What to look for when buying discus?

There are a lot of sources one can buy discus from e.g. Local Fish Shop, Discus Breeder, Discus rearer. But when it comes to getting the discus home the decision has to be made after a close observation ONLY.

I call it an "Investment time" for the time taken for selecting a discus. This is utmost necessary as there can be a lot of sources who will try to sell low grade or sick discus and these delicate fishes are prone to a lot of diseases. After all I learned to use medicines for fishes from my discus fishes only.

• Usually you should have a choice to select discus from a lot. The ones who are coming in front of the tank asking for food are the ones with good health. And this is the chance to have a close look at the fish. 
• As their name has derived from "DISC", the shape of the fish should be round and should resemble to the disc.
• There should not be any deformity in anal and dorsal fins of the fish. There can be deformed discus (caused because of inbreeding or water parameters) which will have half cut fins.
• The fins should be erected and should not be clamped.
• The tail of the discus fish should be transparent.
• Look for the fish which has got wide forehead. Don't buy discus with narrow forehead as it may have internal disease.
• Don't buy discus which is dark in color or stays in a corner, this is one of the signs of sick fish.
• The eyes should be bright in color and either of the eyes should not be clipped.
• The eye size should be in proportion with the body size. It is said that vertically (from eye), the eye should be fit in 7 times for normal discus. If the eye size fits in less than 7, then the discus is stunted and such fish should not be selected.
• Don't buy fish transparent/stringy feces/poo/excerta as this is an indication of internal problem.
• Check for breathing of the fish as well, healthy discus with proper environment breaths around once per second.
• Do check for gills as well, discus fish with open gills usually has got problem of "gill flukes"

If you are buying discus in 2" or 3", non-hormone fed discus usually don't get color/pattern at this stage. If the fish has full pattern in this size, don't buy it as it may be fed with hormone which is problematic for fish's lever and fertility in longer run.

And if you are buying it first time, always but at least 6 discus of same size. Don't mix small discus fishes with bigger ones. For beginners in discus...look for my next blog where I will share some information on how to prepare the discus tank.