Discus Comparisons

[PaulineMi]

Following Liz's thread which shows her discus spawn from tiny free swimming babies to how they look currently helped me see something.  Watching her youngsters' shape and size changes is very interesting.  It got me to thinking about the care and growth phases of discus.

It's stressed that discus will not grow to their full potential, becoming stunted and football shaped without high quality food and lots and lots of water changes.  I can totally see this in one of my discus and how it has kept the shape of a discus much younger than it is. While Liz's discus are obviously beautiful fish a light bulb came on in my mind looking at their photos and developmental stages.

The picture below shows a Rafflesia (reddish fish) that will not eat with the other discus in the tank unless it's when I feed freeze dried blackworms.  It was also a fish that was quite shy up until recently. This guy has not grown since he came here in March of this year except for maybe getting a bit longer...i.e., football shaped.

The second discus in the picture is a blue diamond that arrived at the same time as the Rafflesia.  The blue diamond was a tiny almost two inch fish. Mike gave him to me "to play with". As the photo shows the blue diamond is now larger than the Rafflesia and has a much better shape.  (As a matter of fact I'm kind of proud of how it's turning out.) This is a discus that eats like a pig and has a relatively bold demeanor. 

Some stress and being picky eaters has a profound effect on these fish. I can only imagine what my Rafflesia would look like if I hadn't kept up with water changes. 

[LizStreithorst]

That BD is an excellent fish.  I'm proud of you for doing such a great job.  I'm proud of Mike with sending you a fish with such potential as a gift. Mike can tell the potential of a young fish way better than I can. 

With the Raf, I think it's a pecking order thing.  There is often one in a smaller group that doesn't have the gumption of the others.  If you remove the smaller fish they will just start intimidating the next lowest fish in the pecking order.  With all the other fish doing well, I would leave things be.

You could always treat.  Fish that eat and don't gain have worms.  Fish that don't eat have Hex.  I if you want to treat let me know and I'll tell you how. 

[PaulineMi]

I never thought about the possibility of hex. I had a LFS angelfish a couple of years ago with it. I treated with high heat and metro.  It recovered. Is that what you do?

[LizStreithorst]

High heat helps.  I go with 400 mgs per 10 gallons for 10 days.  Replace the med for the entire tank volume.  Don't just replace what you have taken out with WC.  If I were you I would not treat unless you see a problem in another fish.  What you do is up to you, of course.

[PaulineMi]

Actually all of the discus including the Rafflesia seem fine.  They nibble at my hand while I do water changes and swarm my hand when I press FDBWs against the glass. There's been spawning in the tank and overall a healthy level of activity.  I think the Rafflesia is just the proverbial low man on the totem pole....in addition to only wanting to chow down on FDBWs.

And thank you for the compliment on the fish and my growing it out.

[BallAquatics]

Sounds like you have an under achiever to me Pauline.  When you have a spawn, you have some over achievers that are just a bit quicker growing and larger than the majority of the normal fish.  You also have some under achievers that for whatever reason lag behind the group of normal fish.  I've always assumed in nature these guys are the first to go.  You know, survival of the fittest and all that.  In our tanks though, the environment is much less competitive and hostile so these fish survive.

As always, very nice looking fish you have there and wonderful photography on your part.

Dennis

[PaulineMi]

Yes Dennis, I agree with you totally.  Living in the relative safety of the discus tank has allowed for a personality to surface in this guy.  How can one resist this:

[BallAquatics]

Perhaps she is not show quality, but she is a very beautiful looking fish.  Your photographic skills are nothing short of amazing Pauline.  Thanks for sharing!

Dennis

[P4Angels2]

very beautiful looking fish

[Mugwump]

Nice smile .....pretty

[PaulineMi]

I posted that close up picture on a local fish forum. The subject line is "Discus Mugshot". The forum administrator contacted me asking if he could use this picture on the index page. Looks like this little fish has a special place in fishdom afterall....besides in my tank that is. 

[BallAquatics]

That's cool.  Congratulations!   

Dennis

[LizStreithorst]

That's funny.  Congrats.

[wsantia1]

That's very nice. See what happens when you take great pictures.

[PaulineMi]

Thanks.

And I don't know how I managed to put a smilie where the letter D should be in my previous post.  Lol.

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