Discus Life Expectancy

[two utes]

I don't know if this topic has been discused on here before, but l was just curious of what the life expectancy is for discus?
Does it vary in different strains?

[Sean Buehrle]

I dont know if it varies by strain but, when discus hans first became a sponser here i purchased 5-6 adult red spotted pigeons from him.

2 are still alive and well, so being they were at least a year old when i got them im guessing they are 7-8 years old. They were last year anyways.

[Elite Aquaria]

Wayne was telling me he has a few Blue Knight Pairs that are over 15 years old.

[Skip]

For how long will Discus Breed during their life span? from frist 1yr till 5ys?.. i assume and elderly discus won't reproduce anymore..

[Inland Empire Discus]

I had an 8 year old female blue diamond that was still spawning on a regular basis. Not sure how old they will still spawn.

[Skip]

I had an 8 year old female blue diamond that was still spawning on a regular basis. Not sure how old they will still spawn.

thanks.. i dont' even have fish that are 1 yr old yet.. LOL! don't even know why i was asking :)

[ericatdallas]

I don't know if this topic has been discused on here before, but l was just curious of what the life expectancy is for discus?
Does it vary in different strains?

I think it depends on the person keeping the discus :)

[DiscusKev]

2 are still alive and well, so being they were at least a year old when i got them im guessing they are 7-8 years old. They were last year anyways.

Can you take a picture please?


Wayne was telling me he has a few Blue Knight Pairs that are over 15 years old.

Wow that's amazing! Would love to see a picture but I know it's almost impossible.


For how long will Discus Breed during their life span? from frist 1yr till 5ys?.. i assume and elderly discus won't reproduce anymore..

I would say it depends on the diet being fed, they can still reproduce but the amount will be low. Also because they are less sexually active. Just realised, this thread is about the life expectancy and not how long they breed lol.


I think it depends on the person keeping the discus :)

Agree. Different people take different measure of care to their discus. Great care means longer life expectancy. I think the genetics have a role in this too because being cross bred (siblingxsibing, fatherxoffspring.etc) too many times could weaken their gene and maybe life expectancy.

[Discus-Hans]

I think it depends on the person keeping the discus :)

ha ha was just thinking that, beside this, it's were it came from.

I bet most Discus don't make it over a year,

Hans

[kent1963]

ha ha was just thinking that, beside this, it's were it came from.

I bet most Discus don't make it over a year,

Hans
I think this is true of most captive fish. I have had several large Cichlids live past a dozen years and have a clown loach that turned 21 in march.

[ericatdallas]

21 years? That's almost as long as I've been in the hobby :P That's amazing! Although if I cared about my previous fish as much as my discus, I might have a better track record (not that it's too terrible as it is)... a few years ago, I would have NEVER dreamed of changing water EVERYDAY.

But had pumps been cheaper 15-20 years ago, I would probably have stayed more serious about the hobby. I was just thinking yesterday while I had my MJ-1200 pumping water out of the tank how I used to siphon with airline tubing (about 20 years ago) in 3G buckets (yes, 3 NOT 5, but I was a scrawny kid)!!! I didn't even have a regular pump because I was too cheap/broke to spend $15-20 on the thing (I didn't think to use garden hose and PVC). I would then refill the 3G buckets (which meant only about 2-2.5G in there) and go back and forth between the bathroom. I remember a few times I just didn't clean the tank for months.

I emptied two tanks last night and refilled in about half an hour (while cooking, eating, surfing the internet, cleaning) and it used to take me 2-3 hours to clean just -one- 29G.

[DiscusKev]

Never thought about that Hans, taking the source from where it came from is crucial because a discus life mainly depends on the first 4 months.

[ericatdallas]

Agree. Different people take different measure of care to their discus. Great care means longer life expectancy. I think the genetics have a role in this too because being cross bred (siblingxsibing, fatherxoffspring.etc) too many times could weaken their gene and maybe life expectancy.

Yeah, the discus on my avatar are great great great great great great great grandchildren of discus the breeder got from Hans. Well, I don't know how far the line goes, but he said he got the original pair from Hans (I can't remember exactly, 5-8 years ago). So it may not be too bad... I've been considering buying them a couple of new mates to introduce some fresh DNA.

They're not as football shaped as the pic makes them out to be. I stretched the pic horizontally (about 10%) to fit the 100x100 requirement exactly and the angle makes it worse than it actually is.

[Disgirl]

Well, I have a 15+ yr. old Festivum, also a flat fish, from the Amazon where discus and angels live, so I am hoping for very long life for my 12 discus. Just lost a 13-14 yr. old marble angel. Hope all my angels also make it to an old age. I do agree that the care can really determine the life span of a fish. My parents once had a 15 gal. tank and it housed 8 year old neons in very hard alkaline water.
Barb

[2075turner]

I had two that lasted 14 years till my heater malfunctioned and boiled my tank. I'm sure I would have gotten a few more years out of them I'm sure.

[DiscusKev]

This thread isn't much fun without pictures :p

[Sean Buehrle]

This thread isn't much fun without pictures :p

This is as good as i can do for you. This is a pic of a pic, freekin iphones wont let ya upload pics.
Anyways i got like 5-6 of these from hans and as of july of last year they were still alive. I gave them to a lady in my local fish club, all she ever did was talk about these fish when she seen me at swaps n stuff.
They were pretty neat fish and big as heck, that homemade spawning cone was 18 inches tall in a 72x18x22 tank. That is a large sponge filter behind em. so you can tell how big they were. I remember when i opened the box, i was expecting big discus, but holy crap, i was very happy. I woulda paid hans twice what i payed for them, LOL. Dont tell hans that though, im planning on buying some more from him soon.
Those were really nice calm fish. Those fish were breeding machines, One time i was at my wits end with them cause they kept spawning and i had no more room for babies, so i seperated them in different tanks and they acctually tried spawning tank to tank. The female laid eggs on the glass in one tank and the male tried to fertilize em from another, no bologna. When they were seperated they stayed nose to nose from one tank to another, they musta been in love, LOL.







http://tapatalk.com/mu/4bada593-723b-688e.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[two utes]

Some interesting points raised...Thank you for your replies.
I'm sure that the amount of care, diet, and water quality would be a contributing factor, and perhaps even their genes may determine how long they live for.
Would it be correct to assume that discus in the wild would outlive our aqurium bred/kept fish?....Or perhaps not due to the fact that aqurium discus are kept in a 'conrolled' environment.


I had two that lasted 14 years till my heater malfunctioned and boiled my tank. I'm sure I would have gotten a few more years out of them I'm sure.

Wow Evelyn! Thats a real shame that you had to loose them like that.

Thanks again everyone.

Cheers.

Joe