Living without eating for three months!

[Murat]

I have 10 discus and some schools of tetra in a 110g half planted.I raised them with only blood worms till 3 months ago when I quit giving them any blood worms at all.All started eating the tetra discus food in 1-2 weeks time except 3 of them. I have not seen them eating for more than 3 months. Their sizes are almost the same as earlier. I suspect them eating plant remainings but I have not witnessed it. I can post a photo tomorrow. The big yellow one is 5.5 inch the smaller is 4 inch and the smallest is 3 inch. I do 80% water change every week. Temp is 28 Celsius before it was 30 Celsius. How can they survive this long without eating and losing weight. Thank you!
By the way Discus are too strong to call as just fish.

[subcooler]

I'll start off with Merry Christmas to all!
I have seen a few of my discus go for around 2 weeks without eating(3" juvies) & I suspect that they made it by foraging for food when I was not paying attention or they were behind the driftwood/plants(fake).They too also seem to be growing, just didn't seem interested in eating when food added to aquarium.
This didn't seem to odd as were still establishing the pecking order & were just recently introduced to the tank.The large discus is a 4.5" brown who of course eats whatever he wants!
I've been feeding them omega flakes & variety of frozen foods(brine,blood &glass worms & beefheart).They seem to respond well to new frozen foods-wondering how they'll respond to different flakes though?
I hope everyone has a great Chrismas & Happy New Year!
Rob

[baldpate]

I wish I had an answer. I can only respond that I have a similar situation (see thread in disease section) with a fish that used to eat everything and anything that virtually stopped eating anything except picking at plants. It's been 2 months now. I'm surprised it's still alive.

I'm starting to question this paradigm about discus being such sensitive!

[dvarnay]

Hi Murat,

Hope you had a great christmas, as you are only doing an 80% water changes only a week, the discus in question are probably foraging while you are not looking (not on purpose of course) and are they lower in the pecking order if so they might be waiting for the other discus to have their fill and then comming out to forage. I don't believe discus could live without eating anything for three months especially as you have noted that they are looking good and not loosing weight. I would suggest raising the temp back up to 30 degrees C and doing water changes 2 to 3 time a week especially with 10 discus in the tank.

Also what are the paramaters of the tank. ph, nit. nitr. amm. etc.

Hope this helps

[Murat]

Hi! Merry Christmas to everyone! Thanks for the replies. Here are some photos I took yesterday. The biggest yellow one(5.5 inch) look much better than the smaller red melon(4 inch) and the smallest melon(5.5 inch).

[Murat]

Some more photos of the tank. The snake skins, one is 5.5 and the other 4 inch, are in perfect conditions. I have 11 cardinal, 6 lemon, 6 red phantom, 6 silver-tipped, 6 pristella, 6 emperor tetras and 2 rose-line sharks. Almost all the tetras added one and a half month ago except the cardinals(11 days). Rose-line sharks are perfect for discus environment. They never disturb any fish.

[MaryPa]

I never put my Discus in the 125 until I witness them eating whatever i`m feeding the others. I hand feed all my new arrivals and watch to see what they like and what they refuse to eat. This way when they`re put in with the others I know how to feed them.

[hboute]

I have a similar situation in my 75 gallon tank. There is one discus that I bought in October who never eats, occasionally picks at some plants, totally ignores any food (BW, brine shrimp, tetra bits) I feed them. I tried raising the temperature, that did not make any difference. Needless to say that the other discus are growing much faster. Even so, he does not look sick, seems always very relaxed....

[hboute]

This is incredible, but this very day that I posted this message, this discus actually ate from the tetra bits, which he normally ignores! Maybe he read my message...

[Murat]

I think nobody experienced anything like this.I will let you know if they start eating. Thanks..