LFS Discus - What type are they?

[bigwave]

Hello all, and thanks for any help with identifying these fish.

I went to an LFS that is going out of business, and bought her last 3 discus, for the price of 1. I really only wanted the 1 blue that she had, but I figured the 2 others might color up nicely as they mature.

I am guessing the Blue is some type of high-fin blue diamond, or some such. The other two I am not sure of at all. I have been researching a little, but they really are not in the best of shape right now. I have nursed another large Pigeon Blood back to health in this tank, so I am somewhat confident these will all do just great.

For simplicy sake I am labeling the fish this way:
Blue (he is obvious)
Discus 2 (With stripes in the pictures)
Discus 3 (looks like 2, just no stripes) Also the most camera shy.

Any ideas? If not enjoy the pics anyway, and I will keep you updated as they grow, and as I borrow my brothers NICE camera, to get some quality pictures.
:feedback: - David

PS - These pictures are taken 2 hours after being introduced to the tank, so they are perhaps not as nice looking as they could be.

PPS - I don't think these are show quality, but for my home tank that is just fine! :thumbsup:

 

[bigwave]

One more thing to add, they all ate a little flake this evening before lights out. So that is a good start. Especially good news for #2, since he is quite skinny from a head on view.

Tomorrow they get flakes and worms, to start fattening them up!

 

[Arakkis]

looks like a couple of blue diamond and a red turq.

 

[bs6749]

Definitely not a blue diamond as those don't have vertical stress bars and their fins are solid blue and not spotted as is the case on the anal fin. I would agree that the first fish would be considered a high fin, but I think it's more of a brilliant blue.

The second fish looks like it may be a red turquoise or a low quality leopard since there aren't any defined spots. The third one appears to be it's sibling.

I would have left these fish at the store. As you said that aren't show quality, not even close. On top of that they are stunted and diseased. Look at their foreheads and you will see that all 3 of them are thin, indicating malnutrition or worms, or most likely heximita. You will have a lot of work and will have to spend quite a bit of money not only to get them to look halfway decent, but also to get them healthy.

 

[poconogal]

Think those Blues are Cobalts?

 

[Star_Rider]

you could wait a bit so that their full colors show.

these appear to be young and will require several feedings per day. along with lots of water changes. sounds like you got 3 for the price of 1? correct?
if so , some hard work could turn into a good investment.





are they alone? in a QT tank ??

 

[bs6749]

Think those Blues are Cobalts?

That's actually what I meant to say but I couldn't think of the strain. For some reason I had brilliant blues on the mind.

Cobalts generally lose their stress bars as they mature but I doubt that this one ever will. I think stunting plays a key role with the coloration of the fish and these are obviously not juvies. You can tell by the size of the eye in proportion to the rest of the body that these fish should also be much larger than they are which means they are older than one might think. I would say these are at least a year old and they should be 4.5-5" SL by now if that is the case.

you could wait a bit so that their full colors show.

these appear to be young and will require several feedings per day. along with lots of water changes. sounds like you got 3 for the price of 1? correct?
if so , some hard work could turn into a good investment.





are they alone? in a QT tank ??

These discus aren't young, and they won't ever be show quality fish, but they could possibly be saved and turned into decent fish with much work. I've seen semi stunted fish turn around nicely but only on a small handful of occasions out of many attempts. I don't expect them to last long if you don't get them healthy soon. If you need help with that head on over to www.simplydiscus.com/forum and the numerous experts there will be able to help you.

 

[Rbishop]

there are plenty of folks here to help you, nothing mysterious about discus at all.

 

[bigwave]

So a Cobalt Blue and probably a couple Red Turquoise.

That sounds good to me.

I'll take good care of them, and see how they do. They are in a 75 planted with an XP2 and and XP3 for filtration. I run the temp right at about 80. They came from a 180 gallon tank, but don't know what they were in before that. There used to be bigger discus in there, so perhaps these three were not getting the food they needed.

Waterchanges will be 2 times a week, and the plants should be keeping the water clean till then.

The stress bars on the cobalt I am hoping will go away. He didn't show any there in the store, but as I said earlier, they had only been in my tank for a couple hours when the pictures were taken.

Any suggestions on food? My plan is high quality flake and frozen worms. I have some Cichlid delight frozen food, but have not ever found any fish that will actually eat it.

I guess I'll post again in a couple months, and we will see how they've done!

Thanks.

 

[bs6749]

So a Cobalt Blue and probably a couple Red Turquoise.

That sounds good to me.

I'll take good care of them, and see how they do. They are in a 75 planted with an XP2 and and XP3 for filtration. I run the temp right at about 80. They came from a 180 gallon tank, but don't know what they were in before that. There used to be bigger discus in there, so perhaps these three were not getting the food they needed.

Waterchanges will be 2 times a week, and the plants should be keeping the water clean till then.

The stress bars on the cobalt I am hoping will go away. He didn't show any there in the store, but as I said earlier, they had only been in my tank for a couple hours when the pictures were taken.

Any suggestions on food? My plan is high quality flake and frozen worms. I have some Cichlid delight frozen food, but have not ever found any fish that will actually eat it.

I guess I'll post again in a couple months, and we will see how they've done!

Thanks.

Those temps are way too low for those fish. You should have your temp at a minimum of 84, with 86 being preferred. Might be why they aren't showing the best of colors yet as they are stressed. Discus thrive in warmer temps. Just the other day when it was hot here my water went up to 96 degrees. One of my adult BN plecos couldn't take it but the discus did fine. Two of the other BN plecos in the tank did just fine as well. I've had the tank at 92 for a couple of weeks with no ill effects.

I suggest that you start them out with a medicated flake food from Angelsplus. Many people have used it with great results. I'd get 3 oz of each flake and start with the antibiotic flake course followed by the deworming flake course and then the antiprotozoan flake.

After that you will want to feed a good quality flake/pellet in addition to frozen foods. Many that I know would recommend Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef and I can recommend that as well. Has a high protein content and the protein comes from fish, not soybeans like other flake. I also think NLS Cichlid Formula 1mm sinking pellets are a good pellet.

In addition to those you will want to feed frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, possibly frozen krill, frozen spirulina enriched brine shrimp, and/or beefheart or seafood mixes. There are many recipes on the site I recommended and they are easy to make and the ingredients are readily available.