Why isn't my discus growing?

kmail5776

kmail5776

SR20 Powered
Nov 28, 2005
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I have two Blue diamond discus in a 30 gallon which I bought in november of 06. They were both 2.5 inches. Also in the 30 gallon is another random discus which was bought about 6 months ago. One blue diamond is about 6-7 inches, the other, about 5. The random discus has now caught up to him in size. When studying him, I noticed that his eyes were slightly bulged out, like a bubble eye fancy goldfish. Of course, not that bad, but his eyes do bulge out a bit. And also his eye looks a little big compared to the random discus. I think I stunted him, possibly all three, even though I do 2x a week 100% water changes.

I notice that when I'm feeding my fish, he has trouble actually eating. When I drop in worms, and its a big mass, he has no trouble hitting the mass. But individual worms, he's missing left and right. It gets worse when I feed flake. Oh well, I think I'm just venting, since its been a while since my last post. Please throw me suggestions, comments, everything you got.
 
I agree with you when you say you stunted them. Discus should be kept in a 55g tank minimum because of their potential adult size of 8". It sounds like they didn't quite make that size.
 
It is quite possible that the fish has vision problems, it's not unheard of in discus. That alone would account for less growth than he might have achieved with good vision. Your discus are only about 15-16 months old if you purchased them at 2.5" and they were only a couple of months old at that size, they still have some growing to do. Discus continue to grow until about the age of 2 years, some faster than others. Some will never achieve dinner plate size if it is not in the genes. The AVERAGE discus is 6-7 inches when full grown. Very, very few get beyond 7 inches, even with slam feeding them. Some stop growing early regardless of the great food and water changes. Most people that raise a group of young discus from the same batch under the same conditions will see some variation in the growth and the possibility of a runt. I don't think you're doing so bad at all. There's nothing you can do about his vision problem, but as long as he keeps eating, he'll be fine. I'd be sure to get a mass of FBW in front of him at each feeding to give him a little advantage over the others.
 
I think we'd want to know what size he was when he was put in the tank before we go saying you stunted him. That said a larger tank would be better generally. I don't keep 'em but what pinkertd said seems to make sense
 
if you want discus to grow you need to feed them often (4 X daily)
you should also be preforming several smaller water changes rather than 2 100% water changes.
if you feed them daily you should consider daily water changes 20-30% with some larger changes in between.

they are foragers so leave the food in there with them for a bit Usually removed ater 20-30 minutes(hence the small daily water changes.).
also how is their color..it is possible you may have a runt or a fish infected with an internal parasite.
if it is feeding consider adding anti parasite meds to the food.
Deb is correct most discus hit the 6-7" range and are considered full sized.
also consider a larger tank as a 30 is pretty small for 3 discus.
 
Thanks for the feedback all. Coler, the blue was 2.5 inches when it went into the 30 gal. tank. Same as the other blue. The other random discus that went into the tank was about 3 inches when he went into the tank. Random discus has now caught up to the blue in growth, as they are both 5 inches now.

I doubt there are any parasites, as the discus seem healthy, free swimming, and eating. They don't even mind much when I do the 100% water changes. They patiently wait on their sides until I start filling up the tank again. The only oddity is the one blue's telescopic eyeballs.

Unfortunately as for space and feeding, I'm kind of limited to both. I live in a condo with a roommate, and really no space for a bigger tank. The 30 is as big as it gets in my place. But I'm really attached to my fish, can't let go of them just yet. And since I work days, I generally feed twice a day, worms, and flake food. Sometimes just once a day.

Color is very good. Both blues have very good blue coloring. The other discus has really nice blue lines contrasted by orange/red coloring.
 
dun't sound stunted to me - but again a bigger tank would be nice, in an ideal world.
 
kmail5776 said:
Thanks for the feedback all. Coler, the blue was 2.5 inches when it went into the 30 gal. tank. Same as the other blue. The other random discus that went into the tank was about 3 inches when he went into the tank. Random discus has now caught up to the blue in growth, as they are both 5 inches now.
Click to expand...
I still don't understand why you call the third discus "random". Was it because you have not identified the strain? Do you have pics of the third one?
 
discus, like many other cichlids, may exeprirnce growth more quickly when young and developing.

once they reach around 4-5" they may slow in growth.

commonly they reach about 6-7" as a normal size and given they may see growth during most of their lives(10+ years) it may take time to reach their full size.

if you feed them 2X daily they may not grow as quickly as a discus recieving 3-4 feedings daily.

but they should be fine.
 
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