Keeping Discus Fish

Keeping discus fish

The last decades have seen more materials written
about keeping discus fish than about any other
fish species. Anyone who thinks about keeping
discus fish in the aquarium should get well
informed before actually purchasing them. They
are considered royal fish native from the calm
and warm Amazon waters that charm through their
behavior. Keeping discus fish requires some
background knowledge about what to expect from
them and what to offer to make such pets happy.
Discus fish are considered creatures of changing
behavior that also manifest personality.

When keeping discus fish you?l notice that they
are calm and shy in general, but when they make
couples they often can become aggressive to their
own kin and others due to breeding territory
protection. Keeping discus fish will bring lots
of both challenges and rewards. First of all,
within a group it is often common that the
weakest discus be severely bullied, a treatment
that can sometimes result in death. Therefore,
keeping discus fish in groups of minimum six
individuals is considered ideal. Thus you
increase the confidence of the group members and
lower the risk of ?ommunity?misbehavior.

When keeping discus fish you have to respect
their habits. For instance mating is a matter of
personal choice when it comes to parenting.
Therefore, arranged matches are not to the like
of the discus that are independent in their
choice of a partner. Keeping discus fish that go
through the breeding process is best achieved in
a separate tank especially prepared for the
purpose. In case you?e keeping discus fish in
couples together with the rest of your aquatic
pets, you risk having some nasty violent behavior
because of territorial claims. Discus fish
prepare the perimeter were they are going to have
their babies by cleaning it first and defending
it throughout the whole period.

Once you have fry, you?l be surprised that
discus feed their young alone. However, when
keeping discus fish of such different ages
together, it is good to assist the parents?
effort by also giving some special food to the
fry too such as baby brine shrimp. After three or
six weeks at the maximum, keeping discus fish
together with their fry is not at all recommended.
You should separate the fry and leave the
exhausted parents recover. Use a special tank for
the fry only and feed them at least three times a
day to support the accelerated growth rate.