Discus Type

[Teshi]

This really makes me want to post before and after pics of my turqs. I was told they are stunted but I've had them now since March and they are looking so nice. Not show fish by any means but they are getting nice and round and think.

[Eddie]

This really makes me want to post before and after pics of my turqs. I was told they are stunted but I've had them now since March and they are looking so nice. Not show fish by any means but they are getting nice and round and think.

You should, before and after pics are great.

[dwmerlin]

Hi Strawberryblonde
The fish are now 8 months old. I know this because I know who bred them. The largest one is slightly bigger than the 3.5 inches.

Why is it so important to do daily waterchanges.

Derek

[strawberryblonde]

Hi Derek,

There's always some controversy over the daily water change. If you look around you can find a few people who will loudly tell you that you don't need to do them (and usually right after they say that they also tell you that they aren't really interested in growing out big fish, just happy discus in a pretty tank).

So now that you know that there is another view point, I'll give you the more common one here on the forums. =)

Discus are very sensitive to the water they live in. There have been experiments done by people that I consider experts on discus keeping. They showed that young discus will grow out larger with daily water changes than those who get fewer weekly changes.

I took that advice to heart and did 2 changes a day till my discus reached a bit over 5". At that point I reduced it to 1 LARGE change per day and kept to that schedule till mine were 8". Once they were what I considered full grown I reduced it yet again and now do every other day water changes of 50%.

In addition to that I fed them 5-6 times per day with discus flakes, freeze dried blackworm cubes and frozen beefheart cubes.

I never expected to get jumbo sized discus when I started out, I just wanted to provide them with the best chance of growing out to nice sized adults (I thought they were done growing when they reached 6"!)

The results have been just as the experts said. With the large daily water changes and all the feedings, my discus have reached huge sizes and are VERY healthy and lively!

So that's why it's important to do the daily water changes. You can make it easy on yourself by buying good water changing equipment which makes the job go much faster and while the tank is draining and filling you can do other things. I timed the first few changes and after that I set a timer during the draining period so that I wouldn't suck ALL the water out of the tank while I was off doing stuff. Did the same thing during the filling process and only overflowed the tank once....when my husband turned off the timer accidentally. LOL

Since you know that your discus are exactly 8 months old, you can assume that they are only slightly stunted and that they still have a good chance to catch up a bit if you start the water changes routine and the feedings.

I can't stress the need for food enough! It can be several small feedings throughout the day, or you can feed the blackworms in the morning, auto feed the flakes during the day and then feed beefheart twice at night before your water change, finishing off with one more blackworm feeding at bedtime.

Hope this helps.

[Teshi]

You should, before and after pics are great.

This is Max and Charlie's b/4 pics
Max


Charlie


Heres the after so far since I purchased them at a LFS in March.

Max


Charlie




Sorry about the bubbles, took these a couple hours after cleaning the tank.

[Eddie]

You did a pretty good job getting them back into decent shape.