How many reefers keep or have kept discus?

[Fritzhamer]

I go back and forth with discus. My wife loves them but that hobby isn’t like this one in many ways. The Discus hobby is entirely governed by anecdotal evidence and here say masquerading as scientific data and as was stated earlier the “bare bottom, daily water change” police.

Last time I got into the hobby I took the Diana Walstad approach and went to google scholar first. Wild Discus (of course) live in flood plains which is some of the most foul and polluted water one can find. It’s thought that the extremely low ph of flood plains acts as an anti-biotic, like the acid in salsa sauce. The thought that one should keep these animals in the newest of tap water when they evolved from the foulest freshwater on Earth is insane.

My last tank I had planned on keeping a flood plain tank, full of rotting and water logged organic material. I even toyed with grabbing some mud and organic material from a nearby pond. I posted this in SD and started a riot with people stating “what has worked” and while I could back up my theories with tens of studies from universities, I was apparently a fool.

It got worse when I said that my backup plan was to dose low level anti-biotics if my ecosystem wasn’t playing out the way I planned. I was told that I would create a super bug and called all kinds of names. Mind you antibiotics are used in just about every commercial animal farming industry.

It’s just not like our hobby, which more so everyday, is rooted in science and data. Shoutout to @Bulk Reef Supply for being a major force in that. In the Discus hobby no one can tell you “why” for any question you may have.

“You have to do daily water changes”
Why
“They’ll die or be stunted”
Why
“That’s what happens”
Is it a bacteria?
“No one knows”
Seriously?
“Yeah could be hormones, bacteria, slime, no one knows”
No one cares? This doesn’t make any sense from an evolutionary standpoint. Not one scientist has ever tried to find out why? What if it’s some tiny innocuous thing we’re doing by changing the water and the water change itself isn’t what is needed?
“Yeah no, has to be daily water change, twice a day if you really want to do it the right way. Also bare bottom and wipe the tank sides down each water change”
(Sarcasm) Should I also count backwards out loud from 20 when I do water changes? I heard that makes them grow big also. Same with tapping your nose twice before feeding them.

I got fed up with the SD crowd and spent the Discus budget on corals. :)

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Still raising and breeding them(Kenny's discus). 265 gallons of discus tanks including breeding tanks along with 710 gallons ( 6 tank loop system ) of saltwater. I stopped the with the discus for a short period of time but missed them too much. Watching mainly SPS grow is nice and also can be a bit challenging there is just something about the discus.

Nice! Love Kenny. Miss that guy haven't talked to him since I sold the discus

I'm fortunate to be about an hour from him so have been able to visit his fish room on a few occasions. You won't find a nicer guy

 

[Bayareareefer18]

I go back and forth with discus. My wife loves them but that hobby isn’t like this one in many ways. The Discus hobby is entirely governed by anecdotal evidence and here say masquerading as scientific data and as was stated earlier the “bare bottom, daily water change” police.

Last time I got into the hobby I took the Diana Walstad approach and went to google scholar first. Wild Discus (of course) live in flood plains which is some of the most foul and polluted water one can find. It’s thought that the extremely low ph of flood plains acts as an anti-biotic, like the acid in salsa sauce. The thought that one should keep these animals in the newest of tap water when they evolved from the foulest freshwater on Earth is insane.

My last tank I had planned on keeping a flood plain tank, full of rotting and water logged organic material. I even toyed with grabbing some mud and organic material from a nearby pond. I posted this in SD and started a riot with people stating “what has worked” and while I could back up my theories with tens of studies from universities, I was apparently a fool.

It got worse when I said that my backup plan was to dose low level anti-biotics if my ecosystem wasn’t playing out the way I planned. I was told that I would create a super bug and called all kinds of names. Mind you antibiotics are used in just about every commercial animal farming industry.

It’s just not like our hobby, which more so everyday, is rooted in science and data. Shoutout to @Bulk Reef Supply for being a major force in that. In the Discus hobby no one can tell you “why” for any question you may have.

“You have to do daily water changes”
Why
“They’ll die or be stunted”
Why
“That’s what happens”
Is it a bacteria?
“No one knows”
Seriously?
“Yeah could be hormones, bacteria, slime, no one knows”
No one cares? This doesn’t make any sense from an evolutionary standpoint. Not one scientist has ever tried to find out why? What if it’s some tiny innocuous thing we’re doing by changing the water and the water change itself isn’t what is needed?
“Yeah no, has to be daily water change, twice a day if you really want to do it the right way. Also bare bottom and wipe the tank sides down each water change”
(Sarcasm) Should I also count backwards out loud from 20 when I do water changes? I heard that makes them grow big also. Same with tapping your nose twice before feeding them.

I got fed up with the SD crowd and spent the Discus budget on corals. :)

Agreed!!

I actually took a hiatus from SD for that very reason. I coined them the "dark age" discus keepers.

Was nice to return, however, and see that Al noticed my absence and reached out.

There are some great people there but those you speak of make it very hard for newbies.

Honestly when I first got into reefing back in March I started with the "other" forum. Within 24 hours I saw lots of complaints about the same thing that SD is infamous for.

Quickly made the switch to here and couldn't be happier I did