7-9 inch discus grown out in a planted tank/Do you believe it?

[bluelagoon]

Hey,A few members on my local fish forum says that you can get jumbos raised in a planted tank.Says she has done it and a few folks backing it up.After being on here and hearing about BB tanks for the last 8 years or so I find it hard to believe.No pics on a ruler have be observed.

http://www.eastcoastaquariumsociety.ca/forum/showthread.php?21150-discus-planted-tank

[pitdogg2]

be nice to see without having to join something.

[Solid]

As someone who has tried to grow out discus in a planted tank, I believe it can be done by an experienced aquarist, but it is difficult. I had kept high tech planted tanks for 3 years before I got discus. Out of 5 fish I originally had three made it to adulthood and one made it to 6"+ but is no where near a show quality fish. I am sure more experienced people could do a better job than me and grow out bigger discus more consistently. I think it is very possible. However for the most people, especially people who are not experts with planted tanks and/or discus, using a BB tank will be much easier and give more consistent results. I think its a much better idea to go with BB until you get the hang of discus, then you can mix it up and try new things.

Also I did not get to see your link because you have to register (which was annoying) and even then you have to wait for approval. So I am not sure exactly what it says.

[John_Nicholson]

It is not impossible, just not easy. I have known some people to do it but it is not the norm by any means. I know a guy that did it. He had 20 discus in an 800 gallon heavily planted tank. He still did water changes but obviously not 50% a day......LOL.

-john

[XAnhLe]

So many factors... At what size did you get your fish at, how heavily planted, water change schedule, tank size to # of fish, etc.

I grew out 5 fish to 6"+ in a hi-tech planted tank, some were obtained at 5" and some were obtained at 3". 9-11 discus in 90G tank. 70-100% water change every 3 days.

I don't know about 7-9 inches LOL... I haven't seen a 9" fish yet, and my fish are not old enough to be 7-8". But I'd assume not every fish can get that far due to genetics reason.

[pastry]

Just like others said, it can be done but requires a lot of water, great water quality, and a hell of lot of commitment (and that's a lot of commitment from discus-hobbyist standards... which is a ton). I have a handful in a 150 and never strived for "jumbo" but obtained 6" fish (BARELY 6 inches). Honestly, 6" fish (my opinion) are good but bigger discus will make my jaw drop. I love my 6" discus but when I had wilds a loooong time ago that were fully grown prior to purchase then they were amazing (had one semi-royal blue that was huuuuge & thick... very impressive sight).

[monching]

I have this pair 5 years or so ago and measured them from tip to tip (lip to tail)
Male is almost 9 inches
Female is 7 inches
About 4 years old at that time.
I put my hand for comparison purpose.I'm 5'7" tall
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k233/monching44/1909565_1249028781941_7237528_n_zps40999139.jpg (http://s89.photobucket.com/user/monching44/media/1909565_1249028781941_7237528_n_zps40999139.jpg.ht ml)

[Reesj]

Hey,A few members on my local fish forum says that you can get jumbos raised in a planted tank.Says she has done it and a few folks backing it up.After being on here and hearing about BB tanks for the last 8 years or so I find it hard to believe.No pics on a ruler have be observed.

http://www.eastcoastaquariumsociety.ca/forum/showthread.php?21150-discus-planted-tank

Congratz to the guy who did it! Most of the people are quite old here and stick to the old conventions to the word :p I'm also trying to grow them out from 2 inch size and have had great success so far even with as less as 2 water changes per week. And this is the first time I have Discus or a planted tank! So people reading here should understand that people posting here as rules are just stuff been past down for decades that worked and that is it!

[zergling]

Congratz to the guy who did it! Most of the people are quite old here and stick to the old conventions to the word :p I'm also trying to grow them out from 2 inch size and have had great success so far even with as less as 2 water changes per week. And this is the first time I have Discus or a planted tank! So people reading here should understand that people posting here as rules are just stuff been past down for decades that worked and that is it!
Can you post pics of your greatly successful discus after a little over 3 months of your care?

[Reesj]

Can you post pics of your greatly successful discus after a little over 3 months of your care?
Actually I only had them for about 2 months. They are in no way great quality fish when I got them and one was stunted and one was a runt. But I got them cheap and was greatly successful at fattening them up and growing them! After just over 2 months even the stunted guy have grown up a bit and other 4 quite considerably. BTW there is a slight current in the tank so the shape of the discus specially the fins are a bit clamped up!
2 weeks in fish,
8542485425

These pictures were taken last week. You can clearly see the size improvement in less than 2 months compared with the runt.
85426

[John_Nicholson]

"posting here as rules are just stuff been past down for decades that worked and that is it! " ....... Not really. What we are posting is the proven best way to raise discus. It is not just some old outdated information. So far you have not proven anything. If you go back and research what most of us have posted through the years is that it almost always seems to work for a few months. You are trying to get people to throw out decades of proven success based on your 60 days of experience. I hope you have lots of success but my prediction is the best that you do is fish that do not make it past 5 inches. The worse that you do is a post that says "All of a sudden my fish got sick" which is false because they have been getting sick all along.

-john

[brewmaster15]

Its one thing to recognize what works best in accomplishing ones goals and opting to try something different and another to ignore whats been shown to work best and do something different. These may sound like similar things with a similar out come....but they are not.:)

[Reesj]

Its one thing to recognize what works best in accomplishing ones goals and opting to try something different and another to ignore whats been shown to work best and do something different. These may sound like similar things with a similar out come....but they are not.:)

I never said what has been posted here does not work! But what I'm trying to say is that there might be alternative ways to do things with considerable success! What is the point of this forum if it is only to regurgitate the same stuff for decades? Won't a article be sufficient in that regard than a forum ?
Ofc I might fail in raising these fish and they might die; But at least I have tried something and have had fun doing it! Also the discus and rest of the fish are still healthy while I was told my fish would be dead by 2.5 months. Anyway I introduced some discus after a small quarantine yesterday. They were from a guy whos rest of the 8 died off and I managed to save them from medication. Lets see at least that will tip the scale to get them killed as some think :D

[Second Hand Pat]

I never said what has been posted here does not work! But what I'm trying to say is that there might be alternative ways to do things with considerable success! What is the point of this forum if it is only to regurgitate the same stuff for decades? Won't a article be sufficient in that regard than a forum ?
Ofc I might fail in raising these fish and they might die; But at least I have tried something and have had fun doing it! Also the discus and rest of the fish are still healthy while I was told my fish would be dead by 2.5 months. Anyway I introduced some discus after a small quarantine yesterday. They were from a guy whos rest of the 8 died off and I managed to save them from medication. Lets see at least that will tip the scale to get them killed as some think :D

Perhaps you should consider creating a grow out thread with regular updates so we can see your status with your fish. :)
Pat

[brewmaster15]

I never said what has been posted here does not work! But what I'm trying to say is that there might be alternative ways to do things with considerable success! What is the point of this forum if it is only to regurgitate the same stuff for decades? Won't a article be sufficient in that regard than a forum ?
Ofc I might fail in raising these fish and they might die; But at least I have tried something and have had fun doing it! Also the discus and rest of the fish are still healthy while I was told my fish would be dead by 2.5 months. Anyway I introduced some discus after a small quarantine yesterday. They were from a guy whos rest of the 8 died off and I managed to save them from medication. Lets see at least that will tip the scale to get them killed as some think :D

First off, I never referred to anyone.. I made a general statement designed to make members think. Topics like this thread come up time and again...and theres always a few that feel as you do. My experience shows me one of three things happen.. They learn from their mistakes and go on to raise great fish, they adjust what their acceptable goals are (the 7 inch fish is acceptible as a 5-6 "fish, stunted are fine as well.) or they leave they hobby.


Second... You are free to do as you wish with your fish... You raise them anyway you see fit.They are yours. The same goes for anyone. You are not free to pass on bad advise...if I or others here with experience see bad advice, It is my/our obligation as someone that cares about this hobby and the level of accurate information on this forum to point out when bad advice is posted. This I have always done and will always do. Its one reason Why we made this forum. Bad advice does not hurt your fish... it potentially hurts someone elses reading what you write...worse its then regurgitated by novices as the way to do things. It is not that I and others like me are stuck on giving out the same old advice..Its that we are trying to help people succeed at keeping these fish, when most of them know nothing about discus.

Third...!
What is the point of this forum if it is only to regurgitate the same stuff for decades? The point is to provide hobbyists with information on the proper care and Husbandry of Discus. Discussions on that matter are always welcome as are differing points on what constitutes proper care.However the burden of proof on that should be based on examples and documentation. We recognize that people will like to do things differently and have gone as far as setting up a section of the forum for it...
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumdisplay.php?279-The-Laboratory


Ofc I might fail in raising these fish and they might die; But at least I have tried something and have had fun doing it! Also the discus and rest of the fish are still healthy while I was told my fish would be dead by 2.5 months. Anyway I introduced some discus after a small quarantine yesterday. They were from a guy whos rest of the 8 died off and I managed to save them from medication. Lets see at least that will tip the scale to get them killed as some think
Best of luck... Personally I think you are making a mistake in the way you are going about your Discus Keeping...


al

[Reesj]

What I'm trying to say is, How would you no what I'm said is bad advice if people never tried it(Or listen to people who tried it and had success?) ?
I saw the Stendker discus site(from a link here no less) and their advice and thinking seems to be quite different than what most people here think!But according to many people including members here is that they are one if not the best breeders of Discus!
http://diskuszucht-stendker.de/en/Wissenswertes/

[Reesj]

BTW anyone has any idea about my blue discus type ? IT seems to me like they have a blue peppering going on that might cover the body as they grow(Hopefully!)
Their blue colour is quite sharp actually when not at the frost of tank!

85429

[brewmaster15]

What I'm trying to say is, How would you no what I'm said is bad advice if people never tried it(Or listen to people who tried it and had success?) ?
I saw the Stendker discus site(from a link here no less) and their advice and thinking seems to be quite different than what most people here think!But according to many people including members here is that they are one if not the best breeders of Discus!
http://diskuszucht-stendker.de/en/Wissenswertes/

Who says it hasn't been tried? This forum has been going 13 years.. we've seen it all many times. Some of us have 20 + years raising Discus. WE are here at the point we are because of what we tried and failed at, and got up and succeeded at. Its funny how most of us end up at the end point doing things mostly the same. That should tell you what works. Believe me many have tried many things here.

If you want to go and make the same mistakes made by those before you please do... but ask yourself this first... How many Discus have you ever raised?

al

[brewmaster15]

BTW anyone has any idea about my blue discus type ? IT seems to me like they have a blue peppering going on that might cover the body as they grow(Hopefully!)
Their blue colour is quite sharp actually when not at the frost of tank!

85429

Offspring of White pigeon X Bluebased non pigeon cross.. most likely

[Ryan]

Anyone who claims to have a 9" discus needs to show it on a towel with a tape measure because I don't believe it. I unbagged and tanked Ricky Lim's monster show discus myself and they were 7.5" head to tail, and were the largest discus I had ever seen in person.

[XAnhLe]

Anyone who claims to have a 9" discus needs to show it on a towel with a tape measure because I don't believe it. I unbagged and tanked Ricky Lim's monster show discus myself and they were 7.5" head to tail, and were the largest discus I had ever seen in person.

THIS!

I have seen a massive discus that made my 125 looks like 29G, turned out to be ~8.3". I can't imagine seeing a 9" discus.

[John_Nicholson]

I have one I need to measure. When he was 1 year old he was 7 inches. I have not measured him since. The guy that I knew that did it had several fish that would make 7 inches but none that were near 9. Like I have said in the past very few people really know how big their fish are( or should I say are not......).

-john

[brewmaster15]

Its like going fishing and coming home telling everyone that you had a real big one and let it go... That fish always grows a few inches from when you caught and when you shared the story.:) Thats why they are called "fish tales!" It starts at an early age too. I was fishing with my son last year and he caught a 12 inch bass. By the time we walked 15 mins back to camp that fish was at least 16 Inches...lol

al

[blueluv]

I have one I need to measure. When he was 1 year old he was 7 inches. I have not measured him since. The guy that I knew that did it had several fish that would make 7 inches but none that were near 9. Like I have said in the past very few people really know how big their fish are( or should I say are not......).

-john
Nice ! Measure it John. I'm positive that in your care it has reach 8" or more.


Its like going fishing and coming home telling everyone that you had a real big one and let it go... That fish always grows a few inches from when you caught and when you shared the story.:) Thats why they are called "fish tales!" It starts at an early age too. I was fishing with my son last year and he caught a 12 inch bass. By the time we walked 15 mins back to camp that fish was at least 16 Inches...lol

al
Lol

[GeauxDiscus]

MAN, I love the heated threads!! +1 to John, Al, Pat, and Ryan's posts. So far I haven't seen a post of a fish larger than 3" on this thread, so here you go OP:

85440

When you show me something larger than that, then I'll be impressed. (BTW, I did NOT grow out this fish myself. It was purchased from a little dude who's a big stud growing discus.) (And yes, I've been drinking some tonight.)

[pastry]

Wow, definitely a heated thread BUT not as crazy as many from the past. From my perspective as a guy who likes to keep discus in a planted tank (and most of the times purchased as 2-4" fish), I've been here long enough and argued enough to see that we probably need merciless opposition to growing discus in planted tanks until someone figure out new methods/equipment/"something" that isn't sophisticated or complex for growing discus in planted tanks while (most importantly) obtain consistent results with those who do the BB method. Trust, I won't be that guy to crack the code (I'll offer lessons learned! ha!) but I honestly do keep coming back to see if anyone else has. Plenty on here have grown small discus into big ones in planted tanks but there really hasn't been a consistent breakthrough. I DO think there will eventually be something but my guess is technology (yes yes we know... water change water quality and more water changes... but BB's will still consistently outgrow the vast majority of those trying to growout in planted).

Al,
I almost wish someday we could do some sort of special area for those that want to take swipes at it. You know people won't stop trying and there'd be a lot of failures but would be entertaining (yes, fish will get sick... what's stopping that now though?). Maybe a subcategory within the experimental area? I can move my old "growing in planted" thread to it! :P

[John_Nicholson]

No bigger than that fish is you should just throw it back....LOL.

Good job.

-john


MAN, I love the heated threads!! +1 to John, Al, Pat, and Ryan's posts. So far I haven't seen a post of a fish larger than 3" on this thread, so here you go OP:

85440

When you show me something larger than that, then I'll be impressed. (BTW, I did NOT grow out this fish myself. It was purchased from a little dude who's a big stud growing discus.) (And yes, I've been drinking some tonight.)

[brewmaster15]

I wouldnt call it a heated debate...rather mild for these kinds of discussions.:)

Al

[merilwyn]

I am new to discus and would like to know where the measurement is taken is it from lip to tail including tail or is it across the middle fin to fin or only across the body please help!!

[Kal-El]

Ofc I might fail in raising these fish and they might die; But at least I have tried something and have had fun doing it! Also the discus and rest of the fish are still healthy while I was told my fish would be dead by 2.5 months. Anyway I introduced some discus after a small quarantine yesterday. They were from a guy whos rest of the 8 died off and I managed to save them from medication. Lets see at least that will tip the scale to get them killed as some think :D

Boy this statement here is going to get you and your investment killed. Sure you might have been lucky and no issue occur with your stock this time, but it only take one bad judgement to kill hundreds of dollars of fish. When this happens, you will never mention it to the forum but will know for-sure to never take shortcuts in proper QT.

[krislewis3]

F
Actually I only had them for about 2 months. They are in no way great quality fish when I got them and one was stunted and one was a runt. But I got them cheap and was greatly successful at fattening them up and growing them! After just over 2 months even the stunted guy have grown up a bit and other 4 quite considerably. BTW there is a slight current in the tank so the shape of the discus specially the fins are a bit clamped up!
2 weeks in fish,
8542485425[/ATTACH

These pictures were taken last week. You can clearly see the size improvement in less than 2 months compared with the runt.
[ATTACH]85426


I'm no expert, but in my experience, it's not unusual for 2" fish to achieve impressive growth in two months! The problem is that their growth slows down considerably as they reach asdulthood. Although I have also experienced impressive growth during the juvenile phase, I've never raised one past 6.5"! So....."don't count your chickens, before they hatch"