Aquarium Discus

How to care and breed your discus fish ...the correct way!

More articles over the years have been written about keeping and breeding aquarium discus fish than any other exotic fish. This is because they have become very popular with aquarists the world over. Discus fish, are very sensitive aquarium fish and have special requirements. If you want to keep long lasting discus fish you need to be aware of their favoured living conditions, feeding requirements and breeding habits. Healthy fish can live for ten years or more.

I highly recommend you download our top recommended book on breeding and raising discus fish. It has been written by a passionate very experience discus fish breeder, Rob Clark. A small outlay to invest in his book will save you heartache and expense with your aquarium discus setup. Discus fish are too valuable for you to be making mistakes!

Discus are a native fish of the calm and warm Amazon River where they live in soft acidic waters (note aquarium bred discus are quite often accustomed to harder and less acidic water). Keeping aquarium discus fish requires the fish keeper to have the right information about what to expect and what to offer them in order to keep these exotic fish happy. Discus fish behaviours will change according to the environmental factors.

Discus fish are generally shy, but if you’re planning to keep them you will need to be aware that they can become quite aggressive to their own kind. This is due to them defending their breeding territory. In this type of situation only the strong fish will survive and the weak get attacked. It’s best to keep aquarium discus fish in groups. A minimum of six individuals is considered ideal. By keeping them in groups it increases confidence in group members and it will lower the risk of misbehaviour.

HERE ARE SOME TIPS...

Water Management

Water management is extremely important when keeping and breeding aquarium discus fish. Nitrogenous waste must be kept as low as possible. Carry out regular small water changes and keep track of the ammonia, nitrate and nitrite levels in your discus tank.

Selecting Your new Discus Fish

There are many stains of discus available on the market. They come in a multitude of colors and patterns. There are fish that are reasonably hardy to those that only experienced discus fish keepers should should be keeping. Aquarium bred fish have been conditioned to water conditions that are very different to their wild cousins. Picking the wrong strain of discus can be a disaster to those starting out with this addictive hobby! Avoid making the wrong decisions and get advice. Discus Fish Secrets explains what to look for when buying discus fish for your aquarium.

Pairing

Discus fish really don't take well to arranged marriages! The best way to get a pair together is to buy a group of young unrelated fish of the same colour type and let them find mates themselves. This might happen from when the fish are half grown and spawning usually occurs when they’re ¾ grown. The fish will usually remain paired for the remainder of their lives.

Spawning

Discus will usually choose a near vertical smooth site, which they clean and then the female will lay 80-400 eggs which will be fertilized by the male. It will take about 48 hours for the eggs to hatch and another few days before the fry are swimming freely. You can expect your discus pair to lay a new batch of eggs every week or two over a number of weeks.

Breeding Tank

It’s best to keep the breeding tanks as simple possible. A 20-30 gallon aquarium is big enough to use as a breeding aquarium. Have an air powered filtration system, spawning sites (terracotta cones, broad leafed plants or slate) and no substrate. Having excellent water quality is very important. Keep the water temperature at about 86 degrees F. Having additional hiding spots is a good idea if the fish become aggressive. This allows individuals to retreat and take a rest.

Feeding and Conditioning

The breeding adult fish will need a good and varied diet in order to condition them into spawning.  Live food such as white worms and blood worms (although some experienced discus keepers prefer brine shrimp as sometimes bloodworms can introduce parasites to your discus) with a quality prepared fish food will ensure they get all the essential nutrients needed for health and breeding. By making large water changes, feeding fish well and by raising the water temperature slightly you will be able to trigger your aquarium discus into spawning. 

Fry Rearing

To begin with discus fry will feed off the mucus covering their parent’s body. It's a good idea to give the fry additional feedings of small food such as baby brine shrimp whilst they are with their parents. With the correct feeding the fry grow rapidly.

Remove the parent fish after 3-5 weeks as the fry may wear them out and there is a risk of the parents transmitting parasites on to their offspring. Again it is important to maintain quality water through heavy water changes. You can raise forty fry, and rear them until they are two inches long, in a fifty five gallon tank.

As the aquarium discus fish grow you must cull and only keep the best fish. Continue feeding them regularly every day on microworms, newly hatched brine shrimp and chopped blood worms. Feed only small amounts and keep up the daily small water changes. Ensure there is no food left uneaten as it will pollute the water.

An Excellent Resource

As aquarium discus fish are very expensive to buy, it is well worth investing in a quality resource to ensure you have success with rearing and breeding discus. An excellent resource to help you with raising and breeding aquarium discus, titled “Discus Fish Secrets” and written by an experienced discus breeder, Rob Clark can be found here. He will even guarantee it! Take a look at what he has to offer. Getting the right advice will ensure your fish will be healthy, long living and provide you with endless hours of pleasure.