I have been successfully keeping discus for about 5 months. (By successfully I mean they are not dieing and seem to be in good health) im no expert for sure. I hear smaller discus can grow an inch or 2 per month if they have the right food, is this true?? Mine are growing but not even close to that fast. Also if the smaller ones are being bullied and aren't growing very quickly does that automatically mean they are stunted? Or if they are removed to a new tank would they continue growing normally? Im feeding a beef heart mixture. Temp is at 84. Running semi hard water with a ton of driftwood and living plants. Tank size is a 125 with a big sump and lots of biological filtration. Any help on this subj would be great thanks
growth questions? kinda confused
- Thread starter wheatgerm
- Start date
Growing out discus is pretty simple but requires lots of work if you want to do it right.
- Feeding more than 5-6 times/day when frys are smaller than 2 inch, 3-4 times/day when smaller than 4 inch, and 2-3 times/day when larger than 4 but smaller than 6 inch.
- The more feeding the more water change has to be done, at least once/day 75% volume (or no more than 2-3 days interval). They require pristine water to grow. More waste means more toxic water.
- Bare bottom tank is best for easy cleaning.
- Grow rate is different from fish to fish, from one strain to the other, but an inch of growth per month is good enough. Some will grow slower than the other. Some are still growing after 1 year of age.
- If you have less than 8 fish total in your tank, there will always be one being a runt. If you remove that fish, the rest will pick on the smallest or weakest to replace it. That's how discus do. If you have more than 12 in the same tank, they won't be able to pick on one.
If you want to grow out discus, you should do it in a BB tank. Planted tank will be extremely hard to clean, specially feeding BH. After they all grow to be more than 5 inch, you can put them in a planted tank with a whole lot less problem.
I feed my discus frys with:
- just beef heart, no mix, easier to clean, no fouling water.
- live and frozen California black worms.
- TeraBits color granules.
- Ocean Nutrition flakes.
Hope it'll help.
- Feeding more than 5-6 times/day when frys are smaller than 2 inch, 3-4 times/day when smaller than 4 inch, and 2-3 times/day when larger than 4 but smaller than 6 inch.
- The more feeding the more water change has to be done, at least once/day 75% volume (or no more than 2-3 days interval). They require pristine water to grow. More waste means more toxic water.
- Bare bottom tank is best for easy cleaning.
- Grow rate is different from fish to fish, from one strain to the other, but an inch of growth per month is good enough. Some will grow slower than the other. Some are still growing after 1 year of age.
- If you have less than 8 fish total in your tank, there will always be one being a runt. If you remove that fish, the rest will pick on the smallest or weakest to replace it. That's how discus do. If you have more than 12 in the same tank, they won't be able to pick on one.
If you want to grow out discus, you should do it in a BB tank. Planted tank will be extremely hard to clean, specially feeding BH. After they all grow to be more than 5 inch, you can put them in a planted tank with a whole lot less problem.
I feed my discus frys with:
- just beef heart, no mix, easier to clean, no fouling water.
- live and frozen California black worms.
- TeraBits color granules.
- Ocean Nutrition flakes.
Hope it'll help.
What size are they? A 125g is a bit big to grow out some sizes of juvies. How big of a group is it? What is your water change schedule? How many times do you feed a day? Normally I run my juvie tanks a bit hotter than adult tanks. Try bumping the temp up gradually to 88. Smaller discus? How much smaller? Are these two different sizes of groups? The problem with removing the low man on the totem pole discus is the shift in pecking order. Unless this is a really huge group any time you remove the bottom of the pecking order the next lowest will start getting the aggression...then the next when you remove that one. The only time I remove one that is getting slowed down in growth is if it has great potential otherwise I just accept the fact that it will always be smaller than the rest of the group.
All my discus range from a 2.5 to about 5. The 2 that are smaller just don't seem to have grown much. The first 3to discus I got were from a lfs and after getting 7 more that are from better strains I now know why everyone suggests only getting stock from good breeders. I have 10 total and I feed a bloodworm beef heartl and omega flake mixture that I feed 2 times daily minimum if I have time mid day I feed 3x. The tank has a tile bottom, the only plants I have are attached to the driftwood..... I think the only thing im missing on is that I do 1 large w/c per week?
I THINK I have healthy discus. It just seems the 2 I got from the lfs haven't grown at all and they are bullied often. The rest are growing and look great but im not getting an inch per month. I maybe getting half inch at the most
Thanks for the help I can already see a few things im doing wrong. What should I do with the ones that are lesser quality from the lfs
I THINK I have healthy discus. It just seems the 2 I got from the lfs haven't grown at all and they are bullied often. The rest are growing and look great but im not getting an inch per month. I maybe getting half inch at the most
Thanks for the help I can already see a few things im doing wrong. What should I do with the ones that are lesser quality from the lfs
The two you bought from the lfs may be already stunted to some degree already. They could have been stunted before you even bought them. It is very hard to get them to grow after that point. I have a discus I recieved from a seller that is 3.5" at 1 1/2 yrs old. I got it to grow perhaps 1/2" from when I got it. Personally I would do at least one more wc a week if possible. I have also found that raising smaller discus with larger ones never works out great for the smaller discus. But in this case I am leaning towards most of the damage was done before you even got the smaller discus. As discus reach 4" or mainly 4 months old I have found that their growth slows dramatically. You then can get perhaps 1/2" per month. When they hit 5" it slows down even more.
Ok! Well that is reassuring then because my bigger discus that are 4-5 inches are on the right growth rate then as for the little guys should I let them be the whipping boy in the tank or should I get rid if them? what is the max size gap you would suggest? I want to have 12-15 discus total and i don't want to keep possibly stunted fish but its hard to buy a big shipment all at the same time. Especially if im paying fir larger sizes
Wattley believes that discus secrete a growth suppressing hormone whereas the alpha pair will suppress the growth of the rest of a shoal. The key to minimizing the effect is frequent water changes accompanied by a varied diet containing high protein prepared foods along with equal amounts of fresh/frozen foods.
I use my stunted fish to take the brunt of the aggression. Less possibility of something else getting stunted. I also use them as test fish in bringing two groups together after quarantine. The have their uses just not as big and pretty as other fish. I use one stunted fish I have to get picky eating groups eating other foods. Throw him in and he races for anything you drop in the tank and the others follow. As long as they are healthy no reason to get rid of them unless you just cant stand the sight of them.
That would make sense but I don't have any pairs and mine aren't really that big. But still I think I agree on the waterchanges. Being over 100 gallon tank do I still do about 30% w/c twice a week or even more often if possible? Or should I do bigger volume changes
That unfortunately has never been scientifically proven. But Wattley does have seperate filtration on every single growout tank because he does believe there is something that is in the water that does this. But its not just limited to just alpha pairs excreting the hormone. The hormone is supposedly produced in the the slimecoat. And in low water refresh rates the whole group will progressively slow down in growth.