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That discus life history article is a great resource imo, establishing, as you pointed out, that they have digestive systems "typical of a cichlid with a dominantly vegetarian, detritivorous, or omnivorous diet" and showing how they must adapt to varying environmental conditions, food sources, and protein/live food intake vs. veggie intake in the wild, all changing with the seasons. (Like most fish, I consider them to be omnivorous in captive conditions.)
Another great discus resource is the stuff Heiko Bleher has published (alluded to by JLW above, Heiko has personally discovered something like more than 3000 species of fish if my memory serves me), as Heiko has spent decades studying discus in their natural habitat. He has a two volume set of discus books (expensive). Or you can find some interesting basic information:
Discus guide article 1
Discus guide article 2
Discus temperature article
What's revealing from the Heiko articles is that wild discus live in a range of pH and temperature conditions. Not all of them come from low pH, high temperature habitat, with Heiko having found some blue/brown discus in temperatures as low as 74.3 degrees. Clearly, at least some wild (and many domestic) strains are adaptable to a range of water conditions (which I also found to be true in my personal experience).
Another great discus resource is the stuff Heiko Bleher has published (alluded to by JLW above, Heiko has personally discovered something like more than 3000 species of fish if my memory serves me), as Heiko has spent decades studying discus in their natural habitat. He has a two volume set of discus books (expensive). Or you can find some interesting basic information:
Discus guide article 1
Discus guide article 2
Discus temperature article
What's revealing from the Heiko articles is that wild discus live in a range of pH and temperature conditions. Not all of them come from low pH, high temperature habitat, with Heiko having found some blue/brown discus in temperatures as low as 74.3 degrees. Clearly, at least some wild (and many domestic) strains are adaptable to a range of water conditions (which I also found to be true in my personal experience).
