# Stunted Discus Growth



## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

bad water conditions not getting enough water changes I dont think theres much u can do once a discus is stunted


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## Mshen11 (Feb 26, 2013)

other than size what does a stunted discus mean? if it is stuck at small enough size, does it mean it wont breed? or does it mean it wont color up once they reach adult size and will be stuck at juvie size?


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## dinnese (Feb 4, 2013)

Stunted growth meaning that they've been in the tank almost 4 months and haven't put on any considerable growth. I also wasn't sure if I housed them in a separate bare bottom 55 gallon tank if they would start to develop growth.


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## dinnese (Feb 4, 2013)

I also do weekly water changes of 40%


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Discus stunting occurs more frequently, and in greater percentage numbers, in planted/community tanks, due to the general tendency of fish-keepers to not maintain the optimum water quality & conditions and tank cleansing regime that discus should have, along with size and frequency of wcs than say those, for example, being maintained in bb/discus only tanks.

Genetics also play a factor in a small number of runts developing, whether or not the fish are kept in bb or planted tanks.

If some stunting has previously occured due to less than ideal conditions for discus, then if planted tank maintenance and frequency of large wcs are kicked up a notch or two, some stunted discus can be brought back and eventually grow, albeit more slowly, to near normal adult size. So it is possible to gain some growth spurt if the fish are removed from a planted environment, and placed in bb, with attendant better attention to tank cleansing, and larger, more frequent wcs.

Whether or not they do regain some growth, most can nonetheless lead normal, healthy lives, be as colorful as average-sized adult discus, and even breed.


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## Zorfox (Jun 24, 2012)

You could sell them as dwarf discus for $1,000 a pop :icon_lol:


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Further to my foregoing comments, just so there's no misunderstanding, I'm not suggesting that discus which have already become 'stunted' - i.e. whose growth has so far been limited -, to some degree or another, can resume their full growth pattern and eventually attain normal size, if removed from their previously less than ideal conditions, and placed in a bb tank with more attention to tank cleansing and larger, more frequent wcs.

What I am saying is if already 'stunted' discus are then placed under ideal conditions, it is quite possible, perhaps even likely, that they will grow out to be, at least moderately, larger-sized than they would have reached if left in the previous planted environment - perhaps even reaching close to normal size..


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Forgive my long-windedness, but another point to keep in mind, dinnese, is that some discus which are lagging in growth, and may appear to be, or becoming, stunted, may not be stunting at all, but simply slower-growing (again, due to genetics, just as in the case of humans or other animals).

If a discus is lagging in growth behind others, but does not appear to have an abnormally poor eye to body ratio, and is not seriously football-shaped rather than rounder, then it may simply be a slow-grower, whose growth will spurt up in later months behind the others, eventually catching up and attaining a size that is near to the rest of the group, later in the near adult to adult stages.

It's happened to me several times - Some time ago I gave my daughter a 3.5" discus which I felt was stunting, as it was about 1.5" smaller than the rest of a group of the same strain of discus that I had gotten together as smaller juvie siblings.

Lo & behold, a few months later in her tank that discus had grown to be well over 6" and was nearly the largest of her group of similarly-aged discus.


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## lipadj46 (Apr 6, 2011)

Mshen11 said:


> other than size what does a stunted discus mean? if it is stuck at small enough size, does it mean it wont breed? or does it mean it wont color up once they reach adult size and will be stuck at juvie size?


It means they look like crap. Discus are supposed to be big and round majestic fish not some small triangle shaped runts with huge alien looking eyes. They will breed though and color up fine but just look terrible otherwise. Life is too short to have subpar fish when so many affordable high quality imported discus are available for less money than the terrible craigslist or LFS discus you see all the time.


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## Bettatail (Feb 12, 2009)

high temp is require, and some people believe it is the growth inhibit hormone that small fish release in a small water body, so stunted.
no matter what size of filter(or how clean the water) in a grow up tank for discus, only way to reduce hormone is frequent water change, (or heavy inline UV to break down the hormone protein)
That is why a small single discus grow much better in even a small tank with less water change, versus a group in a large tank, because less growth inhibit hormone hazard.


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## lipadj46 (Apr 6, 2011)

LOL are we really going down the "growth hormone" road here? 

sent from an undisclosed location using morse code


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## Brian Mc (Feb 9, 2012)

Growing out discus to full size is tough, much tougher than breeding them I found. 40% a week is not sufficient IMO, everyone has their ways but when I grew out discus 40% a DAY was not enough for me, I did 90-100% daily. Yes I am one of those LOL, I learned the hard way after many years of trying. Also nobody discussed feeding much but one good reason grow out discus need such heavy water changes is to remove the waste from the MANY daily feedings of water-fouling things like beefheart and all the poop. Oh the poop.

I got to the point where I saw it as a race against time-- every missed feeding and missed water change was a fraction of an inch lost off that fish's final size. A lot of work? YES. Final difference was maybe an inch off what I was able to grow with less w/c and food but an inch is a lot on a full size discus. Most people have never seen a truly full size domestic discus, it is very impressive. 

This is all my opinion, not looking for any discus fights LOL. HTH.


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## Bettatail (Feb 12, 2009)

lipadj46 said:


> LOL are we really going down the "growth hormone" road here?
> 
> sent from an undisclosed location using morse code


lol, not sure, it is there or it is just rumor, it was one of the hot topic between discus breeders years ago, without conclusion though.


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## trix25 (Apr 26, 2013)

The other option is to do selective feeding. But discuspaul pretty much covered everything. I used to breed disus and there will always be what I called the "runts". It might also help if you can show us pictures of the little guy.


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

One final piece of information for those of you who may not know:

A discus RUNT is one which is destined from birth to remain small throughout it's lifetime, due to genetic causes.

A STUNTED discus is one which fails to attain normal growth due to being grown out, from it's quite young stages, under less than adequate ( i.e.-meaning far from ideal) conditions and water quality, and a generally inadequate/improper diet.


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## tomfromstlouis (Apr 2, 2012)

Brian Mc said:


> Growing out discus to full size is tough, much tougher than breeding them I found..... Most people have never seen a truly full size domestic discus, it is very impressive.


QFT. 

That is an impressive specimen in your avatar Brian.


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## Fiftymeatballs (Mar 30, 2011)

Could have worms, have you ever qt'd them with prazi?


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