My Discus is not Growing?

[dntx5b9]

How large should a year old discus be? I just saw few one year old discus that are almost full grown. My year + old discus in my tank is may be 4" or just bigger. The ones I saw were at least 6" may be even 7". My discus looks healthy otherwise. May be I am not feeding my fish enough? Would my guy keep growing at a slower pace? Anything I can do?

[samir]

could you post a picture. also how often do you change water ,what and how often do you feed ?

[mcloughlin2]

Yes a picture would help us see if it has stunted growth...

What strain is your discus? Some strains grow larger and quicker them others. :P

However answer the questions samir asked and put a picture up so we can figure out whats going on...

[dntx5b9]

Here is pic of my guy about 2 months ago.


Someone already mentioned he has stunted growth and that he also has compressed spine. My guy has grown a bit since the photo was taken because I have been feeding him more since I realized he was on the smaller side. I feed twice a day, but not sure whether I was giving enough food. I do a weekly water change (40%), but the nitrate level is always below 20ppm before every water change.
http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=944

[samir]

what is the size of your tank in litres and how many fish have you got. he does look stunted. i'm not sure if it will grow anymore if its already over a year old. you could try change the water twice a week 50%, or if you have time to waste :) you could put it in a standard two foot bare tank with just a sponge filter and heater and do two 50% water changes a day, morning and evening. you could put in a fish feeder with three or four small feed settings and do your normal two feeds yourself. if you dont see a difference in a couple of weeks to a month it probably wont grow.

[Waldo]

Jack W. writes about juvinile discus that are kept together grow slower. I'm curious as to why and if this would actually be the result.

Something does apear abnormal even to me about that discus.

[dntx5b9]

He is in a standard 55G tank (122 x 33 x 51 in cm). I have another discus and 40 other small tetras and few other fish. I will be upgrading to a 90G tank (122 x 46 x 61) this weekend. I need to post another picture of this guy.

[mcloughlin2]

He does look quite stunted hence why its said he has a compressed spine.... :wink:

There isnt much you can do..just follow samir's advice and see how it goes..

One other problem i see is the fact your 55G is crowded..

Having two discus in that tank only leaves about 30G left for the other fish if you follow the safe amount of discus rule (10G per adult fish)

So IMO having 40+ tetras and some other fish along with 2 discus in a 55G tank is very over crowded and most likely the reason he is stunted...

[samir]

yes i agree, for that many fish you either need a larger tank, or dramatically up your water changes. at least 50% twice or thrice a week. jack wattley believes that discus excrete a hormone that inhibits the growth of other discus around it, thus trying to stay ahead of the competition. well a fish would need to be expelling truckloads of hormone, if it were living in the amazon, for it to be effective. so if it is not working in the wild, i doubt that the discus, sometime in its evolution, would develop a trait that would only work in a fish tank.

[dcarmau]

However, it's not just Discus that (apparently) excrete growth inhibition hormones, Angels are believed to do it too...

Perhaps in a situation like the amazon, a hormone which is common to all Amazonian Cichlids to inhibit growth might be a handy thing if you're one species trying to prevent another from coming on to your turf...

Also, aren't Discus in the slower-moving parts of the Amazon?

River currents of course can involve eddies and circular currents so perhaps they act as concentrators for those growth hormones. (but I'm no scientist, I'm making guesses which seem to fit the data available to me.)

[Merrilyn]

He is in a standard 55G tank (122 x 33 x 51 in cm). I have another discus and 40 other small tetras and few other fish. I will be upgrading to a 90G tank (122 x 46 x 61) this weekend. I need to post another picture of this guy.

Two discus in a four foot tank is definately NOT overcrowding, even if you have 40 tetras and other small fish in the tank, it's still not a problem.

I think that's a bad angle in that photo. Is he the same fish as in your avatar? Try to get a picture of him with his dorsal fin up, and that will give a better indication of his true shape.

Yes, going by the size of the eye, he may be a little stunted, but there is no reason why he can't catch up. I've seen it happen. Lack of food, and lack of water changes would have held him back. The big discus farms in Asia feed their growing juvenile fish 7 or 8 times a day, and have the water changing constantly. This promotes very quick growth. Food is available all the time, and the water is constantly cleaned.

Unfortunately for most of us, this is not possible. Feeding juvenile fish twice a day will keep them growing, but not at a very fast rate. A minimum of 4 meals a day is best for growing juveniles. They only need to be small meals, but fish have a tiny stomach and it empties quickly. They are soon looking for more food. Tossing in a large amount of food is not the same. Food goes stale very quickly in our warm water, and loses it's appeal.

I'm away ten hours a day, six days a week, so when I have juveniles, I follow this routine.

*One meal of Tetra Bits in the morning as soon as I get up, usually around 7.
*One beefheart meal before leaving for work.
*Auto feeder on the tank to dispense two small meals of dry food while I am at work.
*Beefheart meal as soon as I get home from work, around 6.30.
*Last meal in the evening an hour before lights out. For this one I use frozen bloodworms, one of their favourite foods because I know it will be eaten quickly.

That way, they have six small meals in 24 hours, and they grow very quickly.

See if you can manage three meals a day for your fish, and make two of them beefheart. The high protein will encourage growth.

HTH

[Inspiringfish]

Question; Water changes, the more the marrier.

If I have a UV can I get away with less water changes since the water is cleaner?? Or does nothing replace water changes? In general?

[Merrilyn]

Unfortunately, nothing replaces water changes Mark.

A uv helps with keeping the bacteria count down, but does nothing about removing solid waste, uneaten food and nitrates.

It's one of those things that goes hand in hand with discus keeping :P

[dntx5b9]

Thanks, ladyred. I will try to give them at least three meals a day. Also, my upgrade to 90 didn't happen due to a used tank deal falling through. But I got two more juvies 3~3.5"". There is some aggression from the big guy, but all seems well. I will take a better pic of my old guy.