Discus

@pHish_man - since you have such a stunning collection. Why not make a short video tour of your 2de "home"... LOL!!

 

Yes, I have kept Discus a few times, and these guys are by far the most fussy. I had some beautiful Wild X discus many moons ago which were WAY less fussy, not scared, and they were an absolute pleasure to own, but these Rio Xingus are the exact opposite. But having said that, they are not in the main house, so they don't get a heck of a lot of foot traffic past their tank.

I would definitely recommend Discus to people who love the fish, but then I'd also explain the trials and tribulations of keeping them happy. Most people are not willing to take on that responsibility, but they should. I'm growing these guys out for a potential large discus Display tank in the future. that's why I got them in the first place, so I keep them fed, and happy.

Each fish has it's own personality it would seem. And different strains would be far easier than these guys, which I think are roughly a year old. If I do get the new system off the ground, I will probably attempt to breed them. Then at least I can give it a bash, and have enough tank space for them and their offspring. But breeding is not really on my radar at the moment. I'll let the Pro's, like Andrew, Marko and Prof Dirk do all of that.

 

So cute watching these guys hunt down bs. Mixing in a bit of Dirk's 'Sea Life pro-active 1 granulate' which has a protein content of 62%.

 

Looks like the parents are feeling the cold front heading our way..........

 

@Marco , @jpvd007

Ok, done a quick head count and it appears there are the following number:

9 fish that are 'barless'
9 fish that have more than 9-bars
12 fish that are 9bar

Obviously one will need to see how this develops over time, but good that I have recorded this at just shy of 6 weeks.

 

On my Rio Xingus, I have 2 fish that have different bar counts on each side of their body. I just thought I'd share. I'll try get a pic one day when they're not such Bast@#$s.

 

Interesting Sean, I take it they are meant to be 9-bar fish. What is the count difference with these fishes?

 

Well, the one side is 9 and the other is 7 or 8... It's very strange.

 

Hi guys,
@pHish_man

Ok so if we consider a fair amount of eggs never hatched, some fry died etc we could probably account for a fairly even split of 50/50 Snakeskin/wild gene fish.
If possible post a latest pic of the 2 type Snakeskin fry, the ones with bar should be more red-brown and the bar-less now much more golden brown? Id like to see them.
@Sean J -in 9 bar fish it does sometimes happen that you get uneven bars. It can be caused by genetics, but most probably water parameters in Juvenile stage.
Only way to know is to breed them again. I had some Royal blues who had constant uneven barring in its offspring-so it was a genetic issue. The Xingus...breed them so we know.

Interestingly I recently had a chat to the Xingu breeder who told me that an Asian chap is now trying to breed the Xingu as a barless strain. In other words similar route to San Merah but different source fish used as base.
Reiterates the Asian obsession to have Discus with no stress-bars.
Can see the Xingu being barless and then crossed to a red spotted fish soon -that strong golden base with red spots would drive the Asian market insane! Lol

Marco

 

interesting with regards to bars, I am almost 100% sure there is a breeder in cape townb trying to develop a golden discus with red bars/stripes, i found this to be very unique, but then again, in my limited knowledge this might be common, i dont know, but I would love to see if he/she eventually gets it right. this is the second batch of goldens i have seen in this particualr petshop and with each new batch i can see the trend of the red bars getting stronger and more prominant, ill try and take a snapshot next time i visit that petshop

 

Hi Waleed, please give us the name of the petshop, I would like to pop in there. Just the name not the contact details so we keep this thread clean thanks.

Andrew

 

Panarama Petshop, the goldens are mildly peppered though

 

@Marco

Ok, here are some pics of what appear to be barless young. I have included the one fish in this category for your comment as his bars are a very different shade to the rest with bars.

 

More than 9-bar fish

 

9-bar fish

 

Thank you kindly

 

These guys from one of last year's spawn are now starting to colour up very nicely.



This leopard snakeskin is by far my favourite of the group.

 

The one looking to the left is really nice. Is he a cross aswell?

 

Oh yes that Leopard is an A class fish....how many Discus do you have in total now, including your fry? You can start a Discus breeding farm by the way you are breeding them.