fish size and age??????

[Fisheyes]

I read some post about fish size but most were related to 3 month ago and so on . ???
Is there a way for instance for new disc keeper to evaluate growth .
for instance
1 month 1/2 in
2month 1 inch
3month 1 1/2.
I think this might help as unless you buy from a breeder you realy do not know the aprox age.
I know there will be cases of runts and such but I am sure more experenced disc keepers could walk into most places and say oh those ones are about -------- old .
Just an idea that might help the new disc keepers

[Ryan]

IMO no, you cannot tell a discus' age from its size. This is because discus stunt easily when not properly cared for, and also because some fish, no matter how excellent the care they're given, just end up smaller than their siblings. Genetics plays a big part of this, I suppose.

Read the posts regarding eye size to body size ratio. This is one of the best ways to tell if a fish is stunted/runted or if it's still growing. Small fish with huge eyes are a sign that their bodies have stopped growing.

Some of the folks breeding discus here can, however, give you a rough estimate as to how big discus should be by a certain age, at least up to sellable size. But, there's nothing that says a discus must be X size by X months old. Does that make sense? There are too many variables that could affect their size and growth.

Ryan

[Carol_Roberts]

Ryan is exactly right. I kept one of those teensy runts from the RT batch last August and it's about the size of two dimes side by side at 6 months. All of my 9 week old fry dwarf him in comparison.