Are my discus a healthy normal sized group? Average/Normal growth?

[Aquaman6410]

So I obtained my discus from Hans a little less than 11 months ago. They were only around 3". They spent about 10 of those months in a bare bottom 75. They now moved to a 125 with sump, only with the most minimal covering of sand at the bottom for aesthetics. I don't like taking the discus out to measure them, it seems really stressful to them but the largest one seems to be at least 5" now. There is one that is much smaller than all the others but is still really healthy and loves to eat and challenge the pecking order at times. I just wanted to share the photos of them now and see if you all think they appear healthy and normally sized. I feel like something must be right as last month, my Cobalt and Blue Snakeskin laid eggs, nothing fertile and they ate them. The Cobalt was not the best male and seemed to not know what he was doing but it was his first time. Any who, here are the photos. These guys are my first attempt ever with discus, let alone growing out smaller discus.


http://i.imgur.com/lXa5WFX.jpg

This is the smallest guy as I mentioned.
http://i.imgur.com/3LC67C7.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/y02BGF2.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/WgTTzI6.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/18T9mNA.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/xx2pS88.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/vHbrbkl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/T4xM3CZ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/pUANwrc.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/39Uwwd0.jpg

[brewmaster15]

Hi,
They look healthy and Happy yes, but as for the size, not really where they could be at around a year or more old. A few do look stunted....but if these are your first discus thats not uncommon. What do you feed and how much?

How much water have you been changing?

al

[Aquaman6410]

I used to do daily 80% water changes and feed 2 to 3 times a day. As they grew, I backed off to every other day, same amount. At their current age, they live in a 125, 8 discus total. They get about 60% water changes with aged heated tap at least once a week but I usually aim for 2 a week. About every 3 to 4 days. They eat a beefheart/blackworm flake from Dan, cobalt discus hans flake, Australian blackworms from you Al, and homemade beefheart mix on water change day. I feed 2 times a day usually, sometimes 3. I try to give them flake at least at once per day and the Australian FDBW once a day at night. Try to give them balanced flake with a meaty protein as well per day. I've learned a ton along the way and really tried to do everything right. Will they still continue to grow? Don't they continue to grow for about 2 years? Maybe next time I'll start with 4+ inch size fish. I feel like I may have failed them and myself.

[brewmaster15]

I would not say you failed. They look healthy and they are your first Discus. That alone is an accomplishment! I killed my first discus ! I wanted to give you an honest assessment of their growth.

They can still grow more. Maybe its not the number of times when you feed them but how much. Do they eat the Flake voraciously? I honestly have never had much luck with flake and anything but small Discus.My Discus usually just pick at it as adults. I would try to pickup the feeding amounts and times and see if you can get them to grow somemore.. More feeding will mean more water changes too.

For instance on the FDBW... if there are 8 young adults in that tank...they should get about 3-4 cubes per feeding

al

[Aquaman6410]

3-4 cubes? Wow. My guys go nuts but for a half a cube. They sometimes can get close to a whole cube but they fill up fast and stop trying to eat towards the end of the cube. They do like this newest flake without issue. They actually like this one. They have hated all pellets. They love beefheart mix of course. They seem to put that down fast as well. Are they supposed to be eating more? My guys eat voraciously for about 5 minutes max, then get full and lazy quick.

[brewmaster15]

Every fish is different... yours may just be small eaters....so try increasing the number of feedings.
al

[Aquaman6410]

I will increase feedings and water changes. Are they done growing at this age or can they still reach a 6 inch size? The biggest is at least 5 inches, maybe a tad more. Are they considered stunted and can they still grow to a normal full size?

[brewmaster15]

They can still grow alot! :)

al

[jmf3460]

one tip aquaman, if you have trouble feeding that many times a day because of work, is to get an automatic feeder to feed loose FDBW or your flake during the day while you are gone. For example I feed cubes in the morning before I leave for work and live foods in the evenings as a snack but I let my auto feeder feed twice during the day while I am at work to help out.

[Neptune]

Not that these are perfect examples or anything but my fish are about the same age. Thought you could comapre.
The two pictures are of my nicer fish and the one is my runt. ALL these fish are the same age. You can tell the runt pretty easy by the body shape. The runt got a bacterial infection about month 9.

These fish got a rough start as I just plopped them into a dirty tank and then had to travel for a month when they were little.
When I got home I started doing 50% WC DAILY and they started to pack on the weight!

The experts may correct me, but what I noticed as the fish started to move from teenagers to young adults was the pointyness around the mouth area. As mine got about a year+ the forehead and mouth area started to round out and they become less pointy.