Discus Identification

[DiscusLover]

Hey guys I had these discus for about 4 months now and I still do not know what type these two are, if you guys can help me that would be great.

 

[TheSwissAquarist]

I expect @Fish Folk knows, he’s got a superb discus tank!

[Tazalanche]

Some breeders have specific names for their colors, aside from the more generic names used by everyone. Try a google search for "discus color chart" & you should be able to find them.

Here's an example of a genetics color chart for trying to breed specific color strains of Asian bred discus.

Edited October 9, 2022 by Tazalanche

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/9/2022 at 3:36 PM, Tazalanche said:

Some breeders have specific names for their colors, aside from the more generic names used by everyone. Try a google search for "discus color chart" & you should be able to find them.

Here's an example of a genetics color chart for trying to breed specific color strains of Asian bred discus.

Wow, where did you find that @Tazalanche?

[Tazalanche]

I raised & bred discus from about 2012-2016. I still have over a dozen of the academic books about discus husbandry & such. However, that image was grabbed from a Google search, using the keyword parameters I suggested.

Edited October 9, 2022 by Tazalanche

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/9/2022 at 4:20 PM, Tazalanche said:

I raised & bred discus from about 2012-2016. I still have over a dozen of the academic books about discus husbandry & such. However, that image was grabbed from a Google search, using the keyword parameters I suggested.

Quick question then 😏: what is the Number 1 piece of advice you could give to a first time discus keeper?

[Tazalanche]

On 10/9/2022 at 9:38 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Quick question then 😏: what is the Number 1 piece of advice you could give to a first time discus keeper?

I'd like to give 3 pieces of advice for a new discus keeper, in order of importance.

1:  No matter your source of fish, or how healthy they look, ALWAYS quarantine... preferably a "pre-emptive strike" medicated QT similar to what Cory recommends. You're not dealing with fish that cost a buck or two. It is beyond painful to mix healthy fish from highly reputable sources & start having illness or deaths because the immunities of fish from one breeder were totally different from the immunities of fish from another breeder. Due to not using a few dollars of quarantine medications, in less than one week I lost over $3000 in discus that all appeared healthy. It was totally my fault. I normally did a 2 week medicated QT for all of my new arrivals. I was stressed with work & I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing & put them in a community discus tank, without proper QT beforehand.

2: If the water parameters coming out of your tap are stable from one week to the next, stick with it. Simple is better. You will drive yourself crazy, and stress out the fish, if you start throwing coral, minerals, or chemicals in the water to try to hit some "sweet spot" of water parameters for wild discus. RO/DI water should be a last resort, not the first option for a new discus keeper. Unless you specifically have wild caught discus, the odds are high that your discus were raised in dechlorinated tap water close enough to yours that they will acclimate & then live long happy lives.

3: Do not use one source of information as the rule for how you will care for your discus. Research any situation in as many ways as you can, then decide which routine makes the most sense & will work best for your situation. There are many people out there that honestly want to be helpful, but they were once given bad information & are passing it on to you without confirming it was accurate.