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'll 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 ?community? 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're 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'll 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.