Separating a discus pair

[Alltimegreat]

A co-worker of mine had a discus pair, which had been together for a year or so. He's remodeling his house and decided to get rid of his fish over the next few months. He offered to give me the discus pair, but I really only wanted one discus, so I just took one of them. Anyways, once I put that discus in my tank, it hasn't been eating at all. It just kind of hovers in the corner all day. Is a discus really intelligent enough to be happy or sad?

[Fish from Philly]

Hey there - you'll probably want to read up on discus care in the beginner section of the forum. For starters, discus should be kept in groups because they are school fish. Exceptions can be made if they are a mated pair. You should know the requirements for discus before adding to your tank - mainly water is typically warmer (84 F minimum) and nitrates should be under 10 ppm. There are a variety of BAD tankmates for discus like aggressive and fast moving fish. Lighting and cover are also pretty important. Good luck and hopefully you will understand the requirements of discus keeping before you make decision to keep one or a group!

For what it's worth, discus are the most beautiful fish you can get for freshwater so I recommend reading up and taking the plunge to keeping them! Hope you like doing water changes...

[Alltimegreat]

Thanks for the tips. I will read up on them. Aside from the water changes and heating (which I will figure out as well), is it generally a bad idea to split up a mated pair? Can they really get sad? Mine seems to be.

[John_Nicholson]

They are not intelligent but they are not meant to be kept alone. Most people feel that 6 is the best number unless it is a pair. Also they do not mate for life, they will mate with almost any other healthy discus of the opposite sex. They are not in love. They are animals and not people.

Good luck.

-john

[Fish from Philly]

Well I can tell you it may be sad for variety of reasons so not sure if because no mate or because temp, water parameters, tank
Mates, etc.


Do water changes and make sure tap has same PH and temp as what is in your tank. Stability is key. Do water changes daily until nitrates are under 10. What other fish do u have? Do u have water tearing kit? Post answers and we will help u


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free (http://tapatalk.com/m/)

[troysdiiscus]

Hey Altimegreat, I dont mean this to sound harsh but the reality is if you got this fish from him because it is pretty, big and colorful and plopped him in your tank to keep without reading up on care of discus then you are doomed from the start and so is your discus. Please read some threads on how to care for discus on this forum will shed alot of light.....

[musicmarn1]

Get the other fish back quick, or else you need to give it back OR get 4 more discus for him

[Rudustin]

I don't understand why you took only one fish in the first place? Why not both of them?

[alexsano]

lol probably food budget

[Alltimegreat]

I don't understand why you took only one fish in the first place? Why not both of them?

I didn't know they should be kept in groups or that it was important to keep a pair together. I like to have just one of each type of fish in order to increase the variety. So far I have just been using regular tap water with no chemicals or heaters. I do change the water every now and then and the fish seem to be healthy and fine (except the discus).

[Quintin]

I suppose its not your fault as your friend should have told you how discus work before giving you the fish.What size are your discus.If still small you need to keep water parameters prestine.They are very social fish.I stared with only 2 dint know what i was doing.Got 4 now getting larger tank soon and will add more 6 are minimum.water needs to be higher at about 84 degrees.and you will need water test kit too.You will need something to remove chlorine and amonia.do 50 percent changes daily and wipe tank down often and you will also need good filtration.Discus are great fish and well worth the effort

[alexsano]

I didn't know they should be kept in groups or that it was important to keep a pair together. I like to have just one of each type of fish in order to increase the variety. So far I have just been using regular tap water with no chemicals or heaters. I do change the water every now and then and the fish seem to be healthy and fine (except the discus).

4 months ago i started without a heater and if you ask me, i will buy 1 to control the temperature of the water.

it is not that expensive so why not.