New to Discus,What do you think?

[Charhendrix]

hello everyone, i just recievedmy fish yesterday bought them from a man named gerry who runs a very impressive fs outofhis basement, I have alot of experience with a broadrangeof fish, salt andfreshwater...So i thought id give discus a shot! I leftmy lights off for an hour after putting the discus in the tank , let them mellow out a little bit, i then brought the lights on and sat with them for about an hour, They were a little timid at first but after about 20minutes they started to swim up and around...except for one. I fed them a little blood worms, and they all ate but afterwords the same one was acting shy fins down lurking aroudnnear the bottom. Its only been onenight , so maybe heis just takinga little longer to adjust from themove? thoughts?

i have a 46 gallon bowfront tank
6 new discus bought out of the same tank
1 plecco
large piece ofdriftwood and a couple decortive plants...


I know its a little early to worry but the other fish look good to me but this ones still not looking the greatest:(..anyway.. thoguhts or anything isappreciated! ps its the dark blue discus that im talking about.


74496744977449874499

[Discus-n00b]

Sorry to be blunt, but all of the fish look stunted and underfed (not your fault since you just got them). The sickly one looks just that, sickly. Low quality fish that should of never been sold in the first place. Keep the WCs going and the clean water flowing, see if you can bring them around some. However, welcome to Simplydiscus you've found the right place to learn about ANYTHING related to Discus!

[brianyam]

your fish look like severe inbred ones, and have not been taken care in the store most likely as well. they look really bad. I wouldn't buy again from whenever you bought them. I have noticed this recently since I got back into discus. Allot of domestic ones are showing weird deformations/mutations. The one in the third pic doesn't even look like a discus anymore, the shape is all weird. Buy from sponsors on SD or buy wild discus.

Honestly, give them back if you can. Start over.

[Charhendrix]

wow...does everyone agree with the above posts? i appreciate thehonesty, but i feel like i just got sucker punched...ha?

[BowRiver]

Yeah, they are right ,It wasn't your fault whoever sold these fish to u is blamed for
Quang

[Bill63SG]

Not piling on,but a yes from here also.Football shaped,should be rounder,eyes big for the body,stunted,forehead looks pinched,a place where they will carry thier fat when well fed.

[rdiscus]

Yes I agree ... just waste money, time and medication ...

[Larry Bugg]

Yes, they shouldn't have been sold to you.

[brianyam]

to be honest, you can't even give these fish away for free. That is why I would ask for your money back.

[Keith Perkins]

Matt hit the nail on the head, they've been underfed at some point and not well cared for. The eye to body ratio on the pigeon blood in the second picture is a major indication of the fish being stunted. With pictures this small it's hard to say if all are stunted, but for sure a couple are. The cobalt is in tough tough shape, coloration is very bad. I'm not surprised it acting the way you say it is based on how it looks in the picture, that one might be a goner. Lots of clean water will probably help, but you're in for a tougher road than if you had started with good healthy well cared for fish.

[Charhendrix]

Lol ... Awesome

[Discus-n00b]

Most of us have been in the same position at some point. It sucks, but in these type of cases its just gotta be chalked up as a learning experience. Especially since you found the forum and the problems with the fish were not your fault. Plenty of examples here that show what discus should and shouldn't look like and you have endless amounts of choices from the Sponsors if you choose to get more.

Some people would end up culling them, some people would end up keeping them and doing WCs and what not just to see what they could do. The choice is ultimately up to you, but I'd highly recommend looking at our sponsors for your next set of fish whenever that may be. Where are you located, maybe there is someone closer to you with higher quality fish.

[Bill63SG]

What usally happens is as a noobie,you/we end up doing that to the fish thru lack of knowledge,or do I really need to feed that much/water cahange that much.Unfortunatly these were sold to you this way,you dont even get the chance to learn from your mistakes,Who ever you bought them from ripped you off,wether they knew it or not,and I'm leaning towards they knew.Thats not from a couple of days or a week of bad care.

[Keith Perkins]

+1 to Matt and Bill's latest post, many of us started off with fish we'd never buy again. Fortunately I accidentally killed almost all mine off, it made starting over with better stock easy in my case.

[Charhendrix]

I'm in north bay Ontario... Anyone know of anybody in the area? I mean I don't know what I'm going to do lol, doubt he'd refund me. And between setting up the tank and those six fish it'll e a little while before I get another batch. If of course he doesn't refund me

[Orange Crush]

April is in BC....http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumdisplay.php?105-AprilsAquarium.com-(April-Ross)-Vancouver-B.C.-Canada
Same with Rick.....http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumdisplay.php?234-CanadianAquaFarm.com-(Rick-Grange)-Vancouver-British-Columbia-Canada
Evelyn is in Ontario.....http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumdisplay.php?227-Ottawa-Discus-House-(Evelyn-Turner)-Ottawa-Ontario-Canada
Bob is in Ontario.....http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumdisplay.php?89-Upper-Canada-Discus-(Bob-Garside)-Barrie-Ontario-Canada
All can ship if drive is too far. These are SD forum sponsers and have high quality fish. They have been "vetted" by forum members.

[random-cichlid]

I would practice on these fish but don't spend any extra money on them meds etc . and do heaps and heaps of research then when you feel confident that you can properly look after discus go out and get some really great stock from one of the guys on these forums.
But def take the time and use these guys as guinea pigs , but very unlucky you got jipped by a guy that clearly knows nothing about his discus
Practise then start with great stock hope it helps:)

[shoveltrash]

yeah - I learned a LOT from my first little LFS Discus. and from READING reading reading like mad on this forum. there is a HUGE source of info here to answer just about any question you might have. just do an advanced search ;)
I ended up losing my first 2, but then bought from a sponsor here and couldn't be happier :D

welcome to SD & good luck.

[Cameronv]

hello everyone, i just received my fish yesterday bought them from a man named gerry who runs a very impressive fs outofhis basement

Sounds like he knew what he was doing if he knew anything at all about discus. I'm sorry to be curt, but those look worse than LFS discus. This is all part of the learning process though. Don't worry your tank will only be looking better in the future. We are all here to help, even if the advice is not exactly what we always want to hear.

I would try my hardest to get anything back from him. The sponsor who I've always wanted to buy fish from was bob in ontario, but I live in the US. He has some seriously spectacular piwow red turqs.

Best of luck to you

[ganesan]

Re:New to discus what do you think.
What all have advised is true but don't feel dejected.Every one almost who has high quality discus today have made mistakes and have learnt from them.You have to be very careful when you choose discus,notice if they are sick,stressed,fin rots,clammed fins,white poo in the tanks they have been kept,ration of eye size to body,eyes clear or not and lastly very important is to get discus whose shape is as round as possible and for a beginner size should be at least 3 inch as small ones are harder to keep.
Even with these discus keep changing water daily and keep the water warm at about 30 degrees for a couple of days and they should become active.Don't jump into medications as yet.For me medications are always the last resort.
Best of luck

[Charhendrix]

Thank you all for all of your input, originally I felt pretty mad about the whole situation, considering the amount of money I spent on these fish, but I appreciate the advice! I've talked to the man who solde the discus and he has " a strict no return policy on his discus". So I've decided to take these fish as a learning experience as some of you have suggested and try to turn this into a learning experience, and eventually pick up some higher quality stock from some of the Canadian members here! Thanks again everyone for your honesty wish me luck! And I'll try to keep you all posted.

Ps never going back to "Gerry's" again !!!

[BowRiver]

Welcome to SD! I'm a Canadian member too,just got 6 discus from Rick at CAF very healthy and beautiful he. Just have a new shipment u better check it out!
Quang

[Bill63SG]

Consider it an "entry" into the club.Now to become a full-fledged-member,you'll have to kill some fish.

[oldfar]

I agree the 2in last picture dead fish swiming.Just trying to say they would maybe better off just do what you think is best for them I do feel for them poor guys.

[shoveltrash]

Consider it an "entry" into the club.Now to become a full-fledged-member,you'll have to kill some fish.
just like riding a horse, you're not a *real* rider until you've fallen off? LOL

do keep us posted. and do lots of water changes ;)

[Orange Crush]

Consider it an "entry" into the club.Now to become a full-fledged-member,you'll have to kill some fish.
Damn it! I thought I already was a "full-fledged" member. ;)

[Bill63SG]

Damn it! I thought I already was a "full-fledged" member. ;)My first nine,killed eight.

[Bill63SG]

just like riding a horse, you're not a *real* rider until you've fallen off? LOL

;)Ufortunatly,part of that club also,lol.

[Orange Crush]

Ufortunatly,part of that club also,lol.
Me too. I had a lot of riding experience so they gave me the horse that did not want a person on it in hopes that I could "change" it's attitude.
@!#$&

[Cameronv]

I've talked to the man who sold the discus and he has " a strict no return policy on his discus"

That sounds peculiar.. I wonder why lol..

[Keith Perkins]

I started buying 10 on e-bay from a guy in las vegas. I think he sent me an extra, I killed all but 1. Then I discovered SD and Auntie Martha, aka a mentor.

[krislewis3]

Why don't you show the guy who sold you these fish???, your original post, and the responses you got. Maby he just dosent know what he's doing, and can learn something to.

[Elliots]

I agree with krislewis. Maybe the guy does not know how Discus are supposed to look. Please show him this thread, maybe print it out for him. Without SD I probably would have thought those fish were OK.

[Charhendrix]

Well i might do that. the thing is that when i spoke to him originally after getting all of this negative feedback he was very stand offish so i think he knew what he was selling me. Theres really no chance of a refund or at least it seems like it at this point. but ill take it as a learning experience. ive been doing alot! of WCS and the fish have all pepped up alot. Ill put more pictures up in a day or two. Im actually a new dad as well so ive got my hands full!! thanks for all the help guys!

[Orange Crush]

I wish you the best of luck with your discus. Do lots of water changes and feed them small amounts of a variety of foods at least a few times a day. Also, do a lot of reading on here and of course ask us questions if you cannot find the answers you are looking for. We are here to support you and help you be successful. :)

[Charhendrix]

Thanks so much!

[Borderdog]

It never hurts to have some guinea pigs to use for things like checking other quarantined fish. I'm not sure you need to feed that many guinea pigs though.

Better luck on your next purchase. Most of us start out with either bad fish or killing good fish through silly mistakes. Don't get disheartened.

[Charhendrix]

So im almost a week in for these fish now, things are looking good considering the thoughts of my fellow forumer's haha. I do have a question though my fish almost always seem to be fighting? chasing eachother around , or what i can only describe as aggressive kissing? Is this normal with a new home for fish? i was told by the man i bought them from that these six had been together for a long time ... what does everyone think?

[krislewis3]

Is it when your feeding them? Mine do the same think during feeding. I'm new to discus to, and everything I know, came from this site. I've been told that when they act this way, they are working out the pecking order which is normal. This happens even though they have been together for a long time. Someone still has to be in charge of things. Good luck with your new fish. And remember, they don't have to be perfect to enjoy them. How many people prefer mutts to pure breeds?????

[Charhendrix]

Well.. Mostly in the mornings they seem to mellow out closer to lights out, I feed beef heart in the morning so it lingers a little bit ... But they fight a lot... Just worried as a new discus guy

[Bill63SG]

If they've been togehter fo awhile,were they with a bunch more?Now thet've got room to spred out,and ironically are getting better care and food,so now they have more energy.Sounds like they're establishing pecking order.This is exactly why you want a school,so one dosent get picked on too much,but there usally will still be a low-man.

[Charhendrix]

From what I saw at his place , they were the only six in that tank. He told me theyve been together for a while so I assume it was just them... Is it normal for the "low-man" to be really docile just hangin around ? Ha

[Charhendrix]

That sickly looking cobalt just passed away.... I'm actually pretty upset about it. Makes me mad that I was sold the poor fish just so I could watch em die.. :( first casualty . The rest of them look good still so hopefully now that the sick one is out these guys will thrive.!

[krislewis3]

What do his other fish look like??? What other types of fish does he sell? Does he breed discus? And lastly, what did
charge you for these guys, and did he say how old they were????

[Charhendrix]

He has 5 discus tanks , varied in size.. And probably 15-20 tanks of other various fish ... Angels African cichlids list goes on. He doesn't breed them, I believe he told me gets them straight out of Malaysia. Which I think might be a lie? And I'm embarrassed about the price lol to be honest because I've been reading like a fiend and I've noticed the sponsors on this sell top quality for sometimes less what I paid for these things. ... But regardless I paid 500$ for the 6 fish.

[qiyanfeng]

Temper after reading this post. This ruined my day. :mad:

[Borderdog]

Temper after reading this post. This ruined my day. :mad:

+1 That's low, even for some of the lowlifes in the pet business. I'm really sorry bud. That's just not right. Especially at that price.

[Charhendrix]

I know, I took it really hard for the first few days . I've been reading like crazy and I'm amazed at all the information on this forum and the amount of people that are so active on here every day. Albeit I am now the owner of subpar discus, but I'm taking it in stride as a learning experience, and have been looking into Evelyns Ottawa discus house as well as bob from upper Canada discus, one of the two will be my next purchase I'm sure. I can't wait to get up and running with some top quality fish! Thank you everyone for your honesty and advice.

[brianyam]

if your into fish. worth making a drive into toronto. go to gold ocean aquarium in richmond hill they have good discus on hand. call ahead of course given the drive.

[Charhendrix]

I will thanks! Have relatives in Richmond bill that have been asking me to come visit. Two birds one stone haha

[Charhendrix]

They don't have a website eh? Anyone have any good/bad experiences with gold ocean aquarium?

[warblad79]

Return the fish and get your money back, that's all I can say. To me that fish is already dead, I'm not going to spend a lot of money for medication and WC's just to keep the fish alive.

[Moon]

If you are planning on driving south, Bob is in Barrie, Evelyn in Ottawa and Vern Archer in Whitby. All of the above are friends of mine and will treat you right with good quality discus. I would buy from a reputable breeder. This will give you some idea of the pedigree of the fish.

[Bill63SG]

He has 5 discus tanks , varied in size.. And probably 15-20 tanks of other various fish ... Angels African cichlids list goes on. He doesn't breed them, I believe he told me gets them straight out of Malaysia. Which I think might be a lie? And I'm embarrassed about the price lol to be honest because I've been reading like a fiend and I've noticed the sponsors on this sell top quality for sometimes less what I paid for these things. ... But regardless I paid 500$ for the 6 fish.now I see why you felt like you were punched in the gut after your initial post.

[warblad79]

I will not take those fish even if for free. for $500 you paid for the 6 fish, you can actually buy at least 2-3 potential show quality fish with that amount of money.

[Wjmulder]

I will not take those fish even if for free. for $500 you paid for the 6 fish, you can actually buy at least 2-3 potential show quality fish with that amount of money.

No need to keep punching.

[Charhendrix]

No need to keep punching. +1 to that, im already knocked out guys. lol

[krislewis3]

Yea...I am sorry you wasted so much money..however, like you have heard from others here, we have all killed expensive fish in the learning process, so, your first failure is not that different. And remember...you can still enjoy those fish, they may not be pretty, but they will respond to you, and become pets.....sooooo, treat them well, and give them a better life than where they came from!!! Kris

[Wjmulder]

Charhendrix, you thought they were beautiful and worth every penny or you wouldn't have bought them, it comes through in your original post. I'm sorry one didnt make it, but Don't let all the negativity in this thread discourage you. Take good care of them and enjoy them. There are a lot of good people here who will help you through the difficult times.

Hope this makes you feel better and I also hope some of the posters will read what they wrote and reconsider how they respond to a new discus owner who is excited to find this resource and ask for help only to be told how ugly their fish are and how stupid they were to buy them.....real nice.

I'm off my soap box :)

[Bill63SG]

I just did a quick re-read thru,and I beg to differ on the negativity statement.Some might have been blunt,but it cuts thru the bs then basically lying to the op and saying they look fine.And unless I missed it,no one called him stupid,maybe uninformed.He didnt ask for help,he asked "What do you think?"And I dont think anyone was trying to discourage him,for the most part.Now off my soap box.

[joeymac]

If I asked everybody what they thought, I would definately be looking for and expecting honesty. Lying to make somebody feel good doesn't do anybody any good here.

[warblad79]

Charhendrix, you thought they were beautiful and worth every penny or you wouldn't have bought them, it comes through in your original post. I'm sorry one didnt make it, but Don't let all the negativity in this thread discourage you. Take good care of them and enjoy them. There are a lot of good people here who will help you through the difficult times.

Hope this makes you feel better and I also hope some of the posters will read what they wrote and reconsider how they respond to a new discus owner who is excited to find this resource and ask for help only to be told how ugly their fish are and how stupid they were to buy them.....real nice.

I'm off my soap box :)

Re: New to Discus,What do you think?

I'm just giving my straight answer because that's what been ask by the OP.

[warblad79]

If I asked everybody what they thought, I would definately be looking for and expecting honesty. Lying to make somebody feel good doesn't do anybody any good here.

1+ Agree, giving people advice how to save their super stunted discus and waste money are plainly stupid because you wasting time, energy, and money for some worthless fish. if you can return the fish and getting your money back, then buy fish from SD sponsor and start all over again. its better to be blunt than misleading or giving people a wrong idea.

[Willie]

Your best bet is to toss the rest into the freezer, clean out the tank and start afresh. Do not spend time keeping sick discus. Eventually, when you get nice ones, these have to go into the freezer. You wouldn't want to contaminate healthy stock with this stuff. These fish are going to die eventually and you don't need to drag out the misery.

By the way, this size fish -- far better quality, healthy -- are available from our sponsors for $40 - $50 each. So clean out the tank and start fresh.

Good luck, Willie

[Wjmulder]

Nothing wrong with giving honest opinions, but you don't need to pound em in the face with a bat while doing it.

[Willie]

... I'm off my soap box :)

Still off? :p

[warblad79]

Nothing wrong with giving honest opinions, but you don't need to pound em in the face with a bat while doing
it.

how long you been SD member?

[Bill63SG]

how long you been SD member?Click on his profile,you can find out for yourelf.

[Keith Perkins]

how long you been SD member?


Click on his profile,you can find out for yourelf.

Or just look at a members Join Date next to any post right under their user name and avatar.

[Charhendrix]

Alright guys I get it. Let's all move on here. Thanks bill and some ofthe other users who took there foot off the gas a little bit.

[krislewis3]

I do hope your fish continue to thrive, as they will with the proper care that you can research here......Kris

[Charhendrix]

Thank you kris ! I've been reading non stop doing regular 50 % wcs with prime and I've got what I feel a healthy diet going. My little deformed fishies are doin great! Haha

[shoveltrash]

I wish you the best of luck - you have indeed found a great resource here on SD (just take the salt with the sweet LOL), and it sounds like you are doing the absolute best for your fish!
do post updates for us :)

[Singularity96]

Do post some updated pics of the little runts.

[krislewis3]

I would also like to see updated photos of them in 2 months. It will be interesting to see what changes will occur with quality care!!!

[Lwkkeith]

Just wonder if any of these fishes still eating?

[Charhendrix]

All still eating ! From what I read on here I think two of them might even be pairing up. Lol

[Keith Perkins]

Well cared for offspring wouldn't show the affects of the poor treatment the parents received, so who knows. Pretty hard to say what the current ones could have looked like with excellent care.

[krislewis3]

Maybe you money wasn't wasted after all.You just might get your high quality discus, in the offspring from your existing fish!!! Wouldn't that be the 'silver lining'!!!

[Keith Perkins]

Not sure about the high quality, but the stunting obvious in the parents certainly could be avoided in the offspring. Which ones appear to be pairing up to you?

[BigWave]

I'll second the request for new pictures! I would love to see how they have improved.

My first batch of discus did okay, but they didn't get all the care that they should have. They still lived a long life, and were happy, one lasted 13 years.

The second round I am now prepared for.

[Charhendrix]

hey guys, im just getting in from work! ill put some new pictures up tonight!

[Charhendrix]

746237462274621

2nd picture is of the two fish that have been showing pairing behavior, 1st picture is of them all comin up to say hey as i walked into the room.

Now i want to stress to everyone that i know these fish aren't great, They are low quality i get it lol, and i dont know if its hard to tell from the pictures but ive had them for about 9 days now and they look 100 times better always coming out to the front of the tank when i come in the room, open fins etc etc... anyway! you guys asked for updated pics, here they are!

:D

[Keith Perkins]

Probably not a good pairing unfortunately. If that PB isn't a cross with non-PB blood in it all the fry would be a peppered mess. Glad to hear they're doing better and eating well though.