my discus babies have hatched and every time they do after a day or so the parents eat them! how can i pull them out and save them?
this is about 20th batch of eggs and they are still eating them! lol our discus lay eggs every 1-2 weeks!

get them their own tank. or bear a crazy costume and become a super hero.

I have entered college track and field(the field section) not long ago. And i was just wondering if the distance a thrower throws a discus affected by the mass of the thrower? Does throwing discus require momentum? If it does, is it correct to say that the more massive the thrower,the farther he can throw the object,since momentum=mass x velocity?

Yes, throwing involves momentum. But you are over simplifying it. Force = mass * velocity, but the force is the force generated by your arm and body, the mass is the mass of the discus, not you, and the velocity is the velocity of the discus. And the force is constant, so the heavier the discus, the slower it will go. But that is a bit obvious.

The correct thing to think about is conservation of momentum. The system of you an the discus can not have a net momentum. So whatever momentum you impart to the discus, the opposite momentum will be imparted to you (this is just restating Newton’s famous law: ‘for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction’). Since you assume your arm/body can produce a constant amount of energy, it makes sense that you want to limit the percentage of that energy that goes into your momentum and maximize the amount that goes into the discus. So you want your velocity after the throw to be zero. Since momentum is velocity times mass, as your mass increases, your velocity decreases. And since kinetic energy is 1/2 m v^2 = 1/2 v * momentum, as your velocity goes to zero, the percentage of the energy you generate in your throw that goes into moving you goes to zero. So the more massive you are, the more energy you will put into the discus. So you want to be as massive as possible. BUT, if your feet are firmly planted on the ground at the point of release, your effective mass will be yours plus the mass of the entire earth, since you will not slide on the ground, so to move you would mean to move the entire earth. This implies that all your energy will go into the discus (since your mass is nearly infinite in comparison to the mass of the disc). So the lesson is, no matter how much you weigh, firmly plant yourself on the ground when you release to get max distance. And if you do that, it doesn’t matter how much you weigh.

That being said, there is another issue. In hammer, there is a lot of angular momentum involved. To properly spin while throwing, you have to balance your momentum against the hammer, which means you have to lean back against the hammer to keep the hammer from pulling you out of position. The heavier you are in comparison to the hammer, the less you have to lean. And the less you have to lean, the easier it is to control yourself. And the easier it is to control yourself, the easier it is to go faster. So in hammer, there is some advantage to being heavier, just because it is easier to control yourself. There is of course a trade off since the fatter you are, the more awkward you are and the more trouble you will have controlling your body. So you don’t want to be so heavy that you have trouble moving and moving quickly. But given the same athletic prowess, the heavier thrower will have an easier time controlling themselves and the hammer. In discus, the angular momentum involved is much less, so counterbalancing a discus is not as much of an issue as it is with a hammer, but it is still somewhat of an issue. And in that aspect, weight can be an advantage.

But generally speaking, weight will not help you throw farther and the best discus throwers I knew were not the big heavy throwers, but instead, they were the tall fast people.

im goign to be getting discus soon…i need to know whats the safest way to introdcue them. and how many at a time should i introdcue them? its a 125 gallon. i want 6 discus.

speak to the expert, cuz i have 10.

well first, you have to understand that discus grow to HUGE proportions (i got one thats almost 20 cntermetres across)! i introduced mine by turning the light off and floating the bag in the water for fifteen minutes, before releasing them.

also, discus have the most annoying habit of uprooting aqaurium plants as some sort of game, so they are best kept without plants.

hope i helped!

I am considering throwing discus with my friend this year for a field event in track. What is the normal build of a discus thrower? Is it broad and muscular like a shot putter or more of a lanky build?

Many discus throwers also are shot putters. Big arms, big chest, strong legs. Not lanky. You need to be a bit more flexible to throw discus, but otherwise a shotputter’s build is what you want.

I am visiting a friend in Houston this weekened and I tried googling live fish near houston/discus fish near houston but google does not have very many matches. If I do live fish in austin there are several places that come up with addresses and websites and all that great stuff. You would think Houston would have a lot of sites out there.

The absolute best place to get discus near Houston is Houston Aquarium Warehouse in Stafford, TX, just a little bit off of Hwy 59. Incredible quality for the price. The owner is a distributor to a lot of different stores, so you’ll be able to pick them up cheaper than in other places and he’s got a nice price range starting around $25 or $35 to $150.
He’s also got a lot of rarer aquarium fish suitable for planted aquarium tanks like apistogrammas and rams.

http://www.houstonaquariumwarehouse.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54:discus-list&catid=3:in-stock&Itemid=56

Another good place is Xtreme Fish and Pets off of Bellaire. He often sells large discus for around $50 or $60. The owner is a great guy, and you can often find a couple oddballs around the store too. If you buy enough, you may be able to negotiate a lower price with him.

http://www.xtremefishpets.com/storelocation.html

Everywhere else, the discus are either pretty poor quality or way overpriced.

There are a couple of other good fish stores in Houston for different reasons, feel free to email me if you’d like to know more, but these are best two places to get discus in my opinion.

I am visiting a friend in Houston this weekened and I tried googling live fish near houston/discus fish near houston but google does not have very many matches. If I do live fish in austin there are several places that come up with addresses and websites and all that great stuff. You would think Houston would have a lot of sites out there.

The absolute best place to get discus near Houston is Houston Aquarium Warehouse in Stafford, TX, just a little bit off of Hwy 59. Incredible quality for the price. The owner is a distributor to a lot of different stores, so you’ll be able to pick them up cheaper than in other places and he’s got a nice price range starting around $25 or $35 to $150.
He’s also got a lot of rarer aquarium fish suitable for planted aquarium tanks like apistogrammas and rams.

http://www.houstonaquariumwarehouse.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54:discus-list&catid=3:in-stock&Itemid=56

Another good place is Xtreme Fish and Pets off of Bellaire. He often sells large discus for around $50 or $60. The owner is a great guy, and you can often find a couple oddballs around the store too. If you buy enough, you may be able to negotiate a lower price with him.

http://www.xtremefishpets.com/storelocation.html

Everywhere else, the discus are either pretty poor quality or way overpriced.

There are a couple of other good fish stores in Houston for different reasons, feel free to email me if you’d like to know more, but these are best two places to get discus in my opinion.

I’ve read in some websites that it is not recommended to use with discus. Is this true? If so, why?

The reason many places do not recommend activated carbon in Discus tanks is that it is thought (note, I said "thought", meaning there is no proof to suggest this) that the carbon can somehow cause hole in the head. Again, this has not been proven, or even tested to provide any evidence supporting this idea. I have used carbon with Discus with no ill affects. Also, carbon doesn’t remove phosphate, ammonia, nitrite, or nitrite– it removes "organic pollutants, some of which discolor the water with a yellowish tint, organic acids, proteins, hormones, antibiotic compounds, and organic compounds as well as a variety of chemicals, medications, metals, and minerals."*

Im a seventh grader and I can throw about 60 ft. I know thats not much but this is my first year. Right now I know the full spin and im pretty sure alot of you users are going to say keep practicing and fine tuning your spin and I know that. But I was just wondering if you users have any helpful tips on throwing discus.Thank you for your time.

What I did first in my high school JV years was work on my half throw until i could toss up close to 100′. Given ur in seventh grade its obviously gonna b less but the most important thing starting off is your release. Do finger rolls to practice releasing off your index and middle fingers. Block with your left arm (stretch your left arm out, bend in at a 90 degree angle, use as drag for release to keep your body torqued and helps follow through). Stay coiled as long as possible to increase torque. When releasing, look high at a tree line or light post and follow through.

As for your spin my coach has always said its like a dance. Hard to explain in text but what you want to do is start slow and finish fast. Your first step should be at least halfway across the circle in the middle if not farther, and it should be a slow (until you master it) turn. Then, you whip around your second step, planting your foot sideways against the left sector line. At this point, everything should still be coiled up and ready to be unleashed. Your hips should be open with your upper body dragging behind you, and your arm should remain high at shoulder height for the entire spin. Follow through with the half throw i talked about and you should be in good shape. I don’t know where you live but 60 ft for a seventh graders pretty good. Keep up the good work, high school should be pretty rewarding for you.

Hope I helped!

This is purely to find out what kind of discus I should buy. I am a senior in high school and threw 125 feet standing and 130 feet on a poor form spin last meet. I expect to improve greatly during the season. For experienced throwers only: what would you say my skill level is? Beginner, intermediate, or advanced?

I’m guessing the real reason is to figure out what type of discus to use. The rim weighting on a discus has to do with physics. The more spin you put on the discus at release the higher the rim weighting you should use. Because the high spin allows the discus to carve a better aerodymic path through the air, you want a discus that will continue spinning and the more the weight is to the outside if the discus the more it will continue to spin. But, if you don’t get much spin or your discus isn’t released smoothly and evenly (pretty parallel relative to the ground), a discus with the weight on the outside will make this worse (because you’re acting on the largest mass in the object). For these throwers, a discus with a more even, or a more centered weight is better. And throwers who aren’t yet consistent use something in-between. Generally, experienced thowers know how to impart good spin and a flat aspect to the wind. To find out how much spin you have try painting half of one of your rubber disks white. It will seem to flash. But just throwing far doesn’t mean you’ll benefit from a high-rim-weight and not throwing far but having a high spin rate and good release still means you WILL benefit from high-rim weighting.

I am thinking about getting a 20 gallon aquarium, but dont know what to put in it. I am more fond of the discus. The aquarium would have a 30 gallon filter and a 20 gallon filter on it.

Angelfish, at least 30gallons. Discus I would not go with less than 55gal for a group as they need very good water conditions. Harder to maintain in a small tank with large carniovorus fish.

Ian