New Juvies skittish?

[redlionvjx]

I just picked up 9 quarter sized discus and they're pretty darn skittish. They're not really taking in much food that I can see, feeding beef heart and flakes but the beef heart just sits there. Temps at 86-89 degrees, in a 10 gal and I have a drip water change system going that replaces nearly all the water within 24 hours. It's been a few days and so far I've considered that their skittishness is due to the new environment. Other than throwing a few tetra's/bristol nose pelcos/ditcher fish in there I'm out of ideas on how to bring them out of their shells and get them to vigorously eat. Will providing more cover for juvies get them to eat more? Thanks

[a volar]

try making manual water changes for a few days and see what happens

[the20tonknuckler]

Soak the food in water with some garlic or buy some Kent garlic extract. The flavor of garlic will often entice them to eat.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

A 10 gallon tank might just be to small for them at this point. Try lowering the temp back down to 83/84 and possibly shorten the period that you have the light on.

[Skip]

Imho

All fish are different. . When moved into new tank they need time to settle in..

It took 2weeks once for some fish i got to settle

Is ur tank new

[Chad Hughes]

Tell us more about the tank.

Is the bottom painted/covered? I'll assume the tank is glass. Glass tanks sit on a frame and the bottom glass doesn't sit directly on a surface. This can cause a mirror effect disturbing the discus, especially babies. You may need to coat at least the bottom of the tank.

What kind of lighting? Too high light isn't great. In fact, ambient room lighting is fine. No need for dedicated light on this tank.

Water. You stated that you have a drip system operating. How is this water filtered? I'm not a huge fan of drip systems. They work (from what I hear) but large water changes are IMHO the best.

[Allwin]

+1

With my minimal experience with juvi's. Some juvis took time to settle in for me. Don't overfeed them and leave them alone for at-least 2 week to explore their new place. Watching the juvis again and again will stress them for sure :) and tank parameters are much needed, cycled?


Imho

All fish are different. . When moved into new tank they need time to settle in..

It took 2weeks once for some fish i got to settle

Is ur tank new

[Allwin]

And, water aged and how long? WC% makes lot of difference too..

[redlionvjx]

Hey all, thanks for the replies. My drip system outputs about 100% of the water daily from mid level using a siphon, and top level using an overflow. I net out any uneaten food. I hold tap water in a 30ish gallon tub and refill when the water is about 2/3. Maybe I will start doing manual water changes if necessary.

10 gal
unpainted barebottom with background
lights turned off for the majority of the time
towel over tank for a day during introduction
feeding beefheart and flakes
temp 86-89
sponge filter

I was told 10 gallon would be best for them at this size, for schooling, feeding, etc so I started them off in that. I also have empty 20L, 30 and 55's available that I could switch up to. It's running a sponge filter that was cycled but saturated in potassium pomegranate for a few hours but maybe I'll throw in a small HOB with cycled material from my other tank in case that was too long of an exposure to the pp.

I'll leave them alone for a while then. There is a fish swap this weekend so if dithers are a good idea now is probably the time to pick up some rummynoses/tetras :)

[pastry]

I'm 100% with Skip on this one. I've also had a crew that was totally like little pups and never spazzed out until I got one of my RCs that is very skittish at feeding time, freaks out real quick, and scares the crap out of the rest even though they come right back (it's just unnerving to me... ugghhh). Give it time though and maybe spend extra time next to the tank reading a book or something.



Imho

All fish are different. . When moved into new tank they need time to settle in..

It took 2weeks once for some fish i got to settle

Is ur tank new

[Greghp90x]

I just picked up 9 quarter sized discus and they're pretty darn skittish. They're not really taking in much food that I can see, feeding beef heart and flakes but the beef heart just sits there. Temps at 86-89 degrees, in a 10 gal and I have a drip water change system going that replaces nearly all the water within 24 hours. It's been a few days and so far I've considered that their skittishness is due to the new environment. Other than throwing a few tetra's/bristol nose pelcos/ditcher fish in there I'm out of ideas on how to bring them out of their shells and get them to vigorously eat. Will providing more cover for juvies get them to eat more? Thanks


Try to find out what they were eating before you get them. If they're not used to the food them they're not going to eat it right away. Also, turn your light off for a few days to let them settle in. Once they start eating then turn the light on.

[star rider]

remember these lil guys are quarter sized and pretty young still. they will have a natural defense mechanism to seek cover. especially since they have been thru a recent move.

my P Altum (got them at dime sized) took about 2 weeks before they figured out.. 'hey every time this dood comes in we get food' ;)

nearly 2 years later,even as adults they do not like sudden ,moves or dark colors(shadows I suspect to them) , their love for food will always draw them out..
I also discovered they like back light turned way down.. tho tank light remains normal.

[strawberryblonde]

Definitely paint the bottom of the tank. Mine were in an unpainted bottom for all of 3 days during a major renovation project and good lord, my normally outgoing discus all hid in the back and refused to eat. They didn't like seeing themselves mirrored on the bottom when they looked down for food. LOL

As others have said, keep the lights low, no need for darkness, but don't flood them with light either.

At this size they should be eating several times a day, so I worry that your drip system isn't going to be able to keep up with the pollutants in the water column. As an example of just how much fresh water they need, I did twice a day water changes which totaled 150% WC per day. That was for sub-adults.

If you're able to age 30 gallons at a time, jump right in and do one HUGE water change per day, then let the drip system do the rest for you.

[a volar]

Toni, fish don't reflect themselves in unpainted bare bottoms.... If you take a look from the top of your tank you won't see reflection, you will see whatever color is on the other side of the glass :)

[strawberryblonde]

Actually, they do see a mirror image of themselves. You see what's underneath when you look down because you're not in the actual water. It's all about light refraction through water, that bounces off the glass bottom. =)

[redlionvjx]

thanks for the replies. They were feeding on beef heart before I picked them up. I saw them eating today so that's good. I'll start doing 90-100% manual water changes along with the drip water changes. I'll try and paint the bottom of the tank the next time I do a water change or transfer them and leave them relatively alone for a while. Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll update in a few weeks on any changes.

[a volar]

Actually, they do see a mirror image of themselves. You see what's underneath when you look down because you're not in the actual water. It's all about light refraction through water, that bounces off the glass bottom. =)

I guess I’ll need to stick my head in the water then....... JK :) .LOL

[Skip]

Do they even look down

[a volar]

Do they even look down

Of course they do!! LOL

[strawberryblonde]

I guess I’ll need to stick my head in the water then....... JK :) .LOL

ROFLMBO - I want pics! :D

[Trevor W]

alot of great advice here and I would just leave them to settle in for a little longer. I also would use a small diameter syphon (not a gravel vac or net) to clean out un eaten food. I can only assume that diping a net in there a couple times a day isn't really helping the issue. A small diameter syphon in my opinion is less intimidating than a net. Hope they start turning around for ya. Best of luck with them.

[redlionvjx]

Hi everyone thanks for all the help. They finally seem to be swimming freely even WITH the light on! Looks like my local water uses chloramines so I ordered some prime which should be coming in soon. I changed over to large daily manual water changes + drip. I have to age the water up to two days,until I get prime, with two air stones AND a power head because the chlorine smell is so overwhelming, giving me a headache if aged only for a 24hrs, and micro bubbles seemed to be stripping the fish of its slime. Today was the first day with 2 day aged water using powerhead and two airstones and what do you know! I don't know much about the quality of the fish, it was just a random scoop by the breeder so I didn't get to pick. Any comments are welcomed as I'm still learning on how to distinguish high quality from lower quality. Thanks!

http://i.imgur.com/x5cBdXi.jpg?1