I recently purchased 19 discus for $15ea. I had to drive to the breeder to get them for the price and I was able to look at his pairs and hatchery setup. As many people have said the juveniles are alot of work and require constant feeding and water changes. As they get bigger (3"+) they're alot easier. Mine get fed now in the morning before I go to work and when I return with water changes 1-2 times a week at 50%. To save a bit of cash I rotate my feedings between frozen blood worms, dried pellets, and a homemade beefheart mix. Overall they've been very rewarding so far and I purchased as juviniles about 3 months ago. Also of note is to check the water parameters the breeder is using, mine are in a ph of about 7.5 and a temperature of 89. Also they're donig fine in moderately hard water but not for breeding purposes so this makes water changes easier as i'm not using R/O water.
Buying really small discus?
- Thread starter Freezekougra
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hillbilly;3062216; said:I can't recommend such small fish for a rookie discus keeper. Such fish are very demanding. We are talking 5+ feedings of high protein food daily, and large daily water changes. Ever wonder why discus are expensive? It's because a lot of time and work goes in to getting them to a saleable size of 3" or so. I would recommend getting discus at least 3". I don't buy them myself smaller than that, and I've kept them for many years. They extra work and potential losses of tiny fish outweigh the extra cost of larger fish.
I agree. Tiny discus are not the best way to break into the discus world.
blackhawkpowers;3077224; said:Overall they've been very rewarding so far and I purchased as juviniles about 3 months ago. Also of note is to check the water parameters the breeder is using, mine are in a ph of about 7.5 and a temperature of 89. Also they're donig fine in moderately hard water but not for breeding purposes so this makes water changes easier as i'm not using R/O water.
Hate to be a broken record. . . .Success should be measured in years and not months.
revkkoolaid;3084531; said:Hate to be a broken record. . . .Success should be measured in years and not months.
AMEN, X2 koolaid.
fishyjoe26;3076516; said:/\--- cheap discus in my opinion are not good discus, unless the person selling them to you is a good friend/breed that you know and see the way they have grown up and feed.
Yeah I'm a firm believer in that discus is NOT A CHEAP hobby.
Honestly fishkeeping period is not a cheap hobby in general. . . but IMO reef or Discus are two realms where tight budgets usually end up being no fun for you or the animals involved.
DiscusOnly;3063630; said:The value of watching them turn from quarter size to 5+ inches after 12-18 months is priceless. If you are thinking of raising them to sell and make money.. that's a different story and I'll advise against that.
The smallest one that you could probably get is about quater size (body only) but they are very demanding in feeding and WC. Once you go through the process of getting the little discus big, you will appreciate the large discus in a different way. Starting out with the small juvie at $10 is a good way to start getting into the hobby. Just realize that there is a learning curve and you WILL have set back. You will get a lot of different opinion but if you keep it to the basic and keep it simple, it will save you lots of heaches down the road.
Basically start with.
1. good quality discus
2. feed them with variety of food and often
3. change the water
Well said!
