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More manuals over the years have been written about keeping and breeding discus fish than any other exotic fish. This is because they are very popular with pet owners. Discus fish are very sensitive creatures. If you want to keep long lasting discus fish you need to be aware of their preferred living conditions and feeding and breeding habits.

Discus is a native of the calm and warm Amazon River. Keeping discus fish requires the pet owner to have the right information about what to expect and what to offer them to make these exotic creatures happy. Discus fish continually change their behavior according to environmental factors.

They are generally shy, but if you are planning to keep discus fish you will notice that they become quite aggressive with their own kind. This is because of breeding territory protection. In this type of situation only the strong discus will survive and the weak will get attacked. It is best to keep discus fish in groups. A minimum of six individuals is considered ideal. By keeping them in groups it will increase confidence in group members and lower the risk of misbehaviour. Keeping discus fish can bring lots of challenges and rewards at the same time.

Here are some quick tips for you…

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 color type and let them pair up themselves. This might happen about the time the fish are half grown. Spawning usually occurs when they are about three-fourths of their adult size. The fish will usually remain a pair for the remainder of their lives.

Spawning: Discus will choose a near vertical smooth site, which they clean and then the female will lay from 80-400 eggs. The male will then fertilize the eggs. It can take between 50-60 hours for the eggs to hatch and another 36-48 hours until they are swimming freely.

Breeding Tank: It is best to keep the breeding tanks simple and to have a simple air powered filtration system. The best spawning sites are terracotta cones, broad leafed plants or slate. The water needs to be very soft so the eggs can develop properly. The quality of the water needs to be excellent and have a temperature of about 84-88F. Also a suitable tank size is 24×18x18 inches.

Feeding and Conditioning: The parents will need a good and varied diet. This is not only to condition them to spawn, but to provide nutrition when they are feeding their fry. Large water changes, a temperature rise and heavy feeding is often a good spawning trigger.

Fry Rearing: It’s a good idea to give the fry additional feedings of small food, such as baby brine shrimp while they are with the parents. You will notice after about 3-6 weeks the parents will be exhausted. The fry will be growing fast, so it’s a good idea to remove them. This is where lots of tanks and water changes are needed to achieve a decent growth rate.

So if you’re thinking about breeding discus fish I hope these quick tips have been of some use to you.

Remember it pays to do your research. You can learn everything you need to know at discus fish secrets.