What to do with all the new discus you've bred?

[troppo]

Hi there,

I'm sorry if this sounds like a blatantly stupid question but I, like most people, have a curiosity toward breeding discus. But I thought to myself, "Well, if I am successful?". If I get myself a breeding pair and I manage to get through the infant and juvenile stages. What do I do then? I assume I sell them but what kind of market is there when you've got a couple dozen discus that are growing rapidly? Do you sell direct/privately to others? Do you sell them to LFS'?

I've trawled through these pages but, unless I've missed it, I can't find anywhere what people actually do when they have been successful with their breeding? Excuse my ignorance but I don't want to breed only to be stuck at the other end with an ever growing population of fish.

I guess you have to decide and have a pathway before you start setting things up but what happens if you have a spawn in your community tank and decide to keep the fry going, etc.

Any comments or experiences would be appreciated

[swampy1972]

Every spawn mine have had in a community tank have been eaten by the parents before they're free swimming, so I don't know how much you'll have to worry about that aspect.
For juvies from a dedicated breeding setup. If you're breeding for good quality fish you'd have to be prepared to cull any that aren't up to standard anyway, so that will help reduce your numbers. That leaves more space and food for the quality fry, and it's only quality fish. You should try to only sell good quality stock, otherwise you're just populating the hobby with poor quality fish for the next unsuspecting person.
This forum is always a good place to sell, along with several others I've seen around. You may need to look into shipping though being from the West unless you find some enthusiasts over your way.. HTH

[Hollowman]

I can only echo what Swampy has said. Please dont flood the market with poor quality fish. It does nothing for the hobby or the gene pool.
It would be interesting to see photos of your fish to see if 1, it is worth breeding them or 2, you would be able to find homes for the offspring.

If it is going to be your first experience with breeding, be prepared for a steep learning curve, lots of highs, then lows. You may find that breeding fish for your own purposes is worth doing, but heavy culling and selecting ONLY the best will leave you with just a small number of top fish.

For me, breeding just to try to make money is not an option, it just wont work. unless you sell to (like Swampy said) the unsuspecting public.

:)

[troppo]

Oh, please don't mistake my curiosity for an active intent to breed discus. :)
I was just interested what people do after they have successfully managed to breed a group of new discus.
It seems there's a lot of questions here and a lot of them from people who don't really sound like they know what they're doing. And yet no one has said why they breed these kings. Do you breed simply for the pursuit of perfection? Did you think you liked breeding discus and thought "hey they are expensive and I'd like a piece of that!"? Or maybe it just seemed like a natural step to make after some time of successful discus keeping?

That said, here in WA I see a lot of shops have sub standard discus for sale and all around the $100AUD mark or more. It's sad that most of the discus will be culled because they aren't beautiful or perfect enough but I understand the necessity. It's better than having the very limited options we have here... Or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong spot?

Cheers

[swampy1972]

It's sad that most of the discus will be culled because they aren't beautiful or perfect enough but I understand the necessity. It's better than having the very limited options we have here... Or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong spot?
Cheers

Hi troppo,

Please don't take offence, it's difficult to express tone in text form, sorry if you though I came across harsh.

I'm in a similar situation to you in terms of choice. For the amount of time I spend in the car I should realistically buy from from the upper end breeders and have them air-freighted. I'd suggest this might be an option for you also. You'll find many threads here about good breeders, for example:
http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20792

You'll see in there I learnt the breeder is in Brisbane and shipped to Darwin and for fish this quality, I'd argue the relatively small cost in freight is worth it. The pics of the fish speak for themselves..

As for breeding Discus, if it was easy to get 2 good quality fish to breed and grow good quality young, everyone would do it and the fish would be worthless. That's why selective culling is a sad necessity. I bred many varieties of birds for years and it's done there too. In fact, you'll find it's a practice used in most forms of selective breeding to maintain the line.

If your budget doesn't allow to just yet, I'd wait until you can afford good specimens as per the link. Trust me, I've bought 'bargains' and they're more trouble than they're worth in the long run. You spend so much time trying to get them back from a bad start to get a reasonable fish that you get frustrated with the whole process.

I hope I've been of some help. I've been keeping fish for many years but I'm very new to Discus and I find them an incredibly rewarding fish and I think you'll find this forum a great place to find info. :)

[Hollowman]

Yes, dont get us wrong, it is a natural progression to try your hand at breeding.
For me, I would only breed to try to better the fish I have. I never mix blue strains and PB's...never. It can be very rewarding, but like I said before, there are many pitfalls to getting a good batch through the various stages of growth.

I have been fortunate enough to travel to the hub of the discus world and one of my best friends is Andrew Soh, he has taught me about the way a fish should look and what to breed for, and why. I guess perfection is what we are all looking for in the end. Simple as that.

I hope you find the right fish to start with, that will give you a great start.

H :)

[troppo]

Thanks guys for the advice. I'll keep looking for some quality stock. It'd be great to get some fish from Rod Lewis but I dunno how to go about getting an LFS to help out if he doesn't deal direct to the public.

Cheers

[TW]

Rod will deal direct with the public

[swampy1972]

Rod will deal direct with the public

Hi Troppo,

If you have a look at the link I included above, the response is direct from Rod giving the details of shipping etc. Just contact him to say G'day and let him know what you're looking for and of course, your details and he'll do the rest.
His response to me was genuine and he sounds very professional. I haven't used his service as yet but I certainly will in the future.
Give it a go and let us know what you thought of the whole process.