Does discus ever sleep?

[mohorny]

I know it's kinda of odd question. I know discus don't have eyelids. But

when I turn off the light at night to go to sleep, I wonder Do discus heart

rate start slow down when it rests at night . Do they have REM :rolleyes: (rapid eye

movement ) when they fall into " deep sleep" ;D :sleeping: Just curious, Does

anyone - fresh water biologist have insight into "Does fish ever "sleep" or

in a " subconscious". Any insight of this subject will be greatly apperciated

Thank you to all in advance

[Pat_in_NC]

Hi Mohorny,


Check out this link I think it answers most of your question:

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/may96/827165604.Zo.q.html

Woods Hole Oceanography is certainly a reputable source of info.

Not sure about the rem thing--I think that may be restricted to mammals.

Consciousness is whole other ballgame that all depends on your definition.

I think the simple answer to your question is yes--fish do sleep in some manner that somewhat resembles how mammals sleep.

HTH,

Pat

[mohorny]

Hello Pat_in_NC.

Thank you for replying and the information. I would like to know how fish

sleep time for a long time.

[brewmaster15]

interesting related link....

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chasleep.html

-al

[cobalt]

:sleeping: :sleep:
I read that sleep is a reflex when the fish are in darkness.
hence when we have to work with fish (like carp) we take a wet towel and cover the fishes eyes and they stop floping in a short time and technicaly "go to sleep". 8)

if you turn on the light in the middle of the night (don't do often its cruel 2 the fish) you will see that the discus (especialy young ones) have a totaly diffrent pattern of colors. the bands turn brighter and the background darker. :shocked:

as 2 fish in general- i have seen in night dives in the red sea the famous "parrot fish" :fish: when sleeping it surrounds itself with a protein "bag" like a sleeping bag so other fish can not detect it smell wise .
they sleep so hard i have seen them tagged surgicly with a GPS transmitter without waking up! :bomb:


Cobalt

[mohorny]

Thank you Brewmaster15 and Cobalt for interesting and enlightening

information into external characteristics changes when discus get their

nightly dose of sleep. Of couse I would not turn the light on the middle

of the night, they probably jump out of the tank if the lid is open.

[bokgrasul]

Well.......when I go to sleep (and turn their lights off) they're awake.
When I wake up (and turn their lights on) they're also awake.
I never saw they sleeping.I also don't know anybody who can pretend that saw that.
;D
What do u think? ???

[Ardan]

Hi,
If I go to the tank during the night and use a flashlight, the fish are almost motionless, I guess sleeping.
Fish do start to adjust their eyes to light based on the time of day that they are used to "getting up". they also start to adjust them based on what time of day the lights go off.
Check out the article on "How do bony fish eyes work" here in the biology section.

hth
Ardan :sun:

[scottwheels]

Just an observation of mine - when I go collecting rainbow fish, I can use a bright light to shine on the fish from above, and then slowly net them out of the water. Unless they sense the net's movment through the water on their lateral line, they don't move at all. I think they are asleep for all intents and purposes. It might be the same for discus - I know that they don't eat as ravenenously just after the light turns on, but wait 1/2 an hour and they can barely stay in the water they are that hungry!!

Cheers, Scott

From what I have seen, they rest. Sleep kind if hard when you have no eye lids. But when it is dark they do rest.

Miles

[BlueTurquoise]

Fish rest, that's for sure. On discovery channel they go cave diving and pat sleeping sharks. They are totally asleep in the daylight hours and wake in the evening before sunset to hunt. They even get startled and dart around like crazy when a diver accidently wakes one up. Sharks have a membranes to protect their eyes but they don't have eyelids like mammals do.

When i look at my fish at 1am after over 3 hours of tank lights of they are suspended in the water, motionless and head slightly pointed downwards. I guess they would be sleeping or resting as they don't do the normal waking hours tricks like come up for food when my hand is raised at top of the tank etc. I would say that they were snoring... if fish were able ;D

Chong

[peacfulrvr]

mine definitely sleep. In the morning they are laying in a pile on their sides and it takes them several minutes to start straightening up and swimming again.

[david34]

Check them out middle of the night. When you do that don't turn on the light just use your flash light . Also don't point too close to their eyes.
Than look at their eyes, when they are sleeping their eyes are not RED anymore. I have nine of them and their eyes color change to become plain when is at night. :)

[BlueBull]

peacfulrvr, you fishes have really weird sleep pattern!
Interesting.


In the morning they are laying in a pile on their sides and it takes them several minutes to start straightening up and swimming again.

Mine don't collapse in a pile to sleep, they just stop swimming and are suspended in the water.

[AquaMan1]

Quote:In the morning they are laying in a pile on their sides and it takes them several minutes to start straightening up and swimming again.
lol sounds like something is wrong with them, and yes all fish sleep they just don't swim around that's why you really should turn the lights off because they don't have eyelids.

[engiskhan]

awhile ago, I had some tetras and I got up for water or something in the middle of the night. I checked the tank out and the tetras were doing something weird. they were lined up on the bottom in a group, all facing the same direction. they reminded me of a bike gang on the road. periodically, one of them would move to another spot and they'd all move and then they'd all sit in the same pattern again right on the bottom.

I've noticed my discus all hang in one spot bundled all together and they seem to be asleep or something close to it. they're not very alert at that moment. One time I observed one floating at the bottom near the front and his eyes were darting around fast like he was dreaming.

[Lauren]

Well, I know my angels at night they sink to the bottom, and kind of use the bottom to support themselves, head a little downward nearly touching the bottom also(not on their sides). When the light goes on, they immediately start to slowly float up & about 30min later they are fully 'awake' and begging for food.

I dont know about my discus yet, due to the flukes they are quite motionless day & night - except for when the 2 small ones decide to battle for afew moments, not terribly hungry either (although they try to eat red wigglers, and sometimes suceed). Poor things... I got the prazi in there today, hopefully they'll be feeling good soon! ;D

[M0oN]

Don't know if it's been said yet or not but the fish do lose a lot of their color at night, especially pure red strains like MP's...as far as never actually seeing them sleep...well they don't have eyelids so I'm sure just about anything moving outside the tank will startle them...they are definately less active in the dark, though, almost motionless and mine generally rest at a slight angle which would suggest that they are relaxing somehow...

[brew1]

I agree with Moon. My discus usually turn a darker color which is very noticable when I turn the lights on in the morning. My red based SanMerahs and Red Covers are the most noticable with my blue turks a close second.

They actually seem quite comatose when they are sleeping with several leaning against the glass or the bottom of the tank.

The other night they woke me up with their snoring.

[tommytrend]

hi im biologist and can answer your questions about that fact
fish normally never sleep(i mean like mammals)
they have different neurvous system thats why they are just retired like we lay on bed or sofa
we dont sleep but we feel better
on the other hand rem is impossible till birds
reptile and fishes couldnt have rem
but reptile can sleep like us




more?

[Cosmo]

I read somewhere, I think it was Degan Discus, that Discus sleep on the bottom of the tank. In all the years I've kept Discus though I've never noticed that, unitl, got up way early one morning a few months ago, and there they were, all 12 Discus in the tank on the bottom - upright, not lying down though lol.

All the fish were healthy, and, once the room lights had come on for a few minutes they all went back to their usual places. When the tank light came on, indicating feeding time was near, they went into their "feed me feed me" routine. Were healthy before this observation and were healthy after and ever since.

Have yet to observe this again though, they usually just appear to be floating in place when the lights are dim.

Weirdest thing I ever saw.

[caca]

i dont know discus ' case is same as arowana's. i know that aro sleep when night comes or the surrounding darkens though from our naked eyes we can't tell the difference. i believe they do sleep in a secret manner

[Departure]

I can confirm my discus sleep and sleep heavy, I bought 3 new discus today and for some reason I woke up at 1am and decided to check on them, I found one of the new ones and one of my other ones leaning up against some driftwood at the bottom of the tank, I turned the light on and they didn't move(low light) it had me really worried because I just added new fish and did a water change before picking them up. Anyway I also noticed the rummy nose tetra's had a faded red nose, I immediately thought something has happen. I broke out the water test kit in a panic and started testing all parameters of the water, by the time I got through testing everything they where already moving around except one of the discus which he moved to another place in the tank and was floating on the bottom slightly leaning to one side. I threw in some blood worms and next minute all the discus was back to normal and the rummy nose had there bright red noses again... really weird but I put it down to heavy sleepers.... and yes the water parameters where perfect

[DISCUS STU]

Yes, they definitely rest but do they sleep? Per chance to dream? This is a relative term humans and other mammals such as dogs, cats, monkey, sleep dream, REM etc. This has been scientifically documented. Fish being less brainy don't seem to do the second part but they do seem to need their rest.

In Jack Wattley's book from the early 90's, "Discus for the Perfectionist" he asked about 20-25 well established Discus keepers if they turned off the lights, which I assume would be conducive for sleep/rest. The answer from a number of them was, "no". Some of them never seemed to even dim the lights. Why? I have no idea. Their electric bills must have been phenomenal.