Wow!!!! the growth rate comparison

Hi Peeps ;D

Just thought I'd show you a little difference in the growth rate in these siblings......

I've noticed that one of these babies is having a hard time taking in it's CBW's...... I provide enough CBW's in the tank that there is always some on the bottom of the tank between feedings...... so it's not a lack of not getting enough food to eat :-\

look at the little guy on the far right in the pic

http://images.snapfish.com/336%3B43%3A723232%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E2327%3D%3A49%3D858 %3Dxroqdf%3E2323382%3B4%3C388ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/336%3B43%3A723232%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E2327%3D%3A49%3D8 58%3Dxroqdf%3E2323382%3B4%3C389ot1lsi

Beth

[chuck]

sWEET!!! :thumbsup:
I wish I could get mine to grow that fast Even when I used CBW They never grew like that!!!
Keep it up!!
chuck

[Jeffery_Doty]

Beth,

They look great, and are really growing! It does look like you are going to have a "minnie-me" in the bunch. It seems to be a pretty common occurance. These are the ones that usually get culled. Do you have the heart to do it?

Jeff
Oregon

[Rod Coleman]

Hey Beth,

Don't point out the little guy in the back - look up front at those real BIG GUYS!!

Rod

[April]

Beth looking great as usual.
can you please come to my house now and give your majic growth potion to my fry? LOL.

[Shari]

Beth, are those as beautiful a green as they look?

I bought a couple Ocean Greens awhile back and LFS said quite green as adults - hello they are Blue Diamonds for the most part. I know the PC/pics can make colors look different.

[SLY]

jack will be in awe and happy when he's back..nice job beth..the little one might be stunted soon if his size stay that way for another few weeks. keep us posted. ;) :-*

[slicksta]

Beth.......
..........as usual.....Awesome!!!

[DarkDiscus]

Beth,

Nice fishies! You (and Jack) did/are doing a great job. As for the little fella, keep him in there. When my one runt died I had another fish which had been growing well become the runt. I think due to being low man on the totem pole.

JMHO!

John

[paulmat]

Very nice Beth
You'll allways will have the slow growers in evey batch.
As Jeff said, most times their culled,but the older they get the harder it is to do "The DEED"
Your fish are beautiful ;D

Paul :guitarist:

[Smokey]

Howdy Beth; nice to see you again.

Re: small babies... have you tried bottle feeding. lol.

Interesting thought, .... should one baby be left to become the runt - so others will grow[???]. Sort of a sacraficial lamb.
I have the same situation - 11 fry - one, the low-man-on-the-totem-poll. So, should I allow the one to stay...so the other 10 will grow[???].

Smokey

[DarkDiscus]

Smokey,

It's just a theory. There's always a fish that's lowest on the pecking order. If you remove him, another fish takes the spot and the added stress. Will this stunt the bottom fish's growth? It seemed to in my case, but maybe not always.

John

[Mystic1Sylvan]

Hi,Im new to this and have been reading alot-I had to force myself to go to sleep lastnight. Ok here is my ? why do you cull them that meens to pick out(right). what do you do with them? Kill them? Why do that isnt there anyone that would want the runts? and if you dont want runts why not arent they healthy just alittle smaller.

[EthanCote.com]

Hi Beth,

Great looking fishes as usual.

Can you do me a favour and give us the size for the biggest, smallest and average fishes? Just curious to know the actual size.

Also what are the percentage of biggest, smallest and average fishes?

And how many fishes are from that brood? And are they feed solely on CBW?

hehe ya I'm doing my own experiment on your brood. ;D

Actually I'm curious to know the growth rate of discus and perhaps the factors that might affect them.

Thanks Beth in advance.


Cheerio,

Chi.

[Smokey]

Good point Mystic - personally speaking - when I ''cull'' - the culled fish is physically deformed or similar problem ... not all fry turn out to be prize winners. Just natures way[???].
On the other hand, size is not a reason to cull, like you pointed out.

Yes John, I agree... its just that way. A healthy - spirited discus will survive. some just don't.
[ as has been my expierence with other species.]

Smokey

Hi Chuck.....

I feed heavy on the CBW's...... I like to see them turn their noses up to them and always have some on the bottom of the tank.... it's seemed to work thus far ;)

Hey Jeff......

No problem ;) I've got just the right place for the culls..... they're headed out to the swimming pool for the summer.

Rod........ ;D

Hey Pril.... you should live ...... just a little closer ;)

Hi Shari.....

actually they're colour is pretty close to the 2nd picture.... maybe just a little more blue.

Sly.....

will do ;)

Slick..... Thanks ;)

John......

I added 6 of my F2 WG x BD babies to that tank this morning and they're the same size as the smallest BD baby :o

BTW....... don't ask why I did that..... my morning started out with wet feet..... nuff said :-X

Paul.....Thanks ;)

Hiyas Smokey.......

I have 10 of these BD's and only have the 1 really small guy. I added a divider to the tank (55gal) and it's now with my 5 or 6 week old babies. There's really not much difference in their size :o


Mystic1Sylvan.....

A cull is an undesirable to most.... Not all culls are destroyed. They're actually pretty good to have around for testing water are even to use when quaranteening new fish. Great for experimenting on too :-\

Hi Chi....


Can you do me a favour and give us the size for the biggest, smallest and average fishes? Just curious to know the actual size.

The smallest is maybe quarter size....... the rest are much bigger than a silver dollar. The bigger ones are really close in size. You may be able to get a better idea of the size with this picture. Look at the CD in the back ground ;) A CD is I think 4 3/4 inches across ???

http://images.snapfish.com/336%3B498323232%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E2327%3D%3A49%3D858%3 Dxroqdf%3E2323382%3C66488ot1lsi


And how many fishes are from that brood?


I have only 10 in this group. My buddy Jack Taylor (Discus _KC) brought them to me when he came in for a visit. They were 9 weeks old when I got them.... this is a pic of them then.

http://images.snapfish.com/336%3B49%3B923232%7Ffp6%3B%3Dot%3E2327%3D%3A49%3D8 58%3Dxroqdf%3E23233755%3A9884ot1lsi


And are they feed solely on CBW?

I'm pretty sure Jack fed them everything including the kitchen sink...... from the time they were 9 weeks old I started feeding heavy on the CBW's..... I like to see CBW's on the tank floor 24 hours a day. Once in a while I'll give them BH or flakes as a treat..... believe me they think it's a treat and do eat it. I only do that 1 or 2 times a week.

wcs are done daily a minimum of 25%, most of the time 40%-50%.....

Man I didn't think I'd ever get done with this post..... ;D

Beth

It's really hard to get these guys to stay still in front of that CD ya know?

here ya go Chi..... 1 of the bigger guys of that group

http://images.snapfish.com/336%3B4%3A5523232%7Ffp6%3B%3Dot%3E2327%3D%3A49%3D8 58%3Dxroqdf%3E2323382%3C9%3A265ot1lsi

Beth

Thought I'd add this pic..... the smaller babies in this pic are F2 WG x BD's and are now 6 weeks free swimming..

The smallest BD is pretty close in size.....

BTW....... I made a mistake in the BD's age..... they're now 15 weeks not 14 ...... I think I lost a week somewhere :-\

http://images.snapfish.com/336%3B4%3A5523232%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E2327%3D%3A49%3D858 %3Dxroqdf%3E2323382%3C%3B35%3C5ot1lsi

[EthanCote.com]

Thanks Beth for taking the time to do that post (and taking the photos). It was long winded indeed but much appreciated. ;)

And great idea on using the CD to give a better indication of size. :thumbsup:

Again thanks and best of luck with them babies.


Cheerio,

Chi.


PS: You said the culls go outside into the swimming pool. May I ask how big is your pool and do you have a pic of it? I would certainly love to see it. Thanks again Beth.

You don't ask for much do ya Chi.... j/k LMAO!!!!!

Here's a couple of pics from last year.... I tested the water this morning in the pool... it's still a little too chilly to put anything out there yet....

I think the pool is about 5,500 gals.

http://images.snapfish.com/336%3B4%3A8%3B23232%7Ffp6%3B%3Dot%3E2327%3D%3A49%3 D858%3Dxroqdf%3E232335%3B44%3A4%3C6ot1lsi

http://images.snapfish.com/336%3B4%3A8%3B23232%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E2327%3D%3A49%3 D858%3Dxroqdf%3E232335%3B448372ot1lsi


Beth

[gary1218]

Speaking of the pool idea.........While John, aka Dark Discus, wasn't able to talk me into to just turning my whole 18,000 gallon inground pool into a LARGE discus tank I did come up with another idea.

My pool is next to a second garage that I use mainly for storage. The 200 lb sand pool filter is in that garage as well. My idea is to move my tanks into the gargage and use the water in the 18,000 holding tank, I mean pool ;D, as the water supply for an automatic drip set up.

I already tapped into the water line that comes off the pool filter and returns the filtered/clean water back to the pool. I'll divert this water to the tanks. The tanks all have overflow bulk head fittings that will return the overflow back into the pool. Should be very little water loss so I hope to really pump a lot of fresh/clean water thru the tanks.

AND, water changes are FREE whenever it rains :D

GARY

[gary1218]

Beth,

Your feeding program of mostly just live CBWs, is that for all your discus regardless of size? Or, is that just for young discus that you are growing out?

GARY

Hey Gary......

I like feeding all of the babies heavy on the CBW's..... I guess once they start showing some good size on them I'll start adding more of the other foods.

When my pairs have eggs or fry I feed only CBW's.....

My Community tank gets CBW's once or twice a day along with flakes and some pellets.

I'm not real sure if this is a good thing but that's how I do it ;)

Beth

[Ardan]

Nice fish, Beth!

You do a great job with them! :thumbsup:

[thebaglady]

Nice discus Beth.

I like the pond too. It only contained angelfish last year? And was it just filled naturally with rainwater or did you do water changes? Thanks.

This growth thing is interesting.

Hi Bag Lady


It only contained angelfish last year?

Yep! just Angelfish.... I'm going to try growing out some Discus in that pool as soon as the water gets a little warmer.


And was it just filled naturally with rainwater or did you do water changes?

The pool was filled from the tap outside..... It sat for quite some time without any pool chemicals. I figured it wouldn't hurt to throw a few Angelfish in ::)

When the water evaporates I'll add more tap to it.... unless ofcourse it rains.... but as far as wcs ........ NOPE... I don't plan on doing any...... then again I guess I'll play that one by ear ;)

Beth

[Smokey]

Lets see if I got this right.... Beth has a 5500 gallon tank; Gary has a 18,000 gallon sump.... hmmmmm maybe we should call this SimplyObsevisiveDiscus.

However; This summer I plan on building a outdoor pond. Not sure how big, yet; but as big as possible. Next step will be the heating. I got a couple of ideas.... radiant heating, solar.

Smokey

[bmrin1]

Beth,
You are doing a fantastic job.
Brian