feel of handling the discus fish.
Jimmy

[billeagan]

Definitely recommend you get what you want from one source if at all possbile.

If you had stingrays in the tank it sounds like your tank was good and you didn't need the culls? Typically, stingrays tend to be more sensitive to nitrate/nitrite.

Don't forget to watch your bio load when bringing in a lot of new fish.

[Mughal]

Thanks for the info guys

I decided just to get 4 from Hans for the time being (I need to save more $$ so I can get the mandarin passions from KC, they are likely to want my firstborn for the discus ;) )

It was Dr. Light's idea to let me try out the culls, he wanted to be sure my tank parameters were ok (I guessed that they would be because of the stingrays too) But you can't blame him, his tiny fry are really beautiful, and I'd feel really bad if next time I talked to him I had to admit even 1 death. The 2 culls are healthy and alive, and 1 of them thinks that it and my stingrays are in the same school (you can imagine a tiny orange discus trying to swim around with a 7" diameter ray. More than anything I think that they are lonely (2 x 1.5" fish in the 80 gallon)