Why Are Discus Fish So Expensive?

[fishman102]

Hi, I was skimming through my book about tropical fish and I came across the discus fish page and I thought "hmm I might like to get one of them" so I went online to look at prices and it said they can be up to $954.47! So I am definatly not getting one but I was wondering, Why are they so expensive?

 

[BeckyJay]

Cos they're awesome

 

[Nick16]

most standard discus are about £50 a fish.

but most people cant and dont know how to keep discus even if they think they do. they are lazy fish which are extrememly fussy and get very skitish. (no bare bottomed tanks and no fast swimming fish)

its the same with most fish though. most are cheap, but some rare/beautiful ones go for crazy money.

look at arowanas, rays, koi, angels etc....

 

[Carlovel1]

Hi, I was skimming through my book about tropical fish and I came across the discus fish page and I thought "hmm I might like to get one of them" so I went online to look at prices and it said they can be up to $954.47! So I am definatly not getting one but I was wondering, Why are they so expensive?

A better question is why are these not cheap?
A range of reasons as to why they are not cheap which I will not go on about. But they are very delicate and need expert care so they are only suitable for experienced fishkeepers with large tanks (300L+)

 

[Joshwainwright]

The fact that they're expensive is a good thing, it puts newbies off and prevents them from having to suffer.

 

[Carlovel1]

The fact that they're expensive is a good thing, it puts newbies off and prevents them from having to suffer.

The same should happen with Clown Loaches, Bala Sharks/Silver Shark, Blue/Gold Gouramis, Kissing Gouramis, F8 Puffers, Common Plecos, Angelfish, Oscars, Neolamprologus, Chinese Algae Eaters, GSP, RTBS/Rainbow Shark...

 

[BeckyJay]

The fact that they're expensive is a good thing, it puts newbies off and prevents them from having to suffer.

Good point

 

[Joshwainwright]

The fact that they're expensive is a good thing, it puts newbies off and prevents them from having to suffer.

The same should happen with Clown Loaches, Bala Sharks/Silver Shark, Blue/Gold Gouramis, Kissing Gouramis, F8 Puffers, Common Plecos, Angelfish, Oscars, Neolamprologus, Chinese Algae Eaters, GSP, RTBS/Rainbow Shark...

Plecs, Angel Fish and Oscars certainly. Especially Oscars, I hate seeing them in poor conditions.

 

[Carlovel1]

Oh and Severums too

 

[MBOU]

Discus, like Koi... are a hobbiests fish...

When fish become particularly focused on by the fish keeping hobbiests... it becomes a bit of a 'game' or maybe... a 'challange'....

A LOT of effort is put into keeping and breeding the fish, to produce biig and better specimens of big and better colours. To be honest... it could happen to any fish eventually, I am a HUGE discus fan and have kept and bred them but only because I saw one in a shop and fell in love. I bought my first tank around my discus i had purchased and kept in a friends tank.

I think Discus, like Koi area fad... people pansy them far more than they need and i believe that eventually people are going to go so far into treating discus like they are delicate rare treasures that the discus are going to end up immune to all treatments, prone to so many treatment resistant parasites and illnesses, needing very specific food and water requirements...

I kept discus and angels together *gasp*... in a bare bottomed tank *gasp* in a mix of tap water and RO water *gasp* in a PH of about 8 *gasp* at a temperature of no higher than 26-27 degrees celsius *gasp* and i dared to disagree with feeding beefheart and refuse to sell it *gasp*. My discus spawned *gasp* and the eggs hatched and they reared the babies **gasp**.

Prices of anything that becomes a 'desireable fad' go up massively. Discus aren't hard to keep or breed. Im not going to say you can just go stick them in a community tank (though god knows how many people i have seen do just that and when i get the discus, they are usually in fantastic condition!). Have seen far worse conditioned fish from big well known breeders.

Just by seeing your question shows a huge lack of research on the species and how suitable it would be for your tank anyway, Discus are more for people who build their tank around them and their needs rather than just adding one to the collection you already have. They are expensive enough to stop people buying them just because they are pretty and buying them for the sake of it...

 

[chrisrm]

The fact that they're expensive is a good thing, it puts newbies off and prevents them from having to suffer.

The same should happen with Clown Loaches, Bala Sharks/Silver Shark, Blue/Gold Gouramis, Kissing Gouramis, F8 Puffers, Common Plecos, Angelfish, Oscars, Neolamprologus, Chinese Algae Eaters, GSP, RTBS/Rainbow Shark...

+1

i was in a well known chain of shops today listening in as you do an a woman was telling the assistant (who i know is well experanced from talking to him before) said nothing about the fact she had a single clown loach and a single tinfoil barb in a 40l tank!

if all the larger fish were expensive aswel it would solve a lot of problems

 

[BeckyJay]

Discus, like Koi... are a hobbiests fish...

When fish become particularly focused on by the fish keeping hobbiests... it becomes a bit of a 'game' or maybe... a 'challange'....

A LOT of effort is put into keeping and breeding the fish, to produce biig and better specimens of big and better colours. To be honest... it could happen to any fish eventually, I am a HUGE discus fan and have kept and bred them but only because I saw one in a shop and fell in love. I bought my first tank around my discus i had purchased and kept in a friends tank.

I think Discus, like Koi area fad... people pansy them far more than they need and i believe that eventually people are going to go so far into treating discus like they are delicate rare treasures that the discus are going to end up immune to all treatments, prone to so many treatment resistant parasites and illnesses, needing very specific food and water requirements...

I kept discus and angels together *gasp*... in a bare bottomed tank *gasp* in a mix of tap water and RO water *gasp* in a PH of about 8 *gasp* at a temperature of no higher than 26-27 degrees celsius *gasp* and i dared to disagree with feeding beefheart and refuse to sell it *gasp*. My discus spawned *gasp* and the eggs hatched and they reared the babies **gasp**.

Prices of anything that becomes a 'desireable fad' go up massively. Discus aren't hard to keep or breed. Im not going to say you can just go stick them in a community tank (though god knows how many people i have seen do just that and when i get the discus, they are usually in fantastic condition!). Have seen far worse conditioned fish from big well known breeders.

Just by seeing your question shows a huge lack of research on the species and how suitable it would be for your tank anyway, Discus are more for people who build their tank around them and their needs rather than just adding one to the collection you already have. They are expensive enough to stop people buying them just because they are pretty and buying them for the sake of it...

I agree with you when you say that people are way too precious with their discus, though they do require a little extra attention, the amount of care they need is way overrated. I keep my group of discus in a community tank of suitable fish including angelfish and perform weekly water changes and they're doing brilliantly. I think as long as people have done enough research then there's no reason why people should be scared off trying discus.

 

[MBOU]

EDIT:

Carlove1

I liked your list as it made me feel slightly better for being a miserable git! As i get to order in fish by my choice and sell them too, your list kind of proved my thoughts too...

The same should happen with Clown Loaches, Bala Sharks/Silver Shark, Blue/Gold Gouramis, Kissing Gouramis, F8 Puffers, Common Plecos, Angelfish, Oscars, Neolamprologus, Chinese Algae Eaters, GSP, RTBS/Rainbow Shark...

Clown Loaches.... as soon as someone mentions them i say... "do you think 3+ 40cm fish would be happy in your tank?"..
Silver Sharks.... See that group of huge ones in that tank down there?.. see that poor bug eyed tiny bent one?... thats what happens...
Blue/Gold Gouramis... bit of a funny one, get big and pretty aggressive but at the same time,i've seen a lot of incredibly peacefull if not timid ones!
Kissing Gouramis... i just wont sell them...
F8 Puffers/GSP... i got so sick of unsuitable customers that i stopped selling them...
Common Plecos... I refuse to buy in small ones but I take in large plecs to spare them... regularly refuse to sell them... daily
Angelfish... big bugbear... a adore angels! The are beautiful devilish fish! I wont sell them to under 200L and i will press how aggressive they are and how if small neons etcare added.... they WILL eat them... etc
Oscars...urgh... shame... im sure they are nice fish but working in the industry... all i get to see is they poor deformed beggers with hole in the head... I wont buy them, give credit for them or sell them if ican get away with it. Got to be the most abused fish along with common plecs!!
Neolamprologus... not entirely sure what your problem is here??? Im pretty sure shops selling malawis to communities are worse!
Chinese Algae Eaters... REFUSE to sell them... same with most species of garra... i just wont get them in... why would i? I may as well give in and stock all the above and a few pangasius and red tail cats for the fun of it!
RTBS... i think i must be a rarity of a shop to refuse to stock them... they are a gorgeous fish in the right hands... if customers bothered to do even the smallest ammount of research first and had a tiny amount of respect for people working in the shop and their advice... i might have them in.. but i got so sick of customers DEMANDING i sold them one... ignoring advise and if ihad them there and refused to sell one... they would go elsewhere and get one from certain big chain store with no ethics. I found if they werent in the shop... less people asked and it was a lot easier to offer alternatives and explain why they couldnt go in the tank when they werent there tempting the customers!

 

[Carlovel1]

Neolamprologus... not entirely sure what your problem is here??? Im pretty sure shops selling malawis to communities are worse!

Thats the problem...most of the time they are sold as community fish, then one day, they will kill the other fish...

EDIT:also Spiny eels can be added to that list, people dont understand how big they get.

 

[snowflake311]

Discus, like Koi... are a hobbiests fish...

When fish become particularly focused on by the fish keeping hobbiests... it becomes a bit of a 'game' or maybe... a 'challange'....

A LOT of effort is put into keeping and breeding the fish, to produce biig and better specimens of big and better colours. To be honest... it could happen to any fish eventually, I am a HUGE discus fan and have kept and bred them but only because I saw one in a shop and fell in love. I bought my first tank around my discus i had purchased and kept in a friends tank.

I think Discus, like Koi area fad... people pansy them far more than they need and i believe that eventually people are going to go so far into treating discus like they are delicate rare treasures that the discus are going to end up immune to all treatments, prone to so many treatment resistant parasites and illnesses, needing very specific food and water requirements...

I kept discus and angels together *gasp*... in a bare bottomed tank *gasp* in a mix of tap water and RO water *gasp* in a PH of about 8 *gasp* at a temperature of no higher than 26-27 degrees celsius *gasp* and i dared to disagree with feeding beefheart and refuse to sell it *gasp*. My discus spawned *gasp* and the eggs hatched and they reared the babies **gasp**.

Prices of anything that becomes a 'desireable fad' go up massively. Discus aren't hard to keep or breed. Im not going to say you can just go stick them in a community tank (though god knows how many people i have seen do just that and when i get the discus, they are usually in fantastic condition!). Have seen far worse conditioned fish from big well known breeders.

Just by seeing your question shows a huge lack of research on the species and how suitable it would be for your tank anyway, Discus are more for people who build their tank around them and their needs rather than just adding one to the collection you already have. They are expensive enough to stop people buying them just because they are pretty and buying them for the sake of it...

well said. I think it comes down to how much time breeders put into the fish. Time is money and to raise good high quality discus you will need lots of time. You can find small discus for $15-$20. If you want good fish you will have to pay for it.

Fish have name brands it depends on who bred the fish. Where they came from. People that are crazy into discus will not blink an eye at the thought of droping 100s on one fish. So if people will pay the price they will sell at a high price.