How to Ensure Proper Discus Growth: Understanding Eye Size and Preventing Stunting

[@blacklabel99able]

Another great video!

[@shelleraquatics]

Thank you!

[@SandyDoughty]

Very beautiful!!!

[@shelleraquatics]

Thank you so much Sandy, I glad you stopped by!

[@dannyaquatics]

Wow that's awesome looking discus. I've always wanted to have a few discus.

[@shelleraquatics]

Go for it! They are not hard. Keep em clean. keep em warm and good food. Find a good source to buy them and it is totally possible

[@Joes_Aquatics]

Thank you for this, I always wondered what this meant!

[@shelleraquatics]

You bet!

[@Smalltimetanks]

My buddy got 3 discuss recently in hard water! If he keeps alive a long I might try he he he

[@shelleraquatics]

I keep all my Discus in Hard water even my wilds. 8.2 Ph 300ppm. Unless I'm breeding. Go for it! There easy to keep with a little good information! Steve Heller

[@DiscusNT]

They adapt, my water comes out 8.(off the charts). Tell him to try the RV style hose block filters, cheap and only 5 micron. But they knocked me down to a 6.4 to 6.6 simply by removing enough to lower the TDS.

[@SickDiscus]

Is there anything additional to prevent stunting other than feed 3 times a day and watch them?

[@shelleraquatics]

It helps to start with quality or great genetics

[@Alex_Correa]

So the normal is for the smaller fish to have bigger eyes than the bigger fish? I don't understand the language of the number related to the eyes.

[@shelleraquatics]

Take their existing eye and stack it it above and below. So their existing eye is #1 put the same size eye above it that is #2 and keep putting eyes above it until you run out of space. Now let's say you counted 2.5 eyes above. Now take the existing eye and move it down that is 3.5, keep going until you run out of space. If you can count 2 more eyes you have 5.5 eyes

[@Alex_Correa]

@@shelleraquatics Thank you so much. I would never be able to even think of that in regards to the numbers/eyes. I hope the other people already knew what to look for. Thanks again.

[@juanescobar994]

You know i feel like a few of mine have stunted in fact I now. Did all the water changes and all the food idk. I’m gonna grow these guys out and see what happens with the next batch. I think some of my fish were stunted when I got them just do to eye size which was disappointing considering where I bought them. They claim to hand pick them. But is what that is at this point. Still love my little scary cats

[@shelleraquatics]

Discus are hard to grow, I still mess up every now and then. Don't stress on it. It is a total art form and sometimes it happens. I'm going to put out a few videos on what i learned so far. A lot of people will hate what I have to say but I had learn the hard way and I feel I still don't have it all figured out! They are unlike any fish and very challenging to grow correctly. Definitely a reason why they are so expensive!

[@juanescobar994]

@@shelleraquatics I’m definitely understanding why they’re so expensive. I wanted to get in to this hoping to make discus cheaper for the lfs and locals. But Idk if you can

[@shelleraquatics]

Dont give up!

[@DiscusNT]

@@juanescobar994 I picked several already stunted fish in the begging, it's part of the learning curve. Small eyes thick foreheads, and happy to see you close to the tank. Otherwise pass. Find a good shop so you can select them, ask what day their Discus orders arrive, and get them out of the fish shop tanks ASAP.

[@juanescobar994]

@@DiscusNT thanks you. Appreciate the words. I knew when I got into this world of discus there was definitely going to be things I never expected. And to who ever reads this. 100% this is about growing discus from fry to past 4” to breed. When it comes to caring for a display tank I think it can very easy and definitely not hard. It thanks discus North

[@kashifs786]

YUP

[@shelleraquatics]

Thanks 😊

[@DiscusNT]

Every site I google claims adult Discus size is 8" to 12". 12" is totally possible, it's well documented not at all rare. What's rare is people who pull it off.

[@shelleraquatics]

I think that is a MAN thing! If you are a fisherman you know what im talking about. Discus fish typically grow to be 4.8-6.0 inches long, but some captives have reached 9 inches . Adults typically weigh 5.3-8.8 ounces . Males may be larger than females, but there is no clear sexual dimorphism. There is a Tall Tale of a 17 inch 10 lb. discus being caught in the wild but no pictures can be found! and the story is it died quickly in captivity.

[@shelleraquatics]

If you have ever held a 9 inch Discus it is massive and breathtaking. Ive personally have owned 3 in 35 years and maybe seen a dozen! 10" Is possible but 1 in a million in my opinion, im still looking. I had a guy tell me he had a 12 inch discus i was intrigued. When we pulled it out to measure it came in at 8.5, still big but not a foot long.

[@DiscusNT]

@@shelleraquatics Ya I agree no sexual dimorphism, one of my largest fish is a female.

[@DiscusNT]

@@shelleraquatics I know they do not all get big, I am hoping to see at least a few monsters in my 1st grow out batch I have going here. I am going to start raising up a second batch soon. Now that I know what to look for selection will go better, and my learning curve won't be slowing them down.

[@shelleraquatics]

I also Think there is some confusion on Standard length (SL) and Total Length (TL) I was trained by old school Fish keepers that only measured in SL. Tip of mouth to the base of the tail (peduncle).