How fast will my discus grow?

[Joshcat]

My wife and I have recently purchased 8 discus and are feeding them 5 to 6 times daily. Can anyone tell me how fast discus grow?

[Eddie]

Depends on many issues, water quality, WCs, diet, genetics, strain, tank size and contents of tank(tank mates) and I forgot...overall health. Sorry I can't give you a definite answer

Eddie

[Joshcat]

They are in a 55 gal bare bottom tank. My water PH is 7.5, KH 3, and GH is 7. I do daily 25% water changes. I keep my tank at 86F. I feed my discus 5 to 6 times a day. They are fed once with frozen boodworms, once with frozen brine shirmp, once with ciclid pellets, and twice with ciclid flakes. My tank is strickly a discus tank.

[Eddie]

8 in a 55 is a bit tight, how big are they?

[Joshcat]

They are only 2 to 2.5 inch discus.

[Eddie]

I am not an expert but I've read that it takes about 9 months for fish to grow fully and thats just a wag. So if you have your fish in the best conditions possible, your fish should grow close to a .5 in a month. Now again, that is pretty fast and others will get different results. It is totally situational and really depends on the quality of the fish and the conditions mentioned above. You seem to have everything under control. Personally I would change more water but thats just me. I have a 55 with 6 fish and I'm hitting 75% daily. I guess 100% would be even better but I'm still waiting for this months water bill! HAHAHA LOL:D

Eddie

[Joshcat]

Thanks for the info!

[allan_mark76]

I would start doing a beef heart mix in your feedings and start doing over 50%water changes. You could also bump up your temp to 88* to increase appetite.

~AKA~

[kaceyo]

8 discus in a 55 should do great at that size. If everything is as good as can be, meaning genetics, feeding and water quality are all in good shape, they can grow up to 1" p/mo for the first 3+ months. Then it starts to slow down gradually.
To get that kind of growth I do two 50% (or bigger) wc's a day and feed heavily with meaty foods like BH mix (twice a day) and FBW's. I also keep the temp at 86F.
There may be other methods that will get the same results but this is what I have used.

Kacey

[Roxanne]

...strain, ..

Eddie

Hi Dude

Does that mean that regardless of conditions, some discus strains won't get as big as others?

:)

[AADiscus]

You can also add some type of worms to there menu. I grow my own red wigglers. You can use earth worms out of the ground also. Just clean them really good. You do need to add some bh to there menu if you want some fast growth. The foods you are feeding now are great foods though. I would up the wc daily or if you can't do that try doing a 50% every other day.

[kaceyo]

Hi Dude

Does that mean that regardless of conditions, some discus strains won't get as big as others?

:)

That's right Roxanne. I had two discus that, when bred together, the fry always were slow growers and ended up as small adults. I could breed either of these two parents with other fish and the results were entirly different. Something about the way the genes paired up in those two fish just led to small offspring.
Also certain strains or lines can inherintly be slow or fast growers, or turn out larger or smaller adults.

Kacey

[Eddie]

Hi Dude

Does that mean that regardless of conditions, some discus strains won't get as big as others?

Hey Roxanne, not exactly, IME it is diet and water conditions that have made my fish grow. I only once had the opportunity to acquire high quality discus and they grew really well. As far as the strains, I know there are certain so called "giant" strains but I have never had any and it may just be a sales gimmick. Maybe an expert can cover that.

Eddie

[kaceyo]

Hi Eddie,
While lots of good clean water and food can have a significant effect on the growth of any strain as compared with fish from the same strain that weren't raised as well, genetics does define the limits of possible growth and if it's not in the genes, all the good food and water in the world won't make them grow big and/or fast.
Like dogs, cats or any other domestic animal, mans manipulations can make them larger, smaller, or anywhere inbetween.

Kacey

[Eddie]

Thanks Kacey! I figured, just like in humans...we are not all created equally! :D

Eddie

[Roxanne]

..I had two discus that, when bred together, the fry always were slow growers and ended up as small adults.
Kacey

Hi Kacey, were they small discus to start with? these ones you refer to above? And what would you call "small"?

Thx in advance
Roxanne:)

[kaceyo]

Hi Kacey, were they small discus to start with? these ones you refer to above? And what would you call "small"?

Thx in advance
Roxanne:)

The female wasn't very large. Maybe around 5" or so. But she had quite a few 7" to 8" offspring and her siblings were all larger than she was. The male I crossed her with that produced the slow growing, small fish was one of my biggest at 8". I was surprised when two batches of fry from that crossing both turned out to be disappointing growers. As I said, I'd had good results from both fish in other pairings.

Kacey