# Discus Database



## Achintya

Origin – 
 Discus Fish belongs to the Amazon River of Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. It is found primarily in still or slow-moving bodies of water, lowland of Amazonia where water turns blackish or brownish due to leaf litter and wood debris. 


Tank size – 
This plays a vital role for discus keeping. If you choose proper dimension then half of your job is already done. We know that discus is a round or disc shaped fish. So due to this body shape this fish moves more vertically than horizontally.  More they move more they grow fast. Generally discus is a mid-level moving fish. So at first our goal will be to provide them a high depth tank. You can choose a 18 inch to 24 inch high tank.
It is generally seen that discus loves to live in a group. So I say you that please buy at least 4-6 discus for the first time. So they can eventually form a group. Now a question comes. what will be ideal tank length? I say that at least 3 feet. A 3 feet tank is ideal for those 6 (I consider that you keep 4-6 discus for the first time), they can move freely in horizontal direction in this tank and with a height of 18-24 inch we will also provide enough space for moving vertically. So selecting this type of tank we can provide much space for growing. 


Filter – 
You dare to change water daily. So simply don’t do that!! You can do 20% water change in every alternate day. Yes just 20% to raise 2.5-3 inch discus. Can you do 1 thing? Can you keep an external canister filter for that? This will be the best filter for any kind of set up. Even for discus obviously! It holds maximum amount of filter media. You can keep good amount of zeolite, active carbon, bio ball, ceramic ring in it. 


Now you may say that canister filter is too costly. Ok, no problem. Still you can manage this with a top filter and 1 or 2 power filter. On the chamber of top filter keep good amount of zeolite and inside power filter keep maximum amount of sponge!! Here one question may be asked. Power filter for discus tank? Yes why not, make sure that the outlet of power filter is towards back glass of your tank or you can use a spray bar with it.

So basically if you have 4-1.5-1.5 feet discus tank then your choice of filters will be :

1.One canister filter 
2.One top filter and 2 sponge filter
3.2 top filters and 1 sponge filter
4.One top filter and one power filter

You can choice any of those 4 options.



Temperature –
 Discus prefers higher temperature than other fishes. Generally, they are kept in 30 degree Celsius temperature. But they can also live well in between 27-29 degree. Due to this high temperature, one has to put thermostat on during winter. Also you have to very careful during water change.  Because a fluctuation of water temperature can cause fatal. To avoid this, you can use thermostat to keep temperature at that desired temperature. Hence use a bucket to store water, in that bucket keep a thermostat to keep water temp. at 30 degree. Then use the same temperature water into your discus tank.


Diurnal/nocturnal fish –
Discus is a diurnal fish. Their movements will slow down if you switch off light or at night.

Décor/setup – 

*1. Discus in a sandy aquarium:*
_i)Different types of discus in a sandy tank:_
Ok, you choose sand as a substrate. Then I suggest that make a black background for this tank. You may say that discus tank and black background!!! Why not… you say that if we keep discus with a black background then peepering will come. also they will be blackish. I say that keep those discus which show no peepering or generally will not turn blackish. So what are those strains!! They are turquoise (blue,red,tiger), leopard, snakeskin, leopard snakeskin, blue diamond, snow white, alenquer, san merah, tefe green.


_ii) Fish size you’ll choose for this type of tank: _
So for the first time you keep discus and you keep in a sandy tank. So your fish size will be at least 2.5-3 inch at least. Now question comes. Why do you choose this size? I say that this is the perfect size for any discus to grow. Many discus experts say that this size of discus grows fastest than any other size. Also this size of discus is also easy to keep!!! Because with little care with in few days you’ll be amazed to see that your discus grows 3.5-4 inch! So keep 2.5-3 inch size discus. After few days you may take challenge to keep 1.5-2 inch discus. 



*2. Discus in a gravelled aquarium:*
_i) Gravel that you will use:_
Now you choose a gravelled tank for discus. And you keep discus for the first time. You may say that may I keep discus in a gravelled tank!! I heard that within few days we’ll see peepering on discus bodies. So what I have to do? What’ll be the ideal gravel for a discus tank? 

There are different types of gravel is available in the market. One has fine grain and other has comparatively larger grain. If you choose fine grain gravels then it will be a tough job for you to clean your tank, Where as if you use larger grain it will be easier to clean. So I suggest using larger gravel. At the same time I suggest you to place those gravel in a loosely manner. So that it will be easier to clean your tank. 



_ii) Different types of discus that you can keep in a gravelled tank:_
Yes you can also keep discus in a gravelled tank. I personally started this discus hobby keeping them in a gravelled tank!!! At that time I was a great fan of gravelled tank and I had various type of gravels! If you wish to keep discus in a gravelled tank then I suggest to make a blue (whatever dark or light blue, but light blue is preferable) background. This is different with sandy discus tank. A sandy discus tank should look more blackish or kind of normal nature, where as gravelled discus tank is more spontaneous. That’s why you can choose blue background. In a gravelled discus tank you will astonish to hear that you can keep more variety of discus that you can keep in a sandy discus tank!!! Yes it is. Apart from those turquoise strain, leopard, blue diamond etc. you can also keep all melon sp., red and white, Marlboro, yellow checkerboard!!! And yes you can successfully keep those without any peepering on their bodies. Here you can see a picture of sunshine orange of mine. This was my first ever discus and I kept that more than 3 years. It grew up to 7 inch!!!


_iii) Fish size you’ll choose for this type of tank: _
My general suggestion is to keep 2.5-3 inch juvenile discus if you keep discus for first time. bigger will be better. But since you use a gravelled tank and hope you have a good filtration and good amount of water change schedule you can show fascination Of keeping 2 inch discus also!!! From my previous post you know that discus will live better in a group. So keeping 6-8 discus of 2 inch will be no problem for you.



*3. Discus in a planted aquarium:*

Without any doubt, planted tank is one the beautiful looking of any kind of tanks. Many of us love to keep planted tank. It’s nice to see some awesome planted aquarium. It’s a great feelings when one keep beautiful discus in a planted tank. Especially when we see beautiful planted tank with discus we are amazed to see this beauty. Let me assume that you also keep planted tank. Now for the first time you want to keep discus in your planted. Ok, don’t worry. You can keep discus if you know some tricks about them. 


_i) Different types of discus that you can keep in a planted tank:_

You have to be choosy enough for different strain of discus in a planted tank. You can’t choose all types of discus in a planted tank. Let me assume that you have a beautiful planted set up. But you keep some peepering prone or such type of discus. I see many planted experts keeping discus in their tanks but they keep juvenile and peepering discus. I feel very sad to see this. So to avoid this you can keep all turquoise strain, leopard, snakeskin, san merah, blue diamond etc. 


You know planted tank can be classified of 2 different types. One is low-tech set up with DIY CO2, DIY substrate, low-medium light etc. keeping discus in this type of set up is comparatively easier.one can keep adult discus in this low-tech set up after 4-5 months of set up. Once the tank is settled well and tends to mature then you can keep them. 


Other type of set up is high-tech planted tank with pressurised CO2 system, branded substrate, high light, proper dosing etc. keeping discus in this type of set up is little tricky. A branded substrate can cause problem for discus. In addition, due to high light, dosing, CO2 your discus can be stressed. So to avoid this what’s the option? The only option is to keep adult discus settling in this type of environment. I know many planted discus keepers who keep adult discus in a temporary planted set up and if a discus is settled enough then only they can transfer that discus to the main planted tank. But in your case I like to say that keep 4-4.5 inch+ (at least) discus. As you know adult discus is having more resistance power, so it will not be too much problem. Also one thing that I like to suggest you, In case of hi-tech planted set up please keep discus once tank is fully matured. During set up time there can be some fluctuation of water parameters which is hazardous to discus. You may say that in many cases I see lots of other strain of discus housing in a hi-tech planted tank. In most of the cases those discus are kept in this set up for a better video or picture purpose.



_ii) Fish size you’ll choose for this type of tank:_
Keeping discus in a planted aquarium is not like keeping discus in other types of tank. In other type of tanks you can easily keep and successfully raise 2-.25 inch discus. But for planted tank I suggest you to keep adult discus. As we all know adult discus can adapt more than juveniles. So keeping 4 inch plus discus is a very option for a planted tank. Since you use pressurised CO2 (for high-tech set up), we’ll often find juveniles are stressed or often goes top level of water. Discus demands more oxygen and in case of juveniles they need more than adult. That’s one of the reasons to choose adult discus in a planted tank. From my previous post you know that discus will live better in a group. So keeping a batch of 4 inch size discus will be no problem for you.



Water – pH, temperature and extras – 
The primary condition of water is it should be dechlorinated. Specially we have to take care during rainy season when our tap water is chlorinated!! So my request is to give attention to water that you provide in your discus tank. Now a days in any pet shop you can get dechlorinated medicine that helps you to lower chlorine of your tank. Use that thing and dissolve it as that medicine say.  You should buy dechlorine medicine which helps you to lower chlorine of your tank. This Chlorine is routinely added to the water supply in many parts of the world to make the water germfree. But this Chlorine is not good for discus fish and the use of chloramine can be disastrous. So use a test kit to determine the presence and concentration of this Chlorine or Chloramine. Make sure that discus can be healthy and can grow well if you provide them right water condition, which is obviously chlorine free. It will be good if you store water for 24 hours in a bucket and treat it with HYPO. It’s a very good chlorine remover.

PH level:
One of the most common problems encountered by the aquarist is maintaining a constant pH level. Many hobbyists fail to understand the importance pH plays in the aquarium and what factors influence the pH reading. The Discus is a very sensitive fish. You should be very careful about fluctuating ph in your discus tank. I have a personal experience I lost my few discus due to fluctuated ph level in my early days in this hobby. You can fix it at 7. You may use a ph meter to measure it.
When considering pH, you should have a goal of stability. Although 7.0 may be the standard pH level for a discus fish, the same fish will likely thrive at a constant level anywhere between 6.6 and 7.5. It may even survive at constant levels between 6.2 and 7.8. Our goal as aquarists should be to establish a very consistent pH level, even if that level is slightly outside the “ideal” pH reading for a given species. In other words, a constant pH of 6.6 is better than a pH value which fluctuates between 6.6 and 7.0, even for a fish which prefers a 7.0 reading. 



SOLUTIONS FROM IMPROPER WATER CHEMISTRY:
Therefore, you have to know about the solutions by which you can get rid of this improper water chemistry. To do this, you have to test our aquarium water to maintain a stable environment for discus fish. Unless you test your water, you cannot understand if the water is stable for discus or not. Water testing is important, and you need to do it, but from my experience, I suggest you that you should not go behind those numbers that are said by the experienced hobbyists. Some aquarists read that the pH should be X and hardness needs to be Y, and continually add chemicals and buffers to the water to alter the pH and hardness, resulting in wild swings in water chemistry. AVOID THIS! Most fishes and even your discus can tolerate up to a certain range of water chemistry, but they do not tolerate rapid changes. Maintaining stable water chemistry, and keeping it at the optimal levels for your particular fish, is difficult. Many of the parameters are interdependent, so that if you change one, the other changes as well. Being able to manage and manipulate water chemistry to provide a stable, healthy environment is the challenge facing any aquarist. The Nitrogen Cycle (Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate) Three of the most important water chemistry parameters are ammonia/ ammonium (NH3/NH4+), nitrite (NO2-), and nitrate (NO3-). These three chemicals are important because ammonia and nitrite are both very toxic to aquatic life, even at low concentrations. Incidentally, neither one is great for us either. Nitrate, while much less toxic than either ammonia or nitrite, is toxic at high concentrations. More importantly, it is a great plant nutrient and thus causes algal blooms.
Now a days, many products are available in the market which that claim to detoxify ammonia and nitrite. These preparations are acceptable to use in case of an emergency, you have to stock these products too. Like when a dead discus fish causes a huge ammonia spike, but they are not a substitute for good filtration and husbandry. These things do not actually remove any nitrogenous waste from the system; they simply bind to ammonia and render it less toxic to fish. All the nitrogen is still in the system feeding other bacterial and algal populations. There is still no substitute for biological filtration and good, old-fashioned water changes. In my aquarium, I have this biological filtering system for the discus fish with great success.


Tank mate –
Most  discus keepers love to keep only discus fish in the tank. I also prefer to keep discus fish alone. but  if anybody wants to keep some other fishes then you can keep danisonii and smaller tetra sp like neon, cardinal, rummy nose tetra. If you want to keep other compatible fishes then always introduce other fishes first then keep discus fish. Otherwise discus can nibble those fishes.


Size –
 size depends on about how well you can keep and care for. discus fish can grow even upto 8 inch. This 8 inch means size from mouth to before tail. But in most of the cases we see maximum 6 inch size discus.

Lifespan –
 A discus can live even upto 13-15 years. Like I mention in size lifespaen of discus also depends on how well you care for. In normal cases, a tank breed discus can live even upto 10-12 years. 

Diet –  
Discus needs a better and various protein diet than other fishes. There are some good branded dry foods which are ideal for discus. Those are hikari discus bio gold, NLS discus food, sera discus granules, tetra bits, tetra crisps. apart from that you can feed them frozen dried bloodworms (occasionally). You can also feed them ants egg! This is one of the best live food for discus, as this contains no external or internal parasites.
And now come to the most important food for discus. That is BHM/GHM, which consists of: 

_1.Goat heart (fat removed) - 200gm 
2.Fresh Prawns - 200gm 
3.Spinach (boiled) - 100gm 
4.Green Peas (boiled) - 50gm 
5. Garlic - 2 clove 
6. Multivitamins - ½ capsule 
7. Calcium - ½ capsule 
8.Spirulina -1 tsp._

If you buy 2.5-3 inch discus. So you feed them 4-5 times daily and feed them in small quantity so that no left over food will stay at the bottom but feed them more. Generally it is seen that juvenile discus needs more food than a mature discus because their growth rate is higher than a mature one. Now you can do one thing. After feeding them you can siphon their wastes and uneaten food. It will take maximum 2-3 minutes. Where as if you have adult discus you can feed them 2-3 times daily.



Personality – 
discus is a master loving fish. It’s an experience of a lifetime when a discus takes food from your hand. If a discus is healthy and if you provide them good water parameters then you’ll see that whenever you towards discus that fish moves towards you. 

Apart from that discus loves to live with a group of 6 or more. So if anybody keeps discus then please keep at least 6 discus so that they can eventually form a group and move together. 







Plants –  
If you decide to keep plants in your discus community aquarium then you have to very careful of choosing plants. Because discus fish is very sensitive and they cannot live well if you choose improper plants. The best plants that favour discus fish are:
1. Amazon (Echinodorous sp.)
2. Anubias sp.
3.Anacharis sp.
4.Cabomba sp.
5.Cryptocoryne sp.
6.Vallisneria sp.
7.Hygro sp.
8.Java fern

These types of plants are very hardy and survive even if 30 degree Celsius, which is the conventional temperature level for discus tank.



Disease susceptibility – 

*Quarantine process of Discus:*
When you bring a discus for your show tank then there is a high risk factor of introducing disease and parasites. In addition, your discus can be stressed due to transport and relocation from their previous set up. Hence, there is a higher chance of your discus to be affected by diseases or parasites present in the new environment. So you need a quarantine tank which protects your fish from disease and allow to regain optimum health before they are shifted your main tank. Here I describe my own method of how to process quarantine of discus…

Day 1: start the quarantine process with Potassium permanganate. Make a Potassium permanganate soln. you can use this solution until tank water turns into baby pink colour. Do not use filter during this process otherwise, your purpose will not be served. You can use heavy aeration during this time. Also you can raise temperature at 32 degree Celsius during this course. Most of the parasites will kill in that temperature.

Day2, 3, 4: Do 100% W/C on day 2. Make sure there is no PP water is left in your tank. Fill your aquarium with new fresh water. Now you have to use oxytetracycline tablet (5 capsules per 100 litre of water). Use heavy aeration also.

Day 5: continue the step that was followed on day 1.

Day 6, 7, 8: continue the step that was followed on day 2, 3, 4.

Day 9: continue the step that was followed on day 1.

Day 10, 11, 12: continue the step that was followed on day2, 3, 4.

Day 13, 14, 15: Do 100% W/C and use 4 Metrogyl tablets per 100 litre of water. Continue it for 3 days. (Start Deworming process)

Day 16, 17, 18: continue the step that was followed on day 13. Feed them with small quantity.

Day 19, 20, 21: continue the step that was followed on day13. Feed them normally. 



*Discus External parasites:*
It seems that your discus fishes are suffering from external parasites.  So to avoid this you have to follow either of these 2 steps:

Step 1: (Treatment with Potassium Permanganate solution)

1.First make a solution of potassium permanganate. 
2.Use this PP solution in your hospital tank where you will have to keep those discus until water turns into baby pink colour.
3.The effect of PP stays up to 4 hours. So if you follow treatment with PP solution so you have to change water thrice a day. 
4.After few hours of treating it with PP solution you’ll find that water slowly turns brownish. That means the power of PP slowly reduces. This colour change is a good method to detecting power of PP solution.
5.Change 100% water and continue the same thrice a day.
6.Totally you have to continue at least 7-10 days until your discus will completely disease free.
7.Always use heavy aeration during this course.

How comes:
Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) is an inorganic chemical compound. This is highly reactive certain conditions it acts as an oxidant. It will oxidize a wide variety of inorganic and organic substances. Potassium permanganate (Mn 7+) is reduced to manganese dioxide (MnO2) (Mn 4+) which precipitates out of solution.


MnO4- + 4H+ + 3e- -> MnO2 + 2H2O			 Eo = 1.68V
MnO4- + 8H+ + 5e- -> Mn2+ + 4H2O			Eo = 1.51V

MnO4- + 2H2O + 3e- ->MnO2 + 4OH-			 Eo = 0.60V



Step 2(using Formaldehyde)

1.Use 3 ml Formaldehyde per 100 liter of water.
2.Do 100% water change daily for this course.
3.Continue the same for at least 7-10 days until your discus will completely disease free.
4.Always use heavy aeration during this course.

How comes:
Formaldehyde is an organic compound with the formula CH2O. It is the simplest form of aldehyde,this is also known as methanal. An aqueous solution of formaldehyde can be useful as a disinfectant as it kills most bacteria and fungi (including their spores). Formaldehyde solutions are applied topically in medicine to dry the skin, such as in the treatment of warts. Many aquarists use formaldehyde as a treatment for the parasites Ichthyophthirius multifiliis and Cryptocaryon irritans.



*How to prevent ich or white spot disease of discus:*
Ich or white spot disease of Discus is one of the major factors of discus fish keeping. This can happen due to bad water parameters, fluctuation of ph, temperature etc. you have to be careful during season change when these above causes can happen. Hence there is a higher chance of your discus to be affected by diseases or parasites present in the new environment. So you need a quarantine tank which protects your fish from disease and allow to regain optimum health before they are shifted your main tank. Here I describe my own method of how to fight with ich of discus…


Day 1: start the quarantine process with Oxytetracycline 500mg tablets. Dosage is 5 tablets per 100 liter of water. Also raise temperature at 32 degree Celsius during this course. Most of the parasites will kill in that temperature. Use heavy aeration and don’t switch on any kind of filters.

Day2,3 : keep it as it is.

Day 4: do full water change after 3 days. Use same dosage with same process with heavy aeration and no filters. 

Day 5,6: keep it as it is.

Day 7: continue the step that was followed on day 4.

Day 8,9: keep it as it is

Day 10: continue the step that was followed on day 4.

Day 11, 12: continue the step that was followed on day 8, 9.

Don’t feed them during this course. After 12 days of treatment check whether ich is gone or not. During this process, you may find that colour of discus is gone. There is no need to worry about this. Colour will come back again. Then start feeding in small quantity. Observe them keeping in hospital tank for further 4,5 days. If everything is going on well keep them in your main tank.



*Deworming of discus: *

White poop for discus means this fish is affected by some internal parasites. To be précised it is tapeworms.

What is tapeworms: 
Tapeworms are long, segmented worms that live in the small intestine of discus attached to the intestinal wall by several suckers as well as a structure called a Rostellum which resembles like a hat with hooks on it. The class of this tapeworm is Cestoda.




How they look?
This tapeworm can grow large. An adult tapeworm can grow even upto 6 meter or more. The tapeworm’s head hooks onto it’s intestine by tiny teeth and the worm absorbs nutrients through its skin. So what you feed to your discus can go to those tapeworms. Each segment contains a complete set of organs. When the segment drops off from the tail tip, it is only a sac of eggs. This segment is white and able to move when it is fresh and, at this time, looks like a grain of white rice.


Here I describe my own method of how to process deworming of discus…

Day 1: start the deworming process with metrogyl 400mg tablets. Proper dosage of to deal with deworming process is 5 metrogyl 400 tablets per 100 litre of water. So basically you can calculate your tank water volume and then use tablets of proper dosage. During this course, there should be no filter to turn on. use heavy aeration instead of filter.

Day2, 3: keep your tank as it is.

Day 4: change full water and then reintroduce the previous dosage like day1.

Day 5,6: keep your tank as it is.

Day 7: change full water and then reintroduce the previous dosage like day1.

Day 8,9: keep your tank as it is.

Day 10: change full water and then reintroduce the previous dosage like day1.

Day 11,12: keep your tank as it is.

After that the deworming dosage is complete. You can feed them small amount of foods after the treatment is over. Gradually increase feed more. I think they will accept food after this process.



Sex –One of the biggest question asked frequently of the discus breeder is “how do I determine the sex of my fish?” So, I try to describe a little.

In juvenile fish, determining sex is almost impossible. It is only when they begin to pair off that an opportunity arises to help in the determination of sex. Juvenile fish, both male and female, have a rounded dorsal fin, and it is not until they begin to mature that a difference Can be detected. 

The male discus will have thicker lips to aid him in his fight to protect the female, and male discus can become more aggressive. The male will be larger than the female, his forehead is thicker, and we have observed that if the discus is a bit shy, the male will have a tendency to stay between the female and the observer. 


Moreover, we can distinguish the male and female discus by laying tube and the spine of the anal fin. Closer is female. (Near the anal fin). The laying tube of the female is boarder for the tube to deliver eggs.


Check the colour and pattern of your discus fish; compare the discus to one another in the tank. Some fish will have more intense colour and some discus will have more pattern. Male discus fish tend to have less intense colour but have more pattern while the female tends to be more colourful but with lesser pattern.


Sexing Discus is the most difficult. The easiest way to do so is to raise a group of at least six to eight discuses, so that they can form community and allow them to pair off when ready. It is a beautiful sight to see.

Also during laying time (no matter it will fertilise or not, when a female discus will mature and have eggs to her belly she will lay) you can find a small laying tube is developed. To see this laying tube one can surely say that this is a female discus.



Spawning – The best and primary way to breed discus is to keep breeding pair of discus. Raise discus from juvenile age and then finally get a breeding pair is obviously a time taking factor. Hence you can buy adult discus. You can get a breeding pair of discus in various ways. First you can buy discus of same strain and then you can get a breeding pair. I think if you buy 4 discus of same strain so that you can get 1 pair. Otherwise you have to buy a confirm breeding pair of discus. But this will obviously have high budget issue. 

Most discus breeder keeps the bare bottom tank to breed discus. The female lays her eggs (up to 200) on a vertical support (PVC pipe, plant pot, aquarium glass), with hatching following in about three days; the fry remain attached by their heads and only start swimming two or three days later, under the supervision of the parent fish. But I think to remember, once you find your discus start moving together and the female discus starts trial run for laying eggs, you have to shift them in a breeding tank. In the breeding tank there will be 1 sponge filter. 

Other type of aquarium, which is used to breed discus, is the planted tank. Planted tank means an aquarium is full of natural plants. But it is very important to note that in discus aquarium only a few types of plants can survive. Those plants are echinodorous sp. and Anubias sp. Most discus can lay eggs on the echinodorous sp. plants. The large leaves of these plants are very attractive to them. 

For a breeding pair of discus the selection of food is also very important. As I described earlier, you can feed them BHM, GHM, hikari discus bio gold, ants eggs, frozen dried bloodworms (occasionally), tetra bits etc.


Types/varieties –

Blue Strain
_Blue  diamond



Cobalt blue



Blue scorpion
Blue butterfly
Blue turquoise
Blue snakeskin
Ocean green_

White Strain
_snow white
white butterfly



white diamond
White Scorpion
Nebula ghost_


Red/Orange/Yellow Strain
_san merah
sunshine orange



red rose
checkerboard



pigeon blood
red map



Red golden diamond
Ruby red
Red cover
Mandarin passion
Red passion
Red and white
Yellow melon



Red melon
White face red melon
Yellow crystal
Yellow and white discus
Millennium gold_


Striated Strain
_red turquoise 
blue turquoise
brilliant blue turquoise
tiger turquoise
blue snakeskin
red snakeskin (snakeskin)
tiger snakeskin
altum flora
giant flora
tefe green_


Spotted Strain
_leopard 
spotted / dotted leopard



ornamental leopard
white leopard 
face spotted leopard 
leopard snakeskin



golden leopard
golden leopard snakeskin
turquoise leopard
penang eruption
spotted eruption
super eruption_


Albino strain
_Albino blue diamond
Albino cobalt blue
Albino red and white
Albino butterfly
Albino turquoise
Albino golden turquoise
Albino leopard
Albino leopard snakeskin
Albino snakeskin
Albino yellow melon
Albino red melon
Albino snow white
Albino white scorpion
Albino yellow diamond 
Albino yellow crystal
Albino yellow and white
Albino millennium gold
Albino RGD (red golden diamond)_


High fin high body & Bulldog

_All above strains can be observed also as high fin high body and bulldog strains. These are deformed type of discus._



 wild caught discus strain
_nhamunda 
mari mari
alenquer
tapajos golden
curuai
blue moon
semi royal 
brown 
amana
jutai
purus
abacaxi
unini
blue heckel
tefe green_

_**yet to complete_


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## sanj

Wow, thats a lot of useful information for anyone wanting to get involved with these fish.

Maybe I could do one for Rainbowfish


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## Achintya

thanx


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## Gary Nelson

Yes really helpful information.... Loads of things I did not know, these sorts of threads for all different fish would be great too!


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## NexusIcon

Great to read this as I see a lot of things that I've been noticing myself, especially about our male always blocking the view of the female - and she is quite shy!
If I had read this before they laid, I would have been able to sex them much sooner!


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## flygja

Great write up! About your tank size recommendations, are they only for non-planted tanks? Because even a medium planted 3-foot tank is a bit small for 6 discus in my opinion.

Sharing some pictures of my discus. He/she's about 4.5-5 inches now. Originally started with 4 of them, 2x 3 inches and 2x 4 inches. 2 of them bullied by one, and then that fella died as well. Unfortunately I can only feed once a day as I have to get up very early for work. I feed frozen bloodworms on weekdays and live tubifex on weekends. They don't take dried foods unfortunately.


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## Achintya

wow lovely pics,thanx for sharing...


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## REDSTEVEO

Hi there, I enjoyed this article. I have kept discus previously over about fifteen years but it is always good to refresh your knowledge. Can I ask on question? What is 'peepering' and what do you mean by it. I am guessing you might mean 'peppering' but I am not sure.

Thanks,

Steve


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## REDSTEVEO

Hi I just saw another part of this post / thread and I think someone has also answered the question, peepering means peppering. But what causes it exactly. Is it stress?

Cheers,

Steve


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## Paul Butler

REDSTEVEO said:


> Hi I just saw another part of this post / thread and I think someone has also answered the question, peepering means peppering. But what causes it exactly. Is it stress?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Steve


Peppering is believed to be caused by the remnant of the stress bars. It only occurs in pigeon blood based discus. If you put a pigeon blood into a tank with a dark background it will show pepper if it is prone. Put the same discus into a tank with a pale background and the pepper will diminish. Pigeon bloods with pepper tend to be classed as lower quality these days as years of selective breeding has just about eliminated it.

The last leopard pic posted by flygia is showing signs of hith, possibly down to diet, there are pits forming on the face near to the nares.


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## Achintya

perfect


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## REDSTEVEO

Thanks. Hith, Hole in the head disease yuk!


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