Discus won't eat

[lagger]

Hi all, this is my first post. Friday I brought home 3 beautifull Blue diamonds about 3.5" long...Round? I am having a terrible time coaxing them to eat. I've tried frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp (i know junk food) flake, sinking, floating pellets..... and all they do is shy away from it all. The same day I also brought home a juvenile jacobfreibergi peacock who was more than happy to eat his share of it all. These guys are all housed in a 55 gal. tank with a 3" plecostomus, 3 tetras, and a 3.5" blood parrot. Water temp. is 78-80, water is hard with ph of 8, The LFS told me that the hatchery they came from has hard water and high ph also. So they should be acclimatized, and they do look healthy. Another thing he told me was that he got them from the hatchery the same day i picked them up(this was told to me before i took them home, and like a dummy i didn't ask to see them eat). I won't blame the LFS for selling me fish just to sell them because he is genuinely concerned. He has called me twice now to see how they are doing and said if they don't eat by monday he will come over to see what he can do. Has anyone else had this sort of problem or are they just still getting used to the new environment? By the way it's Sunday morning now and i'm writing this just after watching them shy away from some more brine shrimp.

[Abercrombie6202]

The other fish could be stressing them out a little bit. I own a red Blood parrot fish and i know i could not put her with my discus, she's jsut a bit too aggresive. I would try feeding CBW (california Black Worms) or regular BW (black Worms), from what i know they look the same too me, lol. It's okay it took my discus one week to start eating, so don't be worried. A healthy discus cna go along time without food, atleast 10 to 14 days

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Lagger and welcome to Simplydiscus :wave:

The hardness and pH of your water are most likely not the problem. The temperature is! Discus need warm water. I would suggest 84 - 86 degrees. Another problem I see is that discus are not very aggressive. Your African and Parrot will outcompete the discus for food every day.

You need to rethink your tank. Decide if you want to grow out discus or if you want a community with africans, etc.

If you decide you want discus, juveniles grow best in a bare bottom tank with daily or every other day water changes. I would bump the temp up to 88 and add 2 tablespoons salt per 10 gallons. Can you find out what they were eating before they came to the pet store?

[lagger]

Thanks for quick replys! Honestly the BP and peacock seem to be leaving them alone for the most part. Parrot will swim with them at times but doesn't "nudge" them. and the african could care less.....I think he thinks he is a tetra... because he's constantly schooling with them. So I've been going to one side of the tank and wait till the tetra's, including their new buddy, and parrot come over begging. Feed them, and while they eat drop food in front of the discus. also I notice that one of the dicus will take nips at the plastic plants in the aquarium but not at the food. I'll bump the temp up, and will relocate the BP and african to another tank if they start to get aggressive....but so far (knock on wood) they all seem happy together. The discus go out exploring and if they run into another fish, they don't spook.......... it sure is fun watching them discover new stuff, one "finds" something and they all have to investigate!

[Mykiss]

Welcome Lagger!

As for your fish, maybe they need a few days to get used to the new home. I am sure they would start eating once they see every one else eating and once they really become hungry. good luck!
PT

[Brian-pdx]

I'll go along with Carol on the temp, but as I have plants, I only went to about 82. But depending on what they were at in the store, it could be enough. Also, the consistent advice around here about using 1-2Tablespoons salt (non-iodized) per 10 gals with the temp increase has helped my skitterish fish. Add the salt once, and let it decline with water changes. No real need to dose it consistently after they settle down...

[Abercrombie6202]

Well now you have to ask yourself. What is more important to you? Discus or Plants?

I learned that from Carol!!

[aqua]

Lagger,
I agree with Carol. If you want to grow out your discus, you better find a new home for the peacock and the blood parrot.

[Rick_May]

lagger,
take Carols advice. You've come to the right place to learn about taking care of discus. but any advice isn't worth a thing if you've already decided your not going to listen. your setup isn't sutable to keep discus, discus do require more than than the tetras and other community fish. Im not saying they are hard to keep but they do have diffrent requirements than the run of the mill petstore varity mix. as for the diffuculty geting them to eat, that relates to your low temptures, to solve the discus problems jump the tempture to 90. this will also remove most of the other problems with the other fish because they will die. additionaly add a table spoon of salt per 10 gallons.

[Miles]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[lagger]

Hi again all! I just wanted to update on the 3 discus that were not eating. They are eating now! Like little piggies! Carol, thanks for advice, I took the african and parrot out, added salt, and slowly raised the temp. At 86 degrees they started eating and come to the front of the tank when they see me. Rick-may, thanks for the slap in the face.....sometimes I need that to show me the reality of the wrong thing that I was doing. Honestly I didn't realize that the temp change would "fry" the others in the tank. But it showed me I need to do more research on the fish i try to care for. Once again, Thanks to all of you out there for your help!

[TUBBAZ]

well that is a lesson to be learnt if the discus stop eating for no reason there trying to say hey u if you dont change this tank i will kill my self and that will be youre money gone hah!

oh well thats i believe my discus communicate with me in a way lol