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View Full Version : What should I do differently to get my discus to size HUMUNGOUS?


CammieTime
02-23-2009, 01:12 PM
I want to know how to grow out discus so they reach their full size. Please tell me how to do so.

This is my situation:

I currently have two tanks of discus. I am doing 35% water changes every day and feeding them very lean hamburger - as lean as beef hart (96/4) that is mixed with some discus flake food and pellets for added nutrition. They love this stuff and are healthy and colorful and swim around a lot. I feed them as much as they can eat twice a day. More than that and a lot of it goes to waste and gunks up the tank as it takes them a while to pick at it, making more feedings a day irrelevant. I am feeding them this diet based on the advice of our local discus breeder who grows grand champion discus (I have seen his trophies and fish room).

I have 7 that are 3" in a BB 29 gallon - that will soon go into a 75 gallon. Per the breeders advice he said that since they are so small they would get lost in the 75 gallon so keep them in the 29 gallon until they get a bit bigger and them move them. I have enough filtration (Magnum 350 canister and Hydro V sponge filters) to keep a 110 gallon tank clean, all on this 29. The 29 is in the same dimensions as a 55, it is just about a foot shorter in length. These are the ones I really want to grow out. My other tank is a 28 gallon with 3 discus that are 3" in size that are partially stunted from my initial treatment of them (they were my first discus and guinea pigs). They are very colorful and happy, but stuck at 3".

The problem is that they all don't seem to be getting much bigger. What can I do to get them BIG? They are all stuck at about 3" in size. They are extremely colorful and very happy, but I want them BIG.

I thought about feeding them a third time during the day of just brine shrimp, but they tend to get addicted to that and then refuse to eat the hamburger, and brine shrimp is not very nutritious or very filling. My guinea pigs would only eat brine shrimp when I bought them and the breeder told me to switch to the hamburger diet and WOW, that made a huge change. I saw their tummies fill up for the first time and their color really came out and they swim around much more - no more sitting in the back corner all dark.

How about blood worms, would they make a good third meal? Or are they basically candy like the brine shrimp? I don't want them to get addicted to another food and not eat the hamburger.

What should I do differently to get them all to size HUMUNGOUS?
seanyuki
02-23-2009, 01:21 PM
Doing a 70% water changes daily could help their growth...min feeding 3 times a day.....morning beefheart then water change...afternoon/evening flakes/pellets foods that's my routine....on my days off 5 feedings a day.
Just my 2 cents....some people would feed over six times daily.


Cheers
Francis:)
Peachtree Discus
02-23-2009, 01:30 PM
more food, more water. i try to make sure the fish are fed 5 - 8 times daily. up your 2 meals to 6 meals daily - by adding a eheim auto-feeder.
dpt8
02-23-2009, 04:56 PM
All the above but genetically, some discus are not going to grow out as large as you like.. You should buy 15 or so discus to ensure you will grow out some larger ones... But certain varieties are not going to grow wicked large..
kenhappen2u
02-23-2009, 05:06 PM
its going to take a very long time to get them to size feeding them 2 times a day, i would also up the water changes and feedings to atleast 3-5 times a day and 2-3 times a week @ 50% wc's
water temp at 82-86 deg. will help also.

they will grow.
Don Trinko
02-23-2009, 05:39 PM
I'm no expert but some of my discus grew considerably larger than others. All receiving the same wc and food. Two of my biggest have never been in anything bigger than a 29g tank. Thus IMO genetics has as much to do with size as anything.
If they do not have the right genetics you can change all the water you want and feed 8 times a day and they will still not get to be monsters.
All of this IMO; Don T.
mmorris
02-23-2009, 09:08 PM
Twice a day is nowhere near enough! Also, I don't recommend hamburg. I heard that in spite of the percentage of fat posted, the percentage is actually higher. I could be wrong. If much of their diet is hamburg then they may not be getting sufficient vitamins, minerals and calcium. I make my bh based on Al's recipe that he posted on this forum. Making bh, with all the ingredients, is a royal pain in the bum - buy it from Al if you can. If not, make your own. It's good for them.
DiscusOnly
02-24-2009, 03:31 AM
What should I do differently to get them all to size HUMUNGOUS?

Buy them humungous! There is no telling with what you are going to get growing out juvie. You do get a sense of what they should be but there are so many variables. I tried growing out 1-2" discus and I can tell you that they are probably not going to reach the "wow" factor. Maybe it's my fautl and maybe that just their genes. In my opinion, if you want "giant" you are better off just them them in that size. "Giant" is also relative to what you have in mind. To me, it's not you regular 6" discus you see normally.
dpt8
02-24-2009, 07:59 AM
Vlam, I had to chuckle when I read your post here. I was thinking of writing the same thing, saying to buy the huge ones. People don't realize the genetics in these fish. Some are small and some are large just like people. Doing all the things we suggest will grow out beautiful fish but some varieties may be more inbred for color, pattern, etc. You have to grow out a lot of fish if you want a matching set of huge adults, because some will be smaller or not have the color or pattern. I like to buy young adults because that's how I can get a matching set of big beautiful fish.
John_Nicholson
02-24-2009, 09:55 AM
I have grown some monsters before and I have never, ever fed more then twice a day.....

Good food but more important good water and good fish are the keys. For a fish to get huge it has to live its life without ever having a set back. No disease, no transport, always in good water....i.e. optimum conditions its entire life.

-john
Eddie
02-24-2009, 10:14 AM
I have grown some monsters before and I have never, ever fed more then twice a day.....

Good food but more important good water and good fish are the keys. For a fish to get huge it has to live its life without ever having a set back. No disease, no transport, always in good water....i.e. optimum conditions its entire life.

-john


Definitely John, not sure what you mean about the transport though. I know disease can be a hard hitter as well as bad water quality and junk food.

Eddie
John_Nicholson
02-24-2009, 10:31 AM
Your biggest fish will always be the ones that you raise out yourself. When you buy fish that have to be shipped you set them back a little. One from the stress and two from the fasting that they need to go though before shipping. I am not saying that shipping them once will stunt them, but it still has to be viewed as a set back.

-john
cc_woman
02-27-2009, 10:08 PM
I don't think I would feed any of my discus under 4" in size less than at least 3 times a day. My method for feeding to ensure they aren't picky about food, I feed pellets as the morning feeding, flakes or pellets for the 2nd feeding, then flakes for the 3rd feeding, and a variety of frozen foods for the 4th feeding being bloodworms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, ocean nutrition discus formula, or sanfransisco bay brand cichlid delight. I vary their diet so that they don't become too picky or stuck on one type of food. I am sure if you fed bw a couple times a week they won't become so picky they won't eat the hamburger anymore. Doesn't hamburger contain more fat than the actual heart? Besides that beef heart is probably alot cheaper to buy since it is something butchers cannot usually sell.