Juvenile Discus

[sayid]

Hi Sabrina;
There is no hard and a fast rule but most expert say that a good discus should have a shape of circle and should have a small sized eye compare to the size of the body and the way this is measured is that if you draw a line through the eye you should be able to fit at least 7 eyes on that line . There is a thread by hollowman 0n this site which he has drawn it with pictures . i suggest you have a look .The first picture is defiantly stunted and the second one a bit better but still stunted ,i feel trouble being negative to you since you have a lot of love and enthusiasm towards your hobby but you want the truth as well so here we are , having said that it still makes a lovely pet but you will not choose to breed it . The best thing i can advise you to do is to read read and read .
Hope this helps

[Sabrina]

Hi Shiney,
Thank you for your comments, i do see what you say about him. Now though im in a spot of bother as i have asked for the shop owners to hold him for me and its been almost a week, so i feel obligated to buy him
Considering my other Discus are also stunted and not the right shape i guess he wont look out of place in my tank, he will fit right in. So i guess i will have not so perfect bunch of Discus fish for myself. They will be known as the odd balls, but i will love them just the same!

[Sabrina]

Hi Sayid,
I didnt see your post before i wrote to Shiney. Thank you so much for your comments too. Yes i did know to fit 7 eyes in the head of the discus and i knew by looking at the blue one i could only fit 5 eyes in his head. But as i said to Shiney, he may not be perfect but neither are my other Discus, so i guess im going to have an odd bunch of fish. But i will care for them and love them like they are my babies even though they are not perfect. Perhaps after i have gone through this learning curve as a first time Discus owner i will know better next time. I have dreams of getting a much bigger tank in the near future, i know my Discus will out grow the 4 foot tank i just brought them, so i guess i will need a 6 foot next time round. My heart tells me that even though i know these fish are not of the best quality, they still deserve to have a loving home, and that i can do

[Hollowman]

Time to wait for better stock. Another key element in keeping discus is patience, you can find better.

[Sabrina]

Hi Hollowman,
Is it possible that even though my Discus are stunted they will grow up alright? Is there a chance they will be good in the future?

[Hollowman]

Its not going to win a trophey, but you can give it a good life and it will grow. Just do the best you can for your fish and enjoy them.

[Sabrina]

I will, thank you

[Hollowman]

Just as an example, here are some juvies I had a few years ago, about 7cm. Look at the eye ratio, meaning how many eyes can you fit in a vertical line up through its head. 6 to 7 is good. Then compare yours and you will see the difference



And as adults

[Sabrina]

Oh i see what you mean! Those are nice discus hollowman... Thankfully though, i wont be breeding mine so no problem there, unless they sneak babies in lol

[Sabrina]

Hi guys!
Its been a month roughly since i got the little grey discus Dingo and Little Blue the blue diamond. They are both doing well, sneaking in some food when they can as my 2 bigger discus are bullies to them
The little grey one is starting to color up, his getting blue through his top and bottom fins and his head too. They have grown a little bit i think.. Here is a recent photo of them..