Am I doing it right?

[metfan581]

It seems to me that my fish do not grow or grow extremely slow...

What is the growing rate for discus?

[AmberC]

Well I think that depends on how old they are. How big are they? I believe that they slow down drastically around 5 inches? (Someone please correct me if I am wrong!) How many times a day do you feed them? WHAT do you feed them?

Amber

[swinters66]

Maybe its like watching water boil...the longer you look the slower it goes....I know I dont think mine are growing, but I could be wrong. They are doing well though...and eating like pigs.

[metfan581]

well they are around 4

[1977]

They do go through spurts. After 3 months they should be around 2 inches and then it seems to slow a bit.Some well continue to grow quickly while others go more slowly. On top of that my discus that are 5 or 6 inches seem to grow bigger even at 2 or 3 years old. It really different with each discus, the strongest will survive and thrive which is why it is important to get rid of slow growers or weak fish as soon as possible to provide a better chance for the others. The more wc and regular food schedule the faster they will grow

[metfan581]

well i just did a 75% wc

and i feed a mix of tetra bits, flakes, frozen blood worms

i try to do a 50% wc every weekend

is that good?

[aquaticplantman]

Metfan, I've been in your shoes. You haven't been keeping discus that long right? For about my first year, I kept about the same kind of feeding and water change schedule as you. We're lucky if the discus simply stay healthy with that.

If you want to see some really good growth, you HAVE to something along these lines:

at least 50% water change with aged water every day
water temp in the high 80's
5 or 6 feedings a day with all types of food (add beef heart to your regimine)

The toughest part is the water changes, but they all go hand in hand. You can't feed that much without polluting the water quickly so you have to change the water. They can't eat that much unless the temp is moderately high. And so it goes...

It is hard work to raise large, quality discus. That's why they bring such a high price. Your fish are already 4 inches. They won't grow at an astounding pace anyway. They're nearing adulthood. But if you can manage to keep to the care schedule I outlined above, you will notice a nice change in the appearance and health of your fish.

Hope that helps,
-- Matt H.

[metfan581]

Is 84 good enough

Yes i do feed about 2-x a day
(we will up that)

and i will work on the schedual for water changes...

thanks for that,
metfan581

[Alight]

Metfan, Matt is correct. I do 75% water changes daily for fish between 1 inch and 6 inches. Between 1 inch and 5 inches, the fish grow about 1 inch per month. Then they slow down. I feed at least 6 times a day, frozen blood worms, mysis shrimp, tetra color bits, and Hikari Discus food. This goes to 3 -4 times a day when they get to 5 inches. They are between 5 and 6 inches at 6-7 months, and grow another inch or so over the rest of the first year. After that, they may grow another 1/2 inch or so in length, and put on some real weight as seen when looking at them face on.

The females usually don't get much more than 5.5 - 6 inches, while the males can get to more than 7 inches.

[LizStreithorst]

Yep, Matt was right on the money.

[Crackinspine]

Hi MetFan :sun:
Its is very simple. The fish in the first six months after freeswimming stage, eat a lot, compete for size and grow pretty fast. You'll be able to make noticable study regarding size probably once every week. However once the fish is about 5 to 6 inches the growth process becomes slower. Also you might see that the fishes lose a bit of their appetites as well. Well thats normal because bigger fish require less of protiens for growth as compared to the smaller one. They require nutrients mainly to cope up with injuries or so. Also raising temperature to 90F and passing more oxygen in the water helps a lot for the fish growth as it might push the fish metabolism and get them to eat. Well whatever you do, dont over do these measures as they might stress the fish.
Feed them variety foods, make those WCs daily and you'll never have problems with growth. Also if you can deworm the fish once in two months, that will keep them from developing digestive malfunctions associated with various diseases. I personally prefer praziquantel for the ringworm types and mebex[metronidazole] for other parasites.

Let us know if you have any other queries.

***Man develops brain when everything seems to end***