Discus fish always spooked

[KarlaIsobelle]

I have a breeding pair in my tank with no other fish. i've had them for four weeks now and im new to having discus fish. My ph balance is 6, the tempature in the water is 29c and 350 litres of water in a 3ft. i change 50% of the water every night to make sure they have a clean tank. One of them gets very spooked and panicks it swims across the tank a very fast pace bumping into the glass of the tank and always ends up swimming on its side then hides up in the corner of the tank. it appears to be very dark and dull. I'm worried incase it ends up really hurting its self.
Is there anything i can do to stop this? Please help!!!

[Debow]

Same thing happened to me when I got my first pair they still hide most of the time.

[strawberryblonde]

Have you painted the back, sides and bottom of the tank white? (the outside of the tank, not the inside)

Discus can spook easily and I've found that pairs will spook even more often if the tank is unpainted. I have a tank that's painted on the bottom and back, but not the sides, so when I have a pair in it I tape white cardboard to the sides to keep them calm.

If you've already painted the tank and they are still spooking, give them time to adjust to the tank and spend more time sitting in front of them, moving your hands in front of the tank, etc so that they get used to you and your movements.

[Phillydubs]

Toni is spot on great advice. I echo those sentiments and had the same issues with my office tank. They are a group not a pair but they took some time to settle down and now they don't spook at all and are very relaxed ... Just give it time and as Toni said get infront of the tank and they will calm down.

[rickztahone]

Great advice by Toni. I would also mention that not wearing black during this time would help as well. They tend to spook more easily with black color shirts.