December Fish of the Month Wild Caught Heckel Discus

Well the discus craze mainly started in the 1960 as far as breeding commercially which is actually quite recent for as long as they have been around.


This month I'm concentrating on wild caught Heckel Discus a most beautiful yet challenging wild Discus



In 1835 an explorer Johannes Baptist Natterer returned from Brazil with a collection of 1,671 species of fish. In 1840 Johann Jacob Heckel an ichthyologist from the Natural History museum in Vienna described an unusual shape discus and called it Symphsodom Discus. Now commonly called the Heckel Discus.

Heckels have 9 vertical bars. the eye, middle and bar closest to the tail are prominent in the wild heckel.

The Heckel is found in Brazil in the lower Rio Negro, Rio Abacaxis and Rio Trombetas. The areas are very low PH of 3.2 and never above a PH of 5. This created difficulty for breeders so they were not in a high demand. If breed in captivity a wild caught male is bred with a domestic female and even this is difficult even for accomplished breeders.

The Heckel discus will grow to be about 8 inches in diameter. They need a group of at least 5 in a 75gal or larger tank. Smaller tanks and the Heckel often will have stunted growth. There natural environment is filled with plants among tree roots so tall thin leaf plants are need to help reduce stress in the Heckel Discus.

The temperament of this species is very docile so tank mates should not be active boisterous or aggressive fish. They are not compatible with any type of gouramii.

The waters they come from are warm water areas tanks should be between 79 to 86F with good filtration and frequent water changes.

There diet should consist of frozen or live daphnia, brine shrimp, blood worms, mosquito larvae. (use beef heart and worm sparingly to minimize chances of internal parasites). They will often be able to be acclimated to cichlid flakes.

If you are a Discus keeper who would like a challenge the Wild caught Heckel is definitely your fish.

Nice Discus!Great info!

oooooo look at the heckel discus. amazing!! thanks for sharring this with us!!!

wow that is on AWESOME fish... dang...

Stunning fish! great search Vixen!!..

pretty koo info on it!
thanks for sharing:)

Very nice Vixen.

Wow 3.2 ph!

I know my jaw dropped when I read 3.2 PH also.

That is one beautiful looking Disc

it actually hit Europe in 1960 from my understanding oh what BIG BIG names in discus exporters, and hobbiest have told me.. it was also supply and demand because exporters could command a higher price for the fish. symphysodon aequifasciata axelrodi (brown) was already popular here in American but at the same time symphysodon aequifasciata haraldi(blue) abd symphysodon (heckel)m and synphysodon aequifasciata aequifascaita (green) was found.

harald schultz, and dr. herbert r. axelrod are the ones who gave the brown discus it's science name. but harald schultz willi schwartz, and dr. herbert r. axelrod where the first ones to discover and export discus out of the amazon.

Yes there is 3 different versions I read about the history of discus and that was one of them. Discus became popular in Europe in the 1960 with breeders not hit Europe is what I was told. Why would Dr Alelrod name a discus after another Ichthyologist?

I'm not sure, but that was the story given to me. and you will have all different opinions and breeds, and it gets hard when the same discus is called something different it's a way to make money.

exp. snow white/white diamond/ghost/white passion/ pale pale. all the same discus.