Pruning the population

[glennbech]

Hi,

I have 14 juvenile discus that I bought together when they were 3-4 moth's old- Some of them are growing well, but the difference between the large, medium, and "hopless" ones are starting to show pretty well.
My largest is now twice as big as the smallest. I have a 60 gallon tank and plan to end up with 5-7 discus in the end. I'm wondering about how-to and when to start pruning the flock. I was actually thinking about putting the two
smallest ones in my son's 15 gallon community tank with colder, hard water. My thinking that this is slightly more humane than the freezer.

When is the right time to remove fish, and how to you select what fish to remove?

[Bill63SG]

I was actually thinking about putting the two
smallest ones in my son's 15 gallon community tank with colder, hard water. My thinking that this is slightly more humane than the freezer.

[/QUOTE]

Slow,tourtureous death over quicker,humane?I actually would have started the pruning at 3-4 months,so anytime now is fine.

[TNT77]

Take a container of cold water and add not quite half the amount of ice as water let it set for bout 5 min then put the ones you want to cull in and put the top on because they may jump..takes about 10-20 sec and they are gone. Inexpensive and fast.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Just sounds so cruel but sadly, necessary.

[Sandy Clay]

I have just taken the fish out and cut it's head off. Quick...sounds cruel but, I would rather do that than let them die slowly.

[pastry]

Yeah, it's crazy because when I go fishing I'll have live mullet and which ever one I get when I pull up to my redfish gets its head chopped off and body cut up into chunks like it's nothing... head still trying breath and all. ... yet when I get home I can't even bring myself to kill a discus cull.

[discus6628]

Very sad to hear that but I guess you have do what you need to do.

[-gb-]

Clove oil so that it is sleeping and unable to feel pain, then introduce a clear grain alcohol like vodka.

Read this: http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-euthanize-a-fish.htm

IMO it's the most humane way.

[dwilder]

One thing i would like to add is that i think a lot of people confuse smaller and stunted.Like all animals you will have runts of the group that are just smaller.So when culling make sure they are showing signs of being stunted no reason to cull runts if you have more tank space or someone else to give to or sale to.

[Bill63SG]

I dont know about anyone else,but to me,runts and stunted are the same when it comes to raising discus.No reputable seller would sell runts.

[John_Nicholson]

Just kill the damned things. No need to get upset over killing a cull. When culling by size be sure to remember that females often grow slower than males so if you only keep the largest you will end up with all or nearly all males.

-john

[dwilder]

Not saying to get upset or not kill a discus your have no room for just saying runts and stunted not the same.The last discus i grew out i had a runt smaller not stunted eye ratio was good etc.The rest grew to 6 and a half to 6 3/4 inches sl,the runt 5 inches sl still a good sized fish for a lot of discus.

[dwilder]

Also glennbech imo there are several reasons to pick certain fish to cull.Always cull fish that are deformed and have issues that affect the health of the fish.Now imo what to cull for depends on what your goal is.Breeders with hundreds of fish and limited tanks are very picky and have to be, and they cull for most anything less than perfect.If you just like a tank full of nice looking discus and dont plan on breeding them pick and keep healthy fish that look good to you.For instance most breeders will pick to keep a fish with perfect shape over one with great color and a slight flaw in shape but for you the one with the nicer color may look better to you in your tank just an example.

[glennbech]

Hi,

Thanks for all advice.

I will sadly not lose much sleep over the fish that has to go. I mean; the ones I am planning to cull will be impossible to sell or give away. I do not plan on keeping 14 :-) I have targeted funny looking and significantly smaller fish than the rest of the group. (Darkness, body shape and size beeing my criteria). They are also greedy eaters, but does not seem to grow much at all compared to the rest.

After the cull I'll end up with 10 youths in my 60 gallon tank. Sooner than later, I will remove 4-5 more, but then, I think there is a good chance that I'll be able to sell/give those away to my LFS or through a Norwegian forum much like this (I am from Norway).

Now to catch them... Any good advice on that? (I am a beginner...)

[100fuegos]

Lower the water level

[Jeff O]

I used dump mine in the buttom of a 5 gal bucket and heat a pressure cooker with extremly hot water and dump it over them. The method is nearly instant. The ice bath sounds like that would work well too. Not too sure I could cut the head off a discus.. Even if it was a cull lol.
-Jeff

[BlackComet94]

Put them in grocery bag (double bags) then whack them on hard surface (I prefer concrete floor)

[Trier20]

Put them in grocery bag (double bags) then whack them on hard surface (I prefer concrete floor)

+1