Making them big fast

[deepflyball]

I have read on here that some clame to put a 1/2" per mounth on there fish.
As a new discus keeper i would to like to grow them fast. How do i do it. ???
i feed all they can handle, and do 50% water changes a day. I Have 11 in a 110 gal and 6 in a 75gal.

Feed beafheart in morning before water change, frozen blood worms at noon, Brim shrimp at 6.00 with a litle more beafheart. I also feed prime reef flakes threw out the day. Clean out there crap at 7 to end the day.
Am i missing some thing ??? Thanks Jerry

[pcsb23]

Hi Jerry,

A lot will depend on how old the fish are.

Discus can grow quickly during the early part of their lives, for the first four or five months it is possible to put an inch or so on them a month. Personally I don't think it is wise to do so, but that is another debate ;)

After the first five/six months their rate of growth will slow progressivly. Some breeders want to grow them quickly to marketable size so they can sell them, as hobbyists it is better to grow them well - i.e. shape and conformity.

I have achieved the same end size by power feeding and by feeding 3x a day at regular intervals (same food types). It just took a little longer the second way, but the fish were generally a better shape.

[keno]

I have read on here that some clame to put a 1/2" per mounth on there fish.
As a new discus keeper i would to like to grow them fast. How do i do it. ???
i feed all they can handle, and do 50% water changes a day. I Have 11 in a 110 gal and 6 in a 75gal.

Feed beafheart in morning before water change, frozen blood worms at noon, Brim shrimp at 6.00 with a litle more beafheart. I also feed prime reef flakes threw out the day. Clean out there crap at 7 to end the day.
Am i missing some thing ??? Thanks Jerry

Hi Jerry, sounds like you have a good plan, however I would question how much nutritional value there is in bloodworms and brine shrimp, and if it were me I would eliminate these everyday and go with beefheart and the prime flakes. Keep them if you want for an odd treat.

Also I would have my temp at 30-31.5c for max growth.

I feed....

Beefheart (shaved)
turkey breast (shaved)
prawns/muscles (chopped)
prime reef flakes/discus flakes
formula one pellets

brine shrimp and bloodworms in freezer for 1x a week treats

Ken

[vera]

Im with Paul on this , the slow the growth - better the shape IMO ofcourse

[tdiscusman]

Jerry,

You can find more information on grow them big here

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=77775

Tony

[JL15219]

Im with Paul on this , the slow the growth - better the shape IMO ofcourse

So the slower the growth the better the shape...really..hmm interesting....

[April]

well..not too slow..then you get to the other end..no wcs..and hardly any food..or too much food..no wcs..then stunted. alot of the fish in asia that are big and thick..have been fed mainly beefheart. they also do huge wcs daily..
bloodworms have been equated with mcdonalds. they love them..but..they need mnore than that. they need vitamins etc they get in fishfood etc.
sometimes growth also goes with the water . where we are..our hardness is about 0. barely registers. we get alot of rain in vancouver..and the runoff water doesnt absorb alot of minerals.
people in eastern canada where theres lots of rock..and harder water..their discus grow faster than the ones here ive noticed.

[JL15219]

well..not too slow..then you get to the other end..no wcs..and hardly any food..or too much food..no wcs..then stunted. alot of the fish in asia that are big and thick..have been fed mainly beefheart. they also do huge wcs daily..
bloodworms have been equated with mcdonalds. they love them..but..they need mnore than that. they need vitamins etc they get in fishfood etc.
sometimes growth also goes with the water . where we are..our hardness is about 0. barely registers. we get alot of rain in vancouver..and the runoff water doesnt absorb alot of minerals.
people in eastern canada where theres lots of rock..and harder water..their discus grow faster than the ones here ive noticed.

Yeah I have always noticed that the fish from asia are always very big and thick....here is a thread where they feed BH mix to some discus and FBW to the others big difference: http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?p=629211#post629211

[Jhhnn]

I don't think you're missing anything- just be sure to supply enough food at each feeding so that when the more aggressive feeders are satiated that there's enough left for everybody else to have fat bellies, too... If it takes 20-30 minutes for them to finish, that's OK. Otherwise, some fish will outgrow the others.

My own experience is limited, but it seems to me that shape is more a factor of genetics than how fast they grow. Genetics will obviously affect growth rate and terminal size, as well.

[Elite Aquaria]

The other very important factor is what strain we are talking about and the genetics of the individual fish...Some fish just have good genes and grow like weeds while others have poor genes and do not grow as large....

For example, Wayne's Blue Knights have great genes and can grow very large quickly and most golden based fish grow slower and smaller.

[gwrace]

I have read on here that some clame to put a 1/2" per mounth on there fish.
As a new discus keeper i would to like to grow them fast. How do i do it. ???
i feed all they can handle, and do 50% water changes a day. I Have 11 in a 110 gal and 6 in a 75gal.

Feed beafheart in morning before water change, frozen blood worms at noon, Brim shrimp at 6.00 with a litle more beafheart. I also feed prime reef flakes threw out the day. Clean out there crap at 7 to end the day.
Am i missing some thing ??? Thanks Jerry

Might I suggest some of Mals freeze dried black worms. They are 66% protein and so far I've seen some impressive growth from using them. Al sells them on this site.