Can a discus be stunted and still round?

[Ryan925]

Question...

Can a discus be stunted yet still have a round shape rather than the obvious pointy football shape?

I purchased 6 discus from Kenny back in April. They were all 3.5"-4". I cannot if they were all the same size or not. I believe some were closer to 4 and some closer to 3.5. 3 of the six show a lot of growth. The other 3 have remained much smaller. I also added a 5+ rafflesia in June now totaling 7. 621201622648.jpg621201622752.jpgIs it possible to just have some slower growers?

The past month I have made a lot of changes in hopes to allow those guys to catch up if not already stunted. I've removed the majority of my plants. I've increased frequency of water changer to every other day from weekly. I did daily changes for about a week to clean the substrate thoroughly. I also have increased feeding. After seeing some posts I believe I may have been under feeding. I was feeding fdbw am and pm and one cube bh plus in the afternoon. I have increased to fdbw twice a day and the cube of bh twice a day.

Attached are a recent photo of 2 of my lil guys in question.

Thanks as always.

[Filip]

I had 3 out of 7 discus batch that end up small -12-13 cm. and yet round. Even their eyes to body ratio is not so disproportional as in stunted discus.
I believe they are runts , meaning they are genneticly compromised/ small and there is nothing you can do about them .
Recently I bought 3 new 4inch discus with potential to grow for replacement , to even up the size of the batch .
HTH, Ryan.
P.s. The second pic discus has beautiful pattern and colouring.

[ruudvk]

I am experiencing the same thing in my group of 9 discus. Two of them are way smaller than the rest, but the body/eye ratio seems okay. I don’t think they are stunted, just smaller individuals. Don’t mind it either, it actually looks pretty when they school together.

Love the second picture as well, nice colours!

[Phillydubs]

Ryan - Are those pictures recent and your current set up... Is that fine gravel or like an eco complete?

Honestly it sounds to me like you got off to growing them in not so ideal conditions and they still are not in the optimal set up for full max growth.

Now granted, you have 7 fish and they will all grow at their own rate and max out at their own size, some may grow slower, some may never catch up, some may hit spurts. It is just nature and the name of the game...

That being said, you started with rather small fish, but good fish. While not juvies they still needed and do need ideal conditions to grow in... For 3 months now you have had them in a planted tank with weekly water changes. Honestly, I am surprised they look as good as they do I have seen some bad fish in such a set up.

If you really want to grow them out, go bare bottom or light sand and change water daily, feed high quality food and try and see how they bounce back. You are going to need to max your effort now to try and help them catch up if they even can.

[jmf3460]

they do not look stunted to me.

[Ryan925]

Ryan - Are those pictures recent and your current set up... Is that fine gravel or like an eco complete?

Honestly it sounds to me like you got off to growing them in not so ideal conditions and they still are not in the optimal set up for full max growth.

Now granted, you have 7 fish and they will all grow at their own rate and max out at their own size, some may grow slower, some may never catch up, some may hit spurts. It is just nature and the name of the game...

That being said, you started with rather small fish, but good fish. While not juvies they still needed and do need ideal conditions to grow in... For 3 months now you have had them in a planted tank with weekly water changes. Honestly, I am surprised they look as good as they do I have seen some bad fish in such a set up.

If you really want to grow them out, go bare bottom or light sand and change water daily, feed high quality food and try and see how they bounce back. You are going to need to max your effort now to try and help them catch up if they even can.

I agree I had them in less than ideal conditions for first 2 months so had them. The passed month I have really been putting in effort to make changes more favorable to their growth.

Yes the substrate is eco. I'd like to swap it to sand. I actually have been getting some info from other members on how to make the swap.

Thanks for the advice

I think the quality stock receive from Kenny also helps

[Ryan925]

I had 3 out of 7 discus batch that end up small -12-13 cm. and yet round. Even their eyes to body ratio is not so disproportional as in stunted discus.
I believe they are runts , meaning they are genneticly compromised/ small and there is nothing you can do about them .
Recently I bought 3 new 4inch discus with potential to grow for replacement , to even up the size of the batch .
HTH, Ryan.
P.s. The second pic discus has beautiful pattern and colouring.

Thank you. That one has really started to color up nicely. Though smaller I can see this one is getting thicker and rounder.

[Phillydubs]

I would get that out and get them bare bottom for a little then add the sand in a few months. If you have a bucket or storage container, age some water overnight and pull the fish and keep them in the bucket with a heater and air stone and pull the tank clean it all and get ti filled again and back in, just like doing a 100% WC and they will be much happier and grow a lot faster and your cleaning will be so much easier

[Ryan925]

I am experiencing the same thing in my group of 9 discus. Two of them are way smaller than the rest, but the body/eye ratio seems okay. I don’t think they are stunted, just smaller individuals. Don’t mind it either, it actually looks pretty when they school together.

Love the second picture as well, nice colours!

Here's Dan other pic of the eruption. Depending on the light sometimes the bars really show. This pic was last month. I can tell it has definitely gotten thicker. Growing quite fond of this one as the color rally starts to pop612201616473.jpg

[DISCUS STU]

Yes they can and do. I had a friend that was a great Discus breeder and he had some fully matured and proportional Pigeon Bloods that looked perfect other than that they were exceptionally small fish and if anybody could raise Discus to their best it was this guy. Happens all the time, you'll just sometimes end up with some smaller fish.

Sometimes it's better to sell or give them away with understanding that they are smaller fish. Somebody may be glad to get them.

[Ryan925]

Yes they can and do. I had a friend that was a great Discus breeder and he had some fully matured and proportional Pigeon Bloods that looked perfect other than that they were exceptionally small fish and if anybody could raise Discus to their best it was this guy. Happens all the time, you'll just sometimes end up with some smaller fish.

Sometimes it's better to sell or give them away with understanding that they are smaller fish. Somebody may be glad to get them.

I don't mind them being smaller as this is an ongoing learning experience. My 4 year old loves them so we are happy.

I will end up selling these or donating them once I am ready to set up a much larger tank for a larger group along with doing a BB grow out first.

[DISCUS STU]

I don't mind them being smaller as this is an ongoing learning experience. My 4 year old loves them so we are happy.

I will end up selling these or donating them once I am ready to set up a much larger tank for a larger group along with doing a BB grow out first.

Right on. It would be nice if they all netted out at 6 1/2 inches but I have some very nice fish that are much smaller.

[Ryan925]

Right on. It would be nice if they all netted out at 6 1/2 inches but I have some very nice fish that are much smaller.

Right! As long as they are round with nice color I am happy. The larger of the group are 5+. I don't have the expectation of them being monster 8"ers. Not for this go around anyway

[Willie]

People raise discus for all sorts of different reasons. Some want to have a pretty fish tank in their living space, with nice gravel, nice plants, etc. Some want to breed discus and sell fry. Others want to produce show specimen for competition. If you go with option 1 or option 2, then your fish will not be as big and nice as going for option 3. Does that mean you are stunting your fish? It's a matter of degree. With option 1, you'll be lucky to get 5" discus. With option 2, 6" discus are common. With option 3, you can get 6 1/2" to 8" fish. You see people do that on this forum and elsewhere.

The fact is that the fish in the first picture looks like it has potential to grow more. The second and third fish have stopped growing, as you can tell by the ratio of the eyes to the forehead. But they look like happy and healthy fish. It's not reasonable to do option 1 and get option 3 fish.

A happy hobbyist is someone who has clear objectives and clear expectations. I know I am, Willie

[Ryan925]

People raise discus for all sorts of different reasons. Some want to have a pretty fish tank in their living space, with nice gravel, nice plants, etc. Some want to breed discus and sell fry. Others want to produce show specimen for competition. If you go with option 1 or option 2, then your fish will not be as big and nice as going for option 3. Does that mean you are stunting your fish? It's a matter of degree. With option 1, you'll be lucky to get 5" discus. With option 2, 6" discus are common. With option 3, you can get 6 1/2" to 8" fish. You see people do that on this forum and elsewhere.

The fact is that the fish in the first picture looks like it has potential to grow more. The second and third fish have stopped growing, as you can tell by the ratio of the eyes to the forehead. But they look like happy and healthy fish. It's not reasonable to do option 1 and get option 3 fish.

A happy hobbyist is someone who has clear objectives and clear expectations. I know I am, Willie

Thanks so much for your input. I absolutely agree. I am already plotting my next endeavor which is much different. I'd like to grow some juvies towards the "text book" discus then move to a very large show tank. Something like a dozen or more of a single species or half and half of 2.

For now I am pleased with the "look" of my fish though a few may be small. If they remain round and colorful and most importantly healthy then I am satisfied.

I want a show piece that my family and I can enjoy. With that in mind its been a success. My son loves it and I find my dad visiting just to pull a chair up in front of the tank and watch them as he enjoys a cold beer.