Growing Juvies (need advice)

[seanyuki]

If you want to raise nice discus up the water change to 50% or more a day. And before the discussion gets out of hand this has been proven over and over again. Now if you want to raise crappy discus then feel free to skimp on water changes.

[chevyvega927]

If you want to raise nice discus up the water change to 50% or more a day. And before the discussion gets out of hand this has been proven over and over again. Now if you want to raise crappy discus then feel free to skimp on water changes.

Yep and quit your job, neglect your family, health, and don’t have a life. Lol I’m semi kidding but you’re giving advice that is only feasible for 3 types of people: 1. independently wealthy people with nothing but time, 2. People who breed and sell discus for a LIVING 3. People who work part time at Subway and live in mom’s basement with no responsibilities.

Yes if you change water everyday then you will have bigger fish faster. But if you keep you water parameters in check you can raise nice (not crappy) discus without the extra work. It always makes me laugh when people say there’s only one way to skin a cat. That’s false there are many ways to to this. Keep it simple and you can enjoy your discus without making the return on investment not worth it.

[smsimcik]

Forgive me guys but it just seems like there are wayyyyy too many people on here giving out crazy unattainable advice...

It is obvious that many of these discus are coming from vendors that do 100-300% water changes to grow them as fast as they can, BUT to tell someone that they have to do 80-100% water change daily or even every other day is absurd. They do this because they are a business whose sole focus is breeding and selling. They don't have a 9-5 job and a family like a normal human being. Growing Discus ASAP and selling them is their livelihood.

I know everyone means well but you're making Discus keeping way too complicated, especially for new/prospective discus owners. It really is a disservice to the discus hobby. Newer discus keepers will burn themselves out at that insane rate of water changes and prospective keepers will opt for less awesome fish.

How fast do you really need to grow these fish out?! If you want them to be 5" in a couple months then it seems like purchasing them that size would be a better choice. The NORMAL growth rate is 5" by a year. Why would you kill yourself or advise someone to kill themselves doing so much unnecessary work to shave a couple months at most of the growth rate?

Guys if your like me with a fulltime job, wife and some kids, not to mention gym, church, kid's sports games, beers with the friends (you get the point)... then do yourself a favor and just be PATIENT. The fish will grow. They ARE NOT stunted if they aren't 5" asap.

I keep 7 3-3.5" Stendkers in a 65 gallon tank with a school of tetras, a pleco and 5 cory cats. Bought them at 2-2.5" and although they aren't breaking any records, they have grown very well. I feed them a mix of very small amounts of Good Heart, Hikari Discus Food, flakes and bloodworms 4-5x a day and do ONE (YES OMG JUST ONE) 40-50% water change every Sunday. By the way I use non-aged TAP (OH THE HUMANITY) water for my tank... 7.2 ph right out the faucet. Use a thermometer to make sure it is 85-87 degrees F. I treat it for chlorine and boom done. The key is to buy a good testing kit and keep an eye on your Nitrate/Nitrite/Ammonia levels. MAYBE add a second water change a week as needed if the levels get a little higher than normal.

Be PATIENT and REASONABLE and you can enjoy your discus without turning it into a full time job.

Thanks RV for coming on here with your first post to tell the OP he needs to ignore the advice of experienced discus keepers on how to grow out big healthy discus.
There hasn't been any crazy unattainable advice given here. I and others here have the same sort of lifestyle you described and still manage to do daily water changes and feedings with no problem. Keeping discus isn't my full time job either.

The OP wanted to know what he could do to grow out his discus correctly and he was given time proven advice by experienced discus keepers on how to do that. If you don't want to do that, fine. But the fact is, if the OP follows your advice, his discus will never reach their full size and potential. You can be as patient as you like, but if you aren't doing frequent water changes on juvie discus, they will never reach their full potential. And neither will yours in the set up you described. If you are ok with that, fine.

The main reason new discus keepers quit on discus is because they don't do enough water changes, they don't keep up with the husbandry, the fish get sick
and stunted and they think discus are too hard and give up.

[chevyvega927]

Thanks RV for coming on here with your first post to tell the OP he needs to ignore the advice of experienced discus keepers on how to grow out big healthy discus.
There hasn't been any crazy unattainable advice given here. I and others here have the same sort of lifestyle you described and still manage to do daily water changes and feedings with no problem. Keeping discus isn't my full time job either.

The OP wanted to know what he could do to grow out his discus correctly and he was given time proven advice by experienced discus keepers on how to do that. If you don't want to do that, fine. But the fact is, if the OP follows your advice, his discus will never reach their full size and potential. You can be as patient as you like, but if you aren't doing frequent water changes on juvie discus, they will never reach their full potential. And neither will yours in the set up you described. If you are ok with that, fine.

The main reason new discus keepers quit on discus is because they don't do enough water changes, they don't keep up with the husbandry, the fish get sick
and stunted and they think discus are too hard and give up.

Cool story bro. I guess people who post a billion times should be considered more experienced. So it’s my first post... I don’t feel the need to be a keyboard warrior/expert. I’m not here saying that more water changes doesn’t produce bigger fish faster. I’m not on here to argue with anyone. I’m simply saying that for every “internet professional” that says 100% water changes everyday are a must you can find another that says it’s not. There are even YouTube videos and podcasts of Gabe, Hans etc saying it isn’t. If you have the time then cool do it. If not then just be patient.

[Willie]

Non-crappy discus.

[smsimcik]

Cool story bro. I guess people who post a billion times should be considered more experienced. So it’s my first post... I don’t feel the need to be a keyboard warrior/expert. I’m not here saying that more water changes doesn’t produce bigger fish faster. I’m not on here to argue with anyone. I’m simply saying that for every “internet professional” that says 100% water changes everyday are a must you can find another that says it’s not. There are even YouTube videos and podcasts of Gabe, Hans etc saying it isn’t. If you have the time then cool do it. If not then just be patient.

Glad you liked my cool story.
Actually, it's people who have raised discus for years that make them experienced. Not how many posts they have.
Hope you come back often to share more of your discus knowledge you learned from You Tube videos and podcasts.

[Iminit]

RV wait let me get this right. You’ve grown 2” discus to 3” discus and are now giving advice? And telling the guys who’ve done this for years there wrong? Wow!.

Op water changes are the most important part of young discus lives. Yes they do grow big. Discus grow for the first year and a half to 2 years. Water changes also remove all the bad stuff discus produce. So for best results water changes and feed as often as you can.

[chevyvega927]

Ok cool man. In every profession/hobby there are those that subscribe by the “I’ve been doing this 10/15/20 years and this how we’ve always done it” mentality. Then there are those that figure out how to do things better/easier/more efficiently and still get great results. It’s hilarious that the response from the “old timers” is always the same... “no no no don’t change. Change is bad blah blah blah.” I’m not advising listening to just anyone on YouTube but if it comes from Hans, Wattley or anyone of that stature then it carries a lot more weight. That’s fine if you think I’m a newbie but I’m following the advice that CAME WITH my Stendker juveniles and they are doing fantastic. Right from the Stendker website so take it for what it’s worth.

[chevyvega927]

RV wait let me get this right. You’ve grown 2” discus to 3” discus and are now giving advice? And telling the guys who’ve done this for years there wrong? Wow!.

Op water changes are the most important part of young discus lives. Yes they do grow big. Discus grow for the first year and a half to 2 years. Water changes also remove all the bad stuff discus produce. So for best results water changes and feed as often as you can.

Not telling anyone they’re wrong at all. I’ve got newer discus that I’m using this approach with. It’s working and they look great. All I’m saying is this whole martyr approach to discus is silly. I’ve had others and not had to do daily water changes with fine results. Also I’m not giving my own advice. It’s what I’ve researched and been told by real heavy hitters I. The business. Again... more than one way to skin a cat.

[Iminit]

RV I have 14 of Hans discus that I’ve gotten within the last 2 years. First group of 6 went into a 125 after 4 weeks qt. Of those 6 3 have reached the 7” size and 3 are at the 5 1/2” size. Frequent water changes till they reached 5”. Than reduced to 3 times a week. This year I bought 8 more and put them in a 75 to grow out. These fish I’ve had problems with one set. It seems to me the hormones in this tank has cause one pair to grow much slower and they do seem stunted. The rest have doubled in size. Yes Hans says you can do lesser water changes. But that is for grown discus not juveniles. Juveniles need constant water changes. If not they will get sick. I hope you succeed in your plan.

[Iminit]

This is my pigeon snake skin at 7”29E177EA-87FC-4C92-B23E-675B9EA279AE.jpg he’s from the first batch and these are my checkerboards from July. They are 5 1/2”9A6DBAD2-401D-4B3B-921D-82B9DA19D146.jpg

[chevyvega927]

This is my pigeon snake skin at 7”29E177EA-87FC-4C92-B23E-675B9EA279AE.jpg he’s from the first batch and these are my checkerboards from July. They are 5 1/2”9A6DBAD2-401D-4B3B-921D-82B9DA19D146.jpg

Those are beautiful fish dude! Thanks for posting.

[chevyvega927]

discus trio.jpg

These are some of my "crappy" Juvies. I guess it helps when you get good quality fish to begin with.

[Willie]

Real nice looking cobalt/flachen there. I'm thinking that's going to be my next grow out project.

[chevyvega927]

Real nice looking cobalt/flachen there. I'm thinking that's going to be my next grow out project.

I got mine from Hans. Luckily I live close enough to go in person. The guy is a gem!