growing my fish

[cobaltblue]

I have 6 nickel sized babies that are alone in a 29g tank. They are now about 7 weeks old. They have barely grown at all for the past three weeks. Water quality is good, though i only have time for wc every two days. I change 33% every second day. My water is very soft. Basicly RO water out of the tap.
ph 7, next to no gh or kh. I keep some crushed coral in my aquaclear filter to
keep the ph stable. I feed them frozen blood worms, frozen cyclopeze, crushed up tetra bits, and crushed up flake. They seem to eat everything.
Problem is also on my work days ( which is 5 days a week) i only can feed them in the morning (6am) and then not again until i get home at 6pm. Then another feed before bed around 1000pm. So only 3 feeding a day most days. Ive read i should be feeding 6 a day. Does anyone have any suggstions?
Should i overfeed in the morning so food stays in the tank all day. I dont want water quality issues though. :confused:

[White Worm]

Get yourself an auto feeder to feed while you are at work.
Yes, you should also be upping the wc to daily. Youngins need lots of good food and clean water. What do you have in your other tanks and what is their schedule?

[Harriett]

I'd definitely up the water changes considerably: I'm suggesting daily changes and many people do 50-95%---remember to match water parameters, esp important with the little guys; you might think about using an auto feeder with high quality crushed food when you aren't home and feed frozen /live when you are home. If the fish are healthy, you do massive daily water changes and feed 5-6 (or more) x day, you will most likely get the results you are looking for. Also remember to keep all filter material clean and wipe down the tank often.
Hope this helps
Harriett

[traco]

I definately know it is hard to do daily water changes when working fulltime. But I'd really try to do that if you could swing it.:) And it shouldn't take too long with a 29 gallon.

[Harriett]

Time is an issue for me also in my daily water change regimens because of work. I found that when I switched my drain hose from the python to a 1" interior diameter vinyl hose, I could drain a 40g breeder tank in 4 minutes...it's making all the difference for me! Ask Larry--he's using big drain hoses also and the time saved is crazy--that's who I got the idea from!
Hope this helps,
Harriett

[cobaltblue]

Probably a stupid question , but if the water parameters are all perfect still
after one day ( no ammonia, no nitrites, no nitrates, etc) why do we change the water. It seems we are just swapping good water for good water??

I guess in the end my solution may be just to have adult fish. My three little girls come first for time when i am not working (50 hours a week), so daily changes makes things really tough. I can try though. :o

Thanks Harriet for the tip on the hose...i guess i can get something like that at Home depot?

[Harriett]

Totally understandable--I doubt I could have pulled off raising discus when my kids were little.....but if you can minimize the time to do the maintanence, it might help enough to see you thru?

I have a 75g that I am growing out some 2.5 to 3" babies that are now about 5" or so.
I read a thread a while back about someone who did an experiment with 2 identical tanks and juvie discus--same feed patterns, etc and he did not crowd these fish. On one tank he did daily water changes and the other he did every other day water changes (same very high % changes) and found basically no diff in the growth rates after about 6 months or so. So on this 75, I'd started with daily for a few months and then switched to every other day. I clean the prefilters and do a wipe down of the tank with every water change, and clean all filter material once a week on the weekend.
They are still growing at quite a good rate and I have saved a LOT of time (and $ on the water bill).
Best regards
Harriett

[April]

well...be careful..any swings..in water..ph..they will start spiralling. and i wouldnt suggest a timed feeder with our water. it takes nothing for the water to get bacteria..and again..sprialling and dropping dead when you look at them. usually around 8 weeks of age. best thing..for you..would be to get ahold of live blackworms..leave them on the bottom before you go to work for them to pick at. they wont foul the water..and they thrive on them. and they will last all day.
you leave uneaten food in the tank even for half a day..you will have problems. i run my water through the aragonite or oyster shells or coral when i fill. so im not adding lower ph to higher ph.
our water needs to be spotlessly clean..and yet they dont do well with too big of changes all at once. if they are eating good and they are alive..as long as you dont runt them out. id try for at least 25 percent a day if you can. of course..with only 6..id say every second day is fine. and a timed feeder would be too much food thrown at 6 tiny fry.
as long as they are eating and you see fat tummies..id say your doing good.

[Elite Aquaria]

My water is very soft. Basicly RO water out of the tap.

I feed them frozen blood worms, frozen cyclopeze, crushed up tetra bits, and crushed up flake.

So only 3 feeding a day most days. Ive read i should be feeding 6 a day. Does anyone have any suggstions?

Should i overfeed in the morning so food stays in the tank all day.:confused:

What are your tap water parameters? If not bad use tap mixed with RO or straight tap water. You mention that you have no hardness in your water this is not good for growing out. Also you need to increase your water changes to a daily routine...I would do at least 50-75% daily

In order to maximize growth you need to feed your fry Live food newly hatched baby brine shrimp and CBW. I also like to use micro worms the first few weeks. I would buy an automatic feeder to feed flake 4 x day when you are not home. BBS in AM when you come home then again at night.

No do not overfeed and let the food stay in tanks. This will destroy your water quality which in turn will prevent your fish from growing due to build up of Ammonia/Nitrites/Nitrates

Dan

[korbi_doc]

:D You've had great advice: increase feeding#s with auto feeder, using your crushed tetrabits (set for very small am't several feedings); increase W/C to at least 50% every other day, although daily is always best, & use larger hose, (yes to HD or Lowes); & the live blackworms left all day would really help....I have just one more thought to add: if your water is really close to R/O, you do not have enough minerals in it for the skeletal growth of these babies...you need to add calcium & magnesium....there are several commercial products out there, I've never used'm...but when I used 100% R/O for my fish in NJ, I used a recipe for this from Joe S. calcium sulfate:calcium chloride (aquarium salt): magnesium sulfate(epsomsalts) in a 3:1:1 ratio....this provides the needed ions for bone growth...HTH, Dottie ;)

[CAGE-RATTLER]

As elite aquaria mentioned ........ the low hardness in your water is good for breeding but not for growing out juvies from what ive read. You may want to look into adding some nutrients to your water for grow outs. I have no clue what would be needed but im sure others here do.

Im also with you as far as not doing to many unnecessary WC's...........Especially with only 6 nickel size fry in a 29!

The rise in Nitrates will determine how often you need to do WC's.

Everyones water is different .... so what works for some isnt always best for others.

[April]

buy some aragonite and stick it in a filter bag. and have some in your stored water. you will get better growth and stability. works best for me. ive tried all concoctions. ive had the best results with aragonite. doesnt cause as much ph changes.

[brewmaster15]

Hi Chris,
6 nickel sized discus in 29 gal should be fine with your water changes...more won't hurt them, but unless you are feeding way too much...water quality and growth should be fine.

Are these 6 fry that you bred? or did you buy them?


At 7 weeks they should be really eating like pigs......how actively do they eat?

You may want to change their diet add alittle ....... try Ocean nutrition formula one frozen, or San fran bay marine cuisine frozen... they are messy..so use before your water change...but fry will really grow on them...They are nutrient rich....and I have never had a discus that did not tear into them.

hth,
al

[April]

yeppers brews right. chris. ocean nutrition forumla one frozen is what i use and easy. throw a cube in. mine do very well on that. vacuum afterwards .

[Polar_Bear]

As Harriett said, I am big on water changes (wc), and getting a large diameter hose greatly helps. That said, fry or small discus would probably not fair too well using a large hose. At that size I actually do four 50% wc daily, but I have the time to do this. I would try to up your wc to every day at least, this shouldn't be too time consuming in a 29 gallon.
I also agree with what everyone has already said about feeding, an auto-feeder would probably help as well as nutricious food. Another option would be to feed them CBW if they are available to you. Since CBW are live and live in water you can load them in before you go to work, and not have to worry about your water parameters.
One thing I find curious is that you say they are not growing, I find that difficult to accept. At that size they should be doubling in size at least every two weeks, really in less than that. Are you sure they aren't growing? It's sometimes easy to miss since you see them every day.

[GrillMaster]

Excellent advice!

I have a question... Is 29 gallons of water enough to let sit for to long with uneaten food in it? I would think it would foul the water rather quickly.

[April]

yeah chris..maybe your expecting too much of them. do they have fat tummies and devour food?
yes our water for sure goes bad very fast. thats why i say no to a automatic food dispenser. one cube in the morning..and maybe some worms..and another feed or so in the evenings should do it..some people turn the lights out in the day..and make their day in the evening when you can feed 3 or 4 small feeds all evening.

[cobaltblue]

Ive tried some of the advice given and it seems to be working. My wife seems to think they are getting bigger. Maybe since i see them all the time it is hard for me to tell. I am doing larger changes than before, about 60-70% . Some times every day, the odd day skipped due to time constraints. Ill keep you all posted. Thanks again.