Need some seasoned advice

[Tashoverride]

Hi guys,
I've been preparing my discus tank for about 3 months now, ensuring that the temperature doesn't fluctuate getting my parameters steady and learning how to adjust them and aclimate my water to match the tank exactly on water changes.
I genuinely thought that would be the hardest part. I've been looking around at LFS and online to purchase some discus for about 4 weeks now and I don't know if I have read to many articles and I'm imagining problems or if the photos of what discus should look like are setting too high of an expectation.
I've gone to many LFS's and some have had beautifully rounded fish but refused to show me a feed reaction so I've had to walk away. A few have promised me better stock in a week, but when I go to see them the fish end up having a very wedged shape face or have what I feel too much colouration for a 3 inch face.
I really want healthy fish and for $160 a fish I don't particularly want to make any mistakes.
But I'm hoping if I attach a few photos in here I'll be able to get some feedback as to whether these fish have been raised properly. (Judging by shape)

[Hollowman]

Hi Tash and welcome.

It is refreshing to know that you are doing a lot of research before you take the plunge, so many just drop in a few discus and end up with problems.
I know your dilemma, it is the same everywhere when looking for good discus, unless you live in Singapore... Generally speaking lfs fish are poorly bred and stunted before they reach the shop, steer clear of these. If you are in Aus, then there are a few good breeders so look around online, shipping across country is ok if the seller is a genuine breeder. Not being in Aus, I cannot recommend anyone, but sure someone can. I will say, try and buy 4 to 5 inch fish first. These will be already half mature and the shape should be fixed already, sometimes better than getting a group of 3" fish that turn out bad.
As for types, well, there are many to choose from these days. But if you are going for PB's make sure they are clean, no peppering, and maybe look for a group of 5 to 6 fish from the same place.
Go careful of contamination if you have other fish already and have a hospital tank ready just in case.

Good luck, I hope my advice helps a little

[shiney2512]

Where about's are you located? if your in Melbourne checkout Aquatico aquarium in sunshine, they import quality 'Forrest' bred discus, checked their Facebook page

Another great supplier is Gold Coast discus, (Facebook page), they import quality NA discus at reasonable prices and deliver to the door (they also have stockist around Australia)

[Tashoverride]

Hi, Thank you for the response!
It's been somewhat disheartening trying to find someone reputable. I've found a few people that are selling breeding pairs privately which seem to be the right shape and colour so I'm hoping they will turn out okay. I've already prepared some frozen homemade beefheart mixtures to feed them but the responses I'm getting seem to be that people stick to bloodworms and dried blackworms.
I feel as though the main thing that is saving me is that I built my own tank and stand specifically for these fish so that I could use more of the budget on better quality fish!

[Tashoverride]

I'm in Adelaide but I'll have a look at them and see what sort of stock they are holding at the moment. Thank you for the advice!

[shiney2512]

Definitely get a hold of Darren from Gold Coast Discus, I'm pretty sure he has a supplier in Adelaide, between him and Aquatico , they have the best discus in Australia.

As for feeding , I use sera discus granules, Frozen Dried black worms and beef heart mix. I'd recommend you stay away from feeding your discus bloodworms since it has no nutritional benefits for them.

[Tashoverride]

Thank you for all of your advice, I ended up finding a wholesale importer who had an amazing amount of knowledge about Discus.
I went to Cheungs aquarium and pet warehouse, Arthur, who I assume is one of the owners was AMAZING.
They are both in the tank now and are looking good.

[sayid]

Hi Tash and welcome aboard , I feed mine tetra color bits ,sera discus granules ,FDBW , and beef heart , blood worm is useless . please send us photos of your tank. good luck.

[HarryDK]

Hi Tash and welcome aboard , I feed mine tetra color bits ,sera discus granules ,FDBW , and beef heart , blood worm is useless . please send us photos of your tank. good luck.

gotta disagree with you about bloodworms. They are great for snack with small amount :D esp when you drain it and throw it in front of the inlet ^_^

[sayid]

gotta disagree with you about bloodworms. They are great for snack with small amount :D esp when you drain it and throw it in front of the inlet ^_^

As far as i am concern blood worm is like MacDonald ,it is tasty but very little nutrition value ,i only use it when i have to treat discus with hex just to entice them to eat some time i immerse it in metronidazole before i feed it to the sick fish.
HTH

[Tashoverride]

Thank you all for your responses. The fish seem to be doing really well, they get a little stressed around the water change time after feeding but overall are pretty relaxed. They seem to really like cleaning the sides of the tank.
I've been giving them a mixed diet of beefheart cubes and discus sinking pellets. The first attempt at the beef heart I basically plopped a whole piece in the tank and they decided to just spit it about. Second attempt, I cut the small cube into quarters and fed them a quarter at a time. This helped a lot. But they are still only eating a little bit of it. I'm getting to the point now where when they see me coming they just swim to the feeding area of the tank and start pushing each other.
One thing I have been worried about is trying to make sure I get all of the beefheart out of the tank. I did my first check under and around the tiles today to see if anything was accumulating and thankfully I found nothing. But its still one of my biggest concerns.
I'm all ears if anyone has tips.

[Hollowman]

Interesting choice of fish, why did you go for a pb and a rt.

[Tashoverride]

Hi Hollowman,
They were both listed as red turquoise it's just that one is pale blue with yellow markings and the other is a darker blue with red markings.
I know the eyes aren't perfect but they were the best I could find in Adelaide.
But as far as colours go, I really wanted the plain reds but I didn't want to get to hung up on colours.