Can a somewhat stunted fish breed

[brady]

I have a male fish who is smaller then he should be at its age but doesn't exhibit some stunted features such as large eyes,odd body shape ,ect. In fact he is a gorgeous fish. My question is is breeding determined by size or age? All other conditions for breeding are well within the proper parameters.
Jay

[Trier20]

It's an age thing

[DLock3d]

A stunted discus can breed and produce non stunted discus.

[Chicago Discus]

I have a male fish who is smaller then he should be at its age but doesn't exhibit some stunted features such as large eyes,odd body shape ,ect. In fact he is a gorgeous fish. My question is is breeding determined by size or age? All other conditions for breeding are well within the proper parameters.
Jay

Great question Brady, Like Brandon stated its more of a maturity issues if he's mature enough to spawn then given the right circumstances he will. Now another thing to think about is what is what your trying to accomplish with using him as a breeding male. I try to have all my pairs have the best shape, color and uniformity with each other. But with said I have a small red snakeskin male with a very large snakeskin Female they look like an odd couple but they have good spawns and have produced nice fry............Hope this helps......Josie

[nc0gnet0]

I have a male fish who is smaller then he should be at its age but doesn't exhibit some stunted features such as large eyes,odd body shape ,ect. In fact he is a gorgeous fish.

This is a description of a runt (genetic), and not that of a stunted discus(environmental). If your description is indeed accurate and this is the case, then you should not breed the smaller discus. Can he? Yes. Should you? Probably not. You really do not want to propagate the inferior genes.

Now, if your description is a bit off and the discus is indeed stunted, then he can breed and have healthy normally sized offspring.

[Chicago Discus]

This is a description of a runt (genetic), and not that of a stunted discus(environmental). If your description is indeed accurate and this is the case, then you should not breed the smaller discus. Can he? Yes Should you? Probably not. You really do not want to propagate the inferior genes.

Now, if your description is a bit off and the discus is indeed stunted, then he can breed and have healthy normally sized offspring.

You always explain it better......LOL.......Josie

[brady]

Thank you all for replying. Gave me some food for thought. Some added insight.
Jay

[jimg]

yes it can grow to normal if it doesn't have the tell tale signs of stunting. I bought 2 turqs about 3.5" a long time ago. when they were added to the community tank one of them became the boss of the tank and grew to about 6", the other stayed the same for about a year at least. when I added different fish to that set up the small one was now average size and quickly grew to the same size if not bigger than the 6' one.
Depends on what breed it is also I have had asian discus stay under 5" while others especially german bred and wilds grew much bigger. not to say all asians stay small, I have had some over 5" too