New wild discus

[neon]

Hi I have a 55gal tank with 6 discus and 2 rams and 2 plecos. But would like to setup a tank just for wilds. I really like the blueface heckle's and other wilds. But not sure who two buy from discus hans or john snook21's any feedback would be great thanks. :fish:

[Discus-n00b]

Either are great sources. Hans is getting some really high quality fish soon, I'd check with him first as I know he'll have fish in stock. Not sure John has many in stock at the moment as its out of season right now.

[hekdiscus]

Dear Friends.

look my last post about the Discus hans order , i will send a big order this week
see my discus pictures i th elink below:
http://www.forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=80048&page=12

Many Thanks

Hudson

[Apistomaster]

I hope you plan to use a tank larger than a 55 gal. All wilds need more room than domestics and Heckels can't have a tank too large.

Their social nature makes the extra space helpful in seeing them act more naturally in the largest tanks you can handle. What may have worked with domestics often does not with wild Discus. One of the reasons Heckels rarely have bred in captivity is that they usually spawn in water 6 to 8 feet deep. They may need that kind of water pressure to know they are in their spawning zones. At least that is what some of us think.

Please allow at least a 75 gal tank for 6 Heckels. You want to minimize all the potential stressors as you can. I now allow 125 gal for 6 of any kind of adult wild Discus. I am actually leaning to keeping only 4 in a 125. I began with 6 but removed 2 to their own tank for breeding. The 10 gal per fish rule of thumb is not very useful when it comes to wild Discus. In proper holding facilities with large water changes, they can exceed these guide lines considerably without any problems but the fish are merely passing through their facilities and what they can do is not a good example of what we hobbyists should do. For the hobbyist keeping fish which may live 8 to 10 years those life spans are not commonly achieved in more crowed tanks.

Wild Discus have now limits on available space so aquariums are always small in comparison.