Discus gender identification tips !

[fishes zd]

Hi everyone,

A couple of queries

1. I am curious on how to tell the dif. btw males and females?? Are the males more colourful? Do they have longer pectorial (?) fins, etc?

2. I am after some babies, 3 to start - so should I get 2 female and 1 male ??

I want them to be happy lil campers and have a nice 2ft cube planted tank. ph neutral, 8dkh, 9dgh, nitrates/ites & ammon 0. temp 26c.

Stocking may be getting very boderline with
4 x 2.5" clown loaches (the kings)
10x neon tetra
6x green tetra
6x baby bristlenose cats
2x fat corys
3x kuhli loach

So a bigger tank is def. on the way, ideally 4ftx2x2 - yum. (Trading post here I come)


AND:
3. Water changes 60l of total cap. 190l, so about one third every week.
Yes I read more freq changes how would 40l twice a wk be?

Thanks everyone,

Kerry

[fishes zd]

Ok so I just went ahead to SLS and bought 4 juveniles. Now I understand that you cannot tell the sex of juveniles and they don't care who they hang out with, ie. male or female and it doesn't matter what colour they are. If only humans were so easily pleased !

So I got a Blue Diamond, a melon something..... very pretty and two cobalt somethings that have pretty patterns. I will get to know the names of the colour patterns, etc. I have still lots to learn.

The pics are not the best, so sorry for that.

If you can tell me the names of the colourations, that would be great. I understand they are hybrids.

I JUST LOVE THEM! Finally after 9 months setting up my tank and getting everything right I have my dream fish.........

Thanks for looking,
Kerry

[goldenpigeon]

congratulations on your first discus! feels good to take the plunge doesnt it they look very happy in their new home!

i think that you have there is one red melon, one blue diamond and two cobalt blue discus they are very nice fish!

keep us updated with their progress

[fishes zd]

Thanks goldenpigeon - yes they settled in really well. I am happy that they swim around together and come right up to the front of the tank and look right at you, not shy at all.

I am very happy & just love them.

ps. thanks for the colour id's!

[goldenpigeon]

thats ok mate happy to hep

sounds like they are very settled in what have you got to feed them with? eg. beefheart mix, bloodworms, tetra bits, breeders premium etc?


cheers
junior

[fishes zd]

Discus Dinner (frozen), blood worms & the shop sold me some Tetra colorBits.

3 times a day....

well twice when I am at work. Color bits or discus dinner in the am and then blood worms at night...

What do you do ? I hope the discus dinner is as good as the beef heart recipe - I don't know if I can stomach make that one up, lol!

Kerry

[goldenpigeon]

LOL

i feed mine home made beef heart mix, breeders premium, bloodworms occasionally, brine shrimp and thats bout it really.

discus dinner is pretty good. i used to use it but when u start getting more discus it is super expensive to use. (i had to pay $5 per 100 grams of the stuff).

[fishes zd]

Fair enough - I'll keep it nice and simple for now.

So how many discus & tanks do you have atm??
And which discus is your pride and joy ?? Can you post me a pic of your fav ??

Thanks in advance! Nice to see what everyone has.

[goldenpigeon]

i have over 20 discus, 5 tanks running atm... soon a lot more.

5 breeding pairs of discus, a breeding pair of angels both of which have wild parents, lots more angels, gibbiceps, lots of tetras and many bristlies, also apisto's. thats about it for now. im sure there is something i have missed lol.

my pride and joy..... well.... where to start??? i have a few discus i am quite fond of. i like my golden pigeon, white butterfly, cobalts and a new red spotted leopard i got the other day. ill make a post of them for you soon

could you post a few more pix of your tank?

cheers

[Mulisha]

hey that's alot of fishys goldenpigeon