question about stunted growth

[captmorgan23]

I am a very experienced aquarist with a background in large scale freshwater fish breeding as well as reef tanks and all things saltwater. I have not been involved in the hobby for years except for the occasional popping into a fish store. Recently I rescued a tank from a friend who was moving, and got completely sucked back in. I have always wanted to have and breed discus and so I jumped at the chance to grab some juveniles to grow out. After reading a TON I have this question...are these babies stunted? I bought them from a shop that has a large amount of very healthy discus, and since I have gotten them they have eaten at least 3 times a day, ravenously. I have been doing 20% water changes every other day. I am asking this question to increase my knowledge on buying discus.


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[Skip]

not too bad.. would not really say there are stunted at this moment..

HOWEVER!
you need to get rid of the black gravel..
they are Pigeon Bloods..

they will start getting black specks/dots all over.. black substrate does that..

for growing out.. you should just remove the substrate.. you would be amazed at how much food/junk is left.. you don't see cuz of gravel.. how many fish are in that tank?! are the filters cycled? or this a brand new tank?

[Poco]

The first one looks like it might be stunted, not sure as pretty new to discus myself.

On a different note the dark substrate might cause peppering for your pigeon bloods.

[Skip]

of the two.. pic one does to have a larger eye to body ratio.. BUT.. i have seen worse.. so not too bad

[shoveltrash]

I'm always amazed at how funny looking juvie discus can grow into gorgeous fish. so they're not necessarily bad - but, upping water changes, getting rid of substrate will definitely help prevent stunted growth.

[captmorgan23]

The fish in the tank with black gravel was getting pretty bullied and was not eating so I put him in a tank with a betta. He was a little freaked out by the bare bottom so I put gravel in. He started eating immediately. The tank is new but I filled it with water from the tank I pulled him from and used very seasoned sponges from the canister filter in a HOB filter. I have then been doing 20% water changes since then. PH is neutral and there has been no ammonia,nitrites or nitrates. Temp 84. I will pull the gravel out today now that he is being spunky.


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[Skip]

be aware!

mixing fish from different sources can be bad!

i had like 30 female bettas to grow out.

added some other fish from 2 different sources..

wiped out bettas in 7 days..!!
only have 1 champion left :(

so i will NEVER MIX Discus

[captmorgan23]

Now I'm all paranoid I bought inferior fish at premium prices...so I posted a pic of my Blue Diamond. He is about 3-3.5 inches and the other two little guys are about 2.5 inches....I just pulled all the gravel from the tank I put the bullied fish in and the other two discus are living in a 55 gallon tank with a canister filter and plants. I change about 20% of the water on the 55 every other day...and am on a schedule to change about 25% on the 20 gallon that the timid dude is living in...he is finally eating voraciously and seems cool without the gravel.



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[202690]

They're nice! i'd say a little bit stunted due to the eye size to body ratio. Don't worry i just got burnt through an unseen shipment a lot worst...

[GeauxDiscus]

To grow out juvies you need to be vacuuming the waste from the bottom and doing 50% water changes DAILY... otherwise they will eventually end up stunted. If you lose the gravel, it will make this daily chore MUCH easier.

[Bill63SG]

The simplest thing for discus health is daily large water changes while you are growing them.Do what you can do,but what you are doing is not considered enough by most,including me.I do 90% on my juvies,but if that seems extreme to you,try to shoot for atleast 50% daily.

[du3ce]

u can try painting the bottom of your tank, theyre prob freaked out by seeing their reflections

[William Palumbo]

Your blue fish is not a BD. A solid turk, or Cobalt maybe...Bill

[Madaboutdiscus]

Your blue fish is not a BD. A solid turk, or Cobalt maybe...Bill

I have one looks just like that one. Breeder called it a Flachen cobalt. Has an occasional green tint it also is supposed the have a snakeskin gene. Mine is dotted with small orange dots though.

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[William Palumbo]

Could be a Flachen too. Flachens do have a green tint/sheen. Tho usually associated with German strains. I believe flachen/cobalt is conflicting. Two different colors. One or the other...Bill

[yim11]

The green makes me think something other than BD also, but when I was breeding [the hell out of] a pair of Hans BD every now and then I'd get one with a eye bar, I kept em but someone made me an offer I couldn't refuse and now I don't have those eye bar offspring anymore. They held it to 3.5" when I had em.

[kumarabhi2]

I have a pair who didn't grow too much in younger age,but after year picked up and grew good size ,not optimum though