Discus Type

[dwmerlin]

I got 2 Juvs of these discus around 2.5- 3 inch but was unsure of what type/name they would be called. Are they typical Leopards or are they leopard x ???.
Thanks in advance.
Derek

[Eddie]

Looks like a leopard to me. ;) It's got way too much color/pattern for its size.

[Kal-El]

Looks like a leopard to me. ;) It's got way too much color/pattern for its size.

I was just thinking the same thing... Young juvie, shouldn't have this much color until they are least sub-adults. This one seems stunt in my eyes but I could be wrong... maybe with lots of clean water and food will grow it out nicely.

[Bill63SG]

Looks like a leopard to me. ;) It's got way too much color/pattern for its size.+1

[Poco]

Welcome to SD!

It is a leopard.

I will suggest to read the thread below, it will help you understand some basics of what not to buy.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?46982-What-not-to-buy

[dwmerlin]

So id is leopard but it looks small for the colour it displays. Is the shape ok. I will grow them on anyway with my cobalt blues.
At what age do they become sub adult

Derek

[dwmerlin]

Beliw is a pic of my cobalt blues age 7 month size 3.5 inch. How do you feel about colour/size/age. Ive had these for 3 months.

Derek

[Poco]

Using the forum search on top right hand look for stunted.

[Kal-El]

Beliw is a pic of my cobalt blues age 7 month size 3.5 inch. How do you feel about colour/size/age. Ive had these for 3 months.

Derek

I hate to say it but your Discus are stunt. @ 7month old they should be at 5" or more if not stunt and properly care for. Your Discus will never grow to 6-7" but with proper care, clean water, and good diet of FDBW, Beef Hearts, Flake, and your choice of other food will probably grow them out to adult at 4-4.5" with excellent care.

[fish042099]

whatever they are theyre pretty

[rdiscus]

whatever they are theyre pretty
LOL

[Skip]

whatever they are theyre pretty

wait till next year.. and see if you eye for discus has changed

op..
all the fish are stunted.. the won't grow much at all.. they may get thicker.. but don't expect much length to happen

[Eddie]

I hate to say it but your Discus are stunt. @ 7month old they should be at 5" or more if not stunt and properly care for. Your Discus will never grow to 6-7" but with proper care, clean water, and good diet of FDBW, Beef Hearts, Flake, and your choice of other food will probably grow them out to adult at 4-4.5" with excellent care.

5" at 7 months is more than average growth. These might reach 3" but thats somewhat far reaching, regardless of care.

[strawberryblonde]

Beliw is a pic of my cobalt blues age 7 month size 3.5 inch. How do you feel about colour/size/age. Ive had these for 3 months.

Derek

Do you mean that you've had them for 7 months or that you know that they are 7 months old because you know when they were born? If you've had them for 7 months, how big were they when you got them?

The pics are really small, so it's hard to tell a whole lot from looking at them. They might be very stunted, or they might be just a little stunted. If it's only slightly stunted and they really are only a total of 7 months old, there's still time to get some good growth out of them with large daily water changes and plenty of feedings with high quality discus foods.

[strawberryblonde]

5" at 7 months is more than average growth. These might reach 3" but thats somewhat far reaching, regardless of care.

Eddie is right on the money. Mine were who knows how old when I got them at 4", and I can say for sure that they didn't stop growing for the first 10 months in my care. I'd guesstimate that they were probably about 18 months old at that point, but have no idea.

The point is, they grow for well into their second year of life, so unless the OP's discus are older than that there's still time for him to grow them to a decent size, even if they'll never be huge.

[Teshi]

This really makes me want to post before and after pics of my turqs. I was told they are stunted but I've had them now since March and they are looking so nice. Not show fish by any means but they are getting nice and round and think.

[Eddie]

This really makes me want to post before and after pics of my turqs. I was told they are stunted but I've had them now since March and they are looking so nice. Not show fish by any means but they are getting nice and round and think.

You should, before and after pics are great.

[dwmerlin]

Hi Strawberryblonde
The fish are now 8 months old. I know this because I know who bred them. The largest one is slightly bigger than the 3.5 inches.

Why is it so important to do daily waterchanges.

Derek

[strawberryblonde]

Hi Derek,

There's always some controversy over the daily water change. If you look around you can find a few people who will loudly tell you that you don't need to do them (and usually right after they say that they also tell you that they aren't really interested in growing out big fish, just happy discus in a pretty tank).

So now that you know that there is another view point, I'll give you the more common one here on the forums. =)

Discus are very sensitive to the water they live in. There have been experiments done by people that I consider experts on discus keeping. They showed that young discus will grow out larger with daily water changes than those who get fewer weekly changes.

I took that advice to heart and did 2 changes a day till my discus reached a bit over 5". At that point I reduced it to 1 LARGE change per day and kept to that schedule till mine were 8". Once they were what I considered full grown I reduced it yet again and now do every other day water changes of 50%.

In addition to that I fed them 5-6 times per day with discus flakes, freeze dried blackworm cubes and frozen beefheart cubes.

I never expected to get jumbo sized discus when I started out, I just wanted to provide them with the best chance of growing out to nice sized adults (I thought they were done growing when they reached 6"!)

The results have been just as the experts said. With the large daily water changes and all the feedings, my discus have reached huge sizes and are VERY healthy and lively!

So that's why it's important to do the daily water changes. You can make it easy on yourself by buying good water changing equipment which makes the job go much faster and while the tank is draining and filling you can do other things. I timed the first few changes and after that I set a timer during the draining period so that I wouldn't suck ALL the water out of the tank while I was off doing stuff. Did the same thing during the filling process and only overflowed the tank once....when my husband turned off the timer accidentally. LOL

Since you know that your discus are exactly 8 months old, you can assume that they are only slightly stunted and that they still have a good chance to catch up a bit if you start the water changes routine and the feedings.

I can't stress the need for food enough! It can be several small feedings throughout the day, or you can feed the blackworms in the morning, auto feed the flakes during the day and then feed beefheart twice at night before your water change, finishing off with one more blackworm feeding at bedtime.

Hope this helps.

[Teshi]

You should, before and after pics are great.

This is Max and Charlie's b/4 pics
Max
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj634/Teshi_td/th_100_3440.jpg

Charlie
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj634/Teshi_td/th_100_3502.jpg

Heres the after so far since I purchased them at a LFS in March.

Max
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj634/Teshi_td/th_DSC01548_zps3af0bc8f.jpg

Charlie
http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj634/Teshi_td/th_DSC01549_zps1721188e.jpg

http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj634/Teshi_td/th_DSC01551_zpsf042461e.jpg

Sorry about the bubbles, took these a couple hours after cleaning the tank.

[Eddie]

You did a pretty good job getting them back into decent shape.