Murphy's journey

[brewmaster15]

I guess we all do this. For me just to tough to cull something still living. My 2 just weren’t swimming properly. They were tail standing. Definitely looked like something was wrong with them. Also they were the smallest. So I to removed them at about the 2nd week. Added them to a 20g first then when the rest went into the 20 they went into a 5. Neither was swimming right. But both were still eating. I didn’t think they’d live. But now they do look fine. Half the size of the rest.Attachment 136820 but now they are both swimming fine. No problem now.

Im okay with culling.. Its really an important part of breeding. Its not fun by any means but in most cases the things we cull for nature would cull for in the wild by starvation,predations, or just delete by natural selection during mate selection. I believe if we want nice high quality discus in the hobby and are breeding discus (or any fish) we have an obligation to cull sickly or deformed discus. One might also extend that to discus with other undesireable traits like excessive peppering. Etc.

[brewmaster15]

Just an update here.Murphy is doing very well. He has even put on a little size.. but he is still the small guy in the tank. Normally I might be concerned he was being intimidated but hes not.. blackworm cube enters the water and Murphy is on it like the largest.. You can see a side by side comparison here of Murphy to the others.

a2c10528.jpg

[ravvlet]

Hows the little guy doing now?

[brewmaster15]

Hows the little guy doing now?

Hes actually doing pretty good.. still one of the small ones but growing still..

Bad pic.. but you can see him well enough.
20231120_153838.jpg

[ravvlet]

Awww! Love that for him and you! How big are he and his siblings now?

[brewmaster15]

Hes close to 3" his sibling have an inch on him.As long as he continues to grow and his eye size to body ration stays good he should be a decent fish.. time will tell.

[ravvlet]

Well, I’m rooting for him! Cool to see how he’s slowly catching back up. It’s so much extra effort to give them a boost, but I hope it ends up being worth it!

[Adamski77]

Every time I see this thread I'm cheering for Murphy... at the same time I think every tank has Murphy in it... I think I have one too...

[Bathi]

This is very nice thread.

[LizStreithorst]

It's a good thing little Murphy doesn't live in one of my tanks. He'd have been a goner a long time ago.

[Discus Fever]

Glad Murphy is making a rebound and that the other discus stopped picking on him so he can live a normal life with them, keep up the great work AL!!!

[brewmaster15]

It's a good thing little Murphy doesn't live in one of my tanks. He'd have been a goner a long time ago.

Liz, its all a matter of goals. Foremost for me my goal on the forum is to educate.... demonstrate ..experiment... learn beyond whats parroted.

If Murphy turns out decent..great.. If he turns out runted and mishappen despite great care.. thats good too. Why? Because its all documented for all to learn from.

Again.. another way this forum is different from facebook.

[brewmaster15]

Glad Murphy is making a rebound and that the other discus stopped picking on him so he can live a normal life with them, keep up the great work AL!!!

Thanks Scott..so far all is well.

[jeep]

Murphy's little cousin Vinny DOB 9-24-23

This little one is almost 3 months old and about the size of a dime. I hate to cull him/her because it's very energetic, has a very decent shape and is the first one to the food every time. The ones around him are his brothers and sisters born on the same day, lol...

little murphy.jpg

[brewmaster15]

Wow Vinny is the poster child for runt!