Will the runt survive?

[Donno]

I have 7 Discus that I bought at the same time from Hans. All of them seem to be doing fine except one. This one Discus hasn't grown at all and doesn't appear to eat when the others do. I don't want to cull him. Is there a way to get him to eat?

[strawberryblonde]

Hi Donno,

It's only been 2 months, so I wouldn't give up on your little guy yet.

Here goes with one of my worn out discus stories...ready? LOL

I bought 6 discus from Hans last April (2011). One kicked the bucket within the first 2 weeks and the rest were all fine from their wild and hairy shipping experience.

There were 4 who ate like pigs and bullied each other fairly equally, and one who lagged behind in a serious way. I named him Number Five since he was always last for everything, especially food.

The other 4 grew fairly quickly and by the time summer was over they were all well over 6" and he was still struggling to reach 5". I pretty much gave up on the little guy and just let him stay in the tank since he seemed to be healthy enough.

Long story short, the others reached 8+ inches by April of this year and that little guy just kept growing, verrrrrrrry slowly, but he did grow. I measured him a few weeks ago when I measured all the other discus.

He's a very respectable 7 3/4" now! I'm not even sure that he's done growing yet...he just shuffles around the tank picking at bits of leftover food and keeps to himself. His best friend was a german ram, but I removed them in order to breed them in their own tank, so now he's a loner.

All of that is to say...don't give up on your guy, he just might surprise you. Ohhhhhhhhh, and if I remember correctly you have a variety of strains, right? Welp, I do too, and my runty guy is a Brilliant Turq...I definitely think they grow more slowly than others. Same goes for some of the pigeon strains.

[Kal-El]

Hi Donno,

It's only been 2 months, so I wouldn't give up on your little guy yet.

Here goes with one of my worn out discus stories...ready? LOL

I bought 6 discus from Hans last April (2011). One kicked the bucket within the first 2 weeks and the rest were all fine from their wild and hairy shipping experience.

There were 4 who ate like pigs and bullied each other fairly equally, and one who lagged behind in a serious way. I named him Number Five since he was always last for everything, especially food.

The other 4 grew fairly quickly and by the time summer was over they were all well over 6" and he was still struggling to reach 5". I pretty much gave up on the little guy and just let him stay in the tank since he seemed to be healthy enough.

Long story short, the others reached 8+ inches by April of this year and that little guy just kept growing, verrrrrrrry slowly, but he did grow. I measured him a few weeks ago when I measured all the other discus.

He's a very respectable 7 3/4" now! I'm not even sure that he's done growing yet...he just shuffles around the tank picking at bits of leftover food and keeps to himself. His best friend was a german ram, but I removed them in order to breed them in their own tank, so now he's a loner.

All of that is to say...don't give up on your guy, he just might surprise you. Ohhhhhhhhh, and if I remember correctly you have a variety of strains, right? Welp, I do too, and my runty guy is a Brilliant Turq...I definitely think they grow more slowly than others. Same goes for some of the pigeon strains.

How big were they when you got them?

[DiscusDrew]

Completely agree with Toni, other than ive never had a pigeon strain grow slowly.

[strawberryblonde]

Completely agree with Toni, other than ive never had a pigeon strain grow slowly.

That's cuz you feed them pigeon blood roids. Don't deny it Drew, I know you do it. <ducking and running now>

[DiscusDrew]

Lol, well I'd consider it maybe.... But then I can't have any males with shrunken testicles haha, that would ruin me.

[dpete9]

There always seems to be one in the group that gets bullied.

[a volar]

Hi Donno,

It's only been 2 months, so I wouldn't give up on your little guy yet.

Here goes with one of my worn out discus stories...ready? LOL

I bought 6 discus from Hans last April (2011). One kicked the bucket within the first 2 weeks and the rest were all fine from their wild and hairy shipping experience.

There were 4 who ate like pigs and bullied each other fairly equally, and one who lagged behind in a serious way. I named him Number Five since he was always last for everything, especially food.

The other 4 grew fairly quickly and by the time summer was over they were all well over 6" and he was still struggling to reach 5". I pretty much gave up on the little guy and just let him stay in the tank since he seemed to be healthy enough.

Long story short, the others reached 8+ inches by April of this year and that little guy just kept growing, verrrrrrrry slowly, but he did grow. I measured him a few weeks ago when I measured all the other discus.

He's a very respectable 7 3/4" now! I'm not even sure that he's done growing yet...he just shuffles around the tank picking at bits of leftover food and keeps to himself. His best friend was a german ram, but I removed them in order to breed them in their own tank, so now he's a loner.

All of that is to say...don't give up on your guy, he just might surprise you. Ohhhhhhhhh, and if I remember correctly you have a variety of strains, right? Welp, I do too, and my runty guy is a Brilliant Turq...I definitely think they grow more slowly than others. Same goes for some of the pigeon strains.

Toni, any fish under your care will grow no matter what :)

[Donno]

The little guy was one of two silver pigeons. His counterpart has grown significantly, but they both started off being the smallest ones in the tank. All were 3" to 3-1/2" when I got them, the runt is still about 3". The big boys in the tank have grown to over 4-1/2".

He doesn't seem to get bullied, but I also never see him eat. He swims quite frequently with the tank bosses and they never pick on him. In fact when I did a water change today he was separated from the group and two of the big boys swam over and escorted him to the rest of the pack.

[strawberryblonde]

Here ya go. A pic of my current runt. Sorry about the messy looking tank, I had just done a water change and they insist on a big feeding while the water fills back up. It makes big messes, but they like it that way. LOL

75425

You can see that the guy on the right is quite a bit smaller than the one on the left. He/she actually hasn't grown more than a 1/2 inch or so in 2 months while the rest have grown 2 inches. And nopers, I'm not gonna give up on this little guy either. He's happy and healthy and I'm sure he'll do just fine. =)

[dpete9]

Here ya go. A pic of my current runt. Sorry about the messy looking tank, I had just done a water change and they insist on a big feeding while the water fills back up. It makes big messes, but they like it that way. LOL

75425

You can see that the guy on the right is quite a bit smaller than the one on the left. He/she actually hasn't grown more than a 1/2 inch or so in 2 months while the rest have grown 2 inches. And nopers, I'm not gonna give up on this little guy either. He's happy and healthy and I'm sure he'll do just fine. =)
Toni, Your runt is probably larger than most peoples biggest. You grow 'm big