They paired off but I want them to grow!

[suisoman2]

Hi All,

I have 5 young discus I purchased at 2 " . They are now a bit over 11 months and about 5 " . While I was on Holiday, 4 out of five made 2 pairs and started laying eggs against the glass :love:, Imagine my surprise when I came home :o.

Now, from what I read they are not fully grown yet at 5" and I also read that they totally stop growing when they pair off and lay eggs because all their energy goes to reproduction instead of growth.
My questions:
Is this really thru or will they keep growing for a few more months ??? , at a slower pace I guess. Can I still hope they will reach 6 to 7"? They are not even a year old ( redturkis and flachturkis, see image )
Will seperating the genders keep them growing or If I seperate them , will they be stressed as they will be in a small group of 2 males + X and 2 females . 2 seems so few together if not a pair. I need to decide to put a divider in or not :-\.
Please give me your opinions. I don't want the largest discus out there, but 5.5 to 6 inch sound nice and reasonable to me, I wish to attain that.

Thanks for any advice


a picture of the 2 males is below: ( if you have any comment, please vent...)




http://www.fishlinkcentral.com/photos/data/514/46IMGP3078sm2-med.JPG

[Liz_Streithorst]

Pretty fish.

Don't worry. It's not the laying and fertilizing that takes it out of the fish it's the raising of the fry. In your situation, with 5 Ciscus in the tank, it's unlikely that they'll raise the broods. But even if they do, it has been my experience that although growth slows, it continues. You are to be congratulated fro growing out such good looking healthy Discus.

Liz

[DarkDiscus]

Yeah,

My fish all kept growing after their 1st spawns. In fact I had one male wild who was about 5" when he started up and he topped out at 7" - my biggest fish.

He just died last week after a rough move.

:'(

John

[suisoman2]

Thanks for all the replies. I will keep he situation as it is. I guess they will keep on going for a while then. 5 of them together brings atmosphere in the tank. lots of pecking order establishing with those 2 pairs.
The eggs don't stand a chance indeed, But my water is not prepared for breeding yet either. This group will go to my showtank, and in 6 months or so, I may fish out the nicest pair to do my first real attempts.

Thanks all,

:)

suisoman Dirk

[shalu]

I was also surprised to see my young discus spawn at 4.5" and only 7 months old a few weeks ago. I sure hope they continue to grow.

[chrissyoscar]

Great post. I was also worried that my discus would stop growing after just pairing of. My male LSS is about 4.5 inches and around 10 months old and my female Snakeskin is only about 4inches and around 8 mths old. At this stage they have only laid eggs once which was about a week ago.The eggs turned black after about 2 days but were then eaten. I was amazed as they are still so young and small.

Oscar