RUNT FISH POLL

[kalebjarrod]

I have a little golden mozaic

he is simple not growing as quick as all the other fish in the tank

i have a heap of spare 2ft cubes

should i remove him and put him solitary in this tank?

what do you all think?

[chrissyoscar]

I have 5 discus in my community tank and two are runts (just got one given to me from Ben as he didn't want him).
Now I've been thinking about this and here are my thoughts. Most discus become runts due to stress from being bullied from the larger more agressive discus. If you always keep a runt or two that means they will always be the ones getting chased so your other discus in the tank have it a little easier and therefore more likely to grow into big beautiful full size discus.
Not sure if that's excactly how it works but either way I still like them all together.

Oscar

[kalebjarrod]

i understand you idea and tend to agree

but i like this fish and want him to grow

i would be happy to put some small common turqs in there to be picked on

i was hoping that the little guy in question would be fine not in a group for a while?

[chrissyoscar]

Well if that's the case then sure move him to his own tank as it can't hurt. If you're lucky he'll still grow and when he gets a bit more size you can add him back. I had a similar problem with my coral snakeskin. He/she is a beautiful looking discus but as he was the smallest he copped it all the time. I tried moving him for a few weeks but he hated being on his own so I put him back. He's about 18mths old now and only about 7cm in size.

Oscar

[Ben]

Its a funny thing keeping a runt,
I have "put down" a few over the last year.
And Personally there (in a breeding set up) be nothing gained from keeping runts other than they are still a life and do look ok.

I am glad my runt went to a good home where he is bieng looked after!
cheers Oscar!

[Merrilyn]

Couple of things you can try Ryan. One is to get another couple of discus smaller than the little guy, and keep them all together in the 2 foot cube. He will soon become the dominant fish in the tank, and should begin eating well.

Also, worm the little guy while you have him in there, with Prazi and Levamisole which will treat for tapeworm and capillaria. (not at the same time lol)

If you can't get small discus, a couple of small angels might do the trick.

HTH

[tank]

i got a runt he was bullied buy three lagers ones all his life
now he does the chasing, head buts and all

[weird]

Ryan

That is a really tough question.

I now have 1 runt living with 11 other discus, however I fear the only reason this guy is hanging in there (and he looks sort of happy ... hangs alot in the plants though but is alive and kicking) is because of the other discus ... I fear removing him will put him in an unreversible spiral of depression ... good question though ... however I should say this guy passed two screens earlier but stopped development afterwards ... I have already nicknamed him "patch" ... arhh ... however previous to him from the same batch I did make a few tough decisions that i do not regret but little old "patch" is staying with the big guys ... funny they seem to baby him too ... discus are funny ... everybody gets picked on except him ... guess he is like a little brother.

[Merrilyn]

Nice story Dave.

They are all individuals.

Guess that's what makes them so interesting :colour

[Annie]

I believe it to be a Yes and no answer, but then again I am basing it off or what I have research and other experiences, for example: I recently talked to the breeder that is now near me about the "runt" issue or "stunted growth", and according to him, if you move the runt in to another tank with a new group of Discus the runt will grow to the potential size. He also stated that the reason for stunting or "the runt" is because of what other Discus secrte (some sort of inzimes or something) in to the water which cause this. Any thoughts on this?

[Merrilyn]

Hmmmm Annie, I definately think there is something in the "enzyme secreting theory". That is why the Asian breeders go thru their tanks on a weekly basis and move the larger fish, so that the smaller ones have time to catch up. That way they end up with a fairly even growth rate in the whole spawn.

But there must be something more to it than that. With the large number of water changes we do with fry in the tanks, it shouldn't allow anything to build up to levels where it would become a problem. I firmly believe, and have backed it up with my own experiments on three of my spawns, that some fish simply do not thrive, despite all we do for them.

At the moment I have four runts that I ran on just for an experiment. I would normally cull them, and only keep the most vigorous and healthy fish in the spawn, but in this case, I gave them a tank of their own, treated them with all the usual medications, gave them plenty of wc's and lots of high quality food.

Result ...................I still have 4 runts.

Now that I have gone this far (12 months) I will allow them to live out their lives in their own tank, away from any stress. But I estimate it will be a much shorter life than normal. I'll keep you posted.

[Annie]

Very intresting...Just curious ladyred, but since you have all the runts in their own tank, have you thought about adding a new group to them and see what the results would be?

[Merrilyn]

I might try that Annie. Could be interesting. :)

At the present time, they are about one third the size of their siblings, at age 12 months.

I'll let you know what happens :wink:

[Annie]

I look forward to hearing the results. : )

[duck]

Just read through this thread as i have the same problem and now i know that i'm not the only one lol
I'll just keep him now, had him too long.

[marg]

I have a similar problem. I Have four small Discus in a community tank - one just hangs around the back of the tank at either corner. Sometimes his mate who came from the same place hangs beneath him. They are both Gold Pigeons. The other two in the tank just merrily chase one another all around the tank. One is a Red Turquoise and the other is a Red Marlboro cross.
If the smallest one moves out of his corner they chase him back in. He is now noticeable smaller than the two Meanies who have grown quite a bit since they have been together.

I have been considering moving the two meanies into my 4foot tank which has two adult discus in it - maybe the little fellow will get a chance to grow.

[Merrilyn]

Sounds like a good idea Margot :wink:

[marg]

I have just moved the Red Turk and the Marlboro Cross into the other tank. My Blue Turquoise will soon sorrt them out if they start to play up, they certainly won't bluff her.

The two Gold Pigeons are in hiding at the moment because I disturbed the tank, but I'll feed them all soon and they should be much happier once they see that the other two are gone.

[kalebjarrod]

the poll is 50% 50%

and i still don't know what to do :cry:

[Merrilyn]

Gee Ryan. We've all given you our ideas LOL

[kalebjarrod]

i know and thanks LOL

i may give it a go just to see what happens, i really like the little battler :wink:

[Ben]

It will be intersting to see what happens to the little guy Ryan!

Also hopefully the runt i gave to Oscar will grow to be big and beautiful then....sorry Oscar i am going to have to ask for him/her back! lol

See what happens Oscar, as maybe there is different water conditions it might suit him/her better.

Ben

[Fishpimpin73]

If it were me I would transplant the little guy.

Get him some "cheap" little buddies to push around and see what happens.