Bony fish · Perciformes · Cichlidae

Green Discus

Symphysodon aequifasciatus

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The discus is an Amazonian cichlid with an almost circular, strongly compressed body, patterned with wavy blue lines on a brown or reddish ground. It lives in blackwater backwaters, among the roots and submerged branches of the flooded forest, and forms pairs that tend the brood with extraordinary devotion.

Size

15 cm – 20 cm

Lifespan

10 years

Diet

Omnivore

Combines animal and plant food depending on availability.

Social structure

Colony

Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

RainforestFreshwaterOmnivore Colonial Fish Rainforest Freshwater

12countries6same family

Fun facts

GeneralThe parents feed their fry on a mucus secreted by their own skin.
When one parent tires, it shakes its body and the fry transfer to the other, which takes over.
It is one of the most prized ornamental fish in the world and has given rise to dozens of selectively bred varieties.
It feeds its young with its own skin. Both parents secrete a skin mucus on which the fry feed exclusively for the first three weeks, a case of almost mammal-like parental care.
The parents take turns, and the fry pass from one to the other as they feed.
That mucus also passes on the microbiota: a 2017 study followed a hundred days of development and confirmed that bacteria from the parents' skin colonise the gut of the fry, just as happens with suckling in mammals.
Only this genus and the related Uaru produce that skin food.
It is hard to keep in an aquarium because of its demands on temperature and water quality, and that has made it a fish for advanced hobbyists.