I thought Discus were suppose to be peaceful?!?

[lizandcourtney]

Hi, I'm Liz. I'm a newbie to keeping Discus but not a newbie to the hobby. I've had FW tanks for many years and even had a mini reef for a few years.

I currently have a 55 gal Discus tank and a 29 gallon community tank. Before I introduced my Discus to the tank I had a small school of neon tetras, and 2 cockatoo cichlids. When I introduced the Discus they were nice to everyone. Last night, I added a small school of bleeding heart tetras, and they (mainly my Emperor Red) has been harrasing the bleeding hearts, chasing them around the tank, trying to eat them, and even started going after the neon tetras. The bleeding hearts aren't mature, but they are by no means small enough to even fit in their mouths. I don't get it!?! I know Discus are cichlids and therefore, can get nasty, but why now all of a sudden? I'd like to keep at least one small school of tetras as dither fish, otherwise I'm afraid my Discus will never come out of hiding....

Liz

[Eddie]

Yup, thats the cichlid temperament and extremely territorial. I used to say if it can fit in their mouth, I wouldn't mix them but now, I just don't mix them as my discus hunted out and murdered my corydoras, piece by piece. It was awful. Maybe just mine are like rabid dogs. :o

Eddie

[bs6749]

I would make sure you feed the discus very well before introducing new tankmates. I put 24 neons into a tank with discus and 3 days later they were all gone (except for 4 if I remember right). I saw the discus actively hunting them in that time and it was rather neat to watch. On the 3rd day I put 40 discus into the tank with them after feeding the discus heavily. The end result was that the discus and angels lived happily for many months with the neons until the temp of the tank jumped to mid-upper 90's and the neons were no more. Also, I believe that if you were to introduce the neons to the tank when it was "sleeping time" then the disucs would pay them little attention. They probably saw you and thought of food and transferred that thought to what you immediately put into the tank, instead of their normal food.

[Palue]

I have a few glowlite tetras in with my discus and never had any issues. If i put in neons i buy the ones that area bit bigger as we cannot get cardinal tetras here.

Last night one discus decided to try and pick on my amano shrimp, they to have been in the tank for a long time and the shrimp grabbed onto the discus mouth, that put that fish in its place.

I think if you feed the discus well and have plants or something for the tetras to hide in you should be fine. But if they are in the open tank with no where to hide they will become dinner.

Good luck and welcome to the forum. Lots of good folks here with a wealth of knowledge.

:D

[Roxanne]

... They probably saw you and thought of food and transferred that thought to what you immediately put into the tank, instead of their normal food.

Think that is a pretty relevant point there...sounds like you've been using reverse psychology on your fish...:D

Rox

[hasitha]

peaceful ? Well thats what I had thought when I used to see them in other peoples tank. Now since I have my own at least I don't mine have no idea what peace is. People talk about pecking order should see mine. Sometimes tiniest guy goes aganst the alpha male who like 3 times bigger than him. These guys don't know back away from a fight. When its feeding time they just happily killing each other over just one peice of food when there are food enough for everyone.

[lizandcourtney]

The end result was that the discus and angels lived happily for many months with the neons until the temp of the tank jumped to mid-upper 90's and the neons were no more.


Does this mean all you have are the Discus in the tank? Aren't they too shy without any other dither fish?

Liz

[bs6749]

Does this mean all you have are the Discus in the tank? Aren't they too shy without any other dither fish?

Liz

I have right now in my 5ft 100g "community tank" 4 large discus, 2 discus that should be culled, 8 large angelfish, 3 brilliant rasboras, and about 5 BN plecos, 3 of which are adults. I don't think of them as shy at all. They come up to the tank whenever I walk by hoping for food, and they usually get it...those little beggars. They know what works.

[lizandcourtney]

I don't think of them as shy at all. They come up to the tank whenever I walk by hoping for food, and they usually get it...those little beggars.

I hope eventually mine will loosen up a little. I've only had them for a few days and so I think they are still just getting used to my setup. They had previously been in their breeders tanks which weren't even lit except for some overhead lighting in his garage. They are eating, which is good, but really only the bloodworms. I've tried offering them flakes and they just pick at it. I offered the mysis shrimp and they wouldn't even touch it. So anyhow, I just hope after a few weeks they aren't so skittish and duck into the corner everytime I walk by.

Liz

[bs6749]

Try no lights on the tank for a while. Also try covering half of the tank with a towel or blanket to give them room to hide if the need it and room to be out in the open should they feel adventurous. Also try to avoid loud noises and sudden movements around the tank that may startle them. Feed flakes in the morning as they should be the hungriest. Feed sparingly in the evening so that they are hungrier in the morning. Hope that helps.

[Jhhnn]

New fish are stressed, disoriented and lost when you first add them to a new tank. Their vulnerability can bring out the predatory nature in the other inhabitants, because the new guys basically act like food... Once aroused, those instincts have a tendency to stay aroused...

Why do lions act like lions? Because they're lions, or because sheep act like sheep?

I think the truth is that it's a little bit of both...

[lizandcourtney]

Try no lights on the tank for a while. Also try covering half of the tank with a towel or blanket to give them room to hide if the need it and room to be out in the open should they feel adventurous. Also try to avoid loud noises and sudden movements around the tank that may startle them. Feed flakes in the morning as they should be the hungriest. Feed sparingly in the evening so that they are hungrier in the morning. Hope that helps.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll give them a try :)

[lizandcourtney]

Why do lions act like lions? Because they're lions, or because sheep act like sheep?

I think the truth is that it's a little bit of both...


Very philosophical. I think this applies to people as well, unfortunately.

They seem to have mellowed out. I only lost one of the bleeding heart tetras and they seem to be leaving them alone again. I think floating the bag of tetras when the Discus were hungry was a bad idea. Won't do that again if I add anymore fish. I don't plan on adding anymore, but you never know. I'm seriously thinking of adding a pair of blue rams, but I've never had much luck with those. Maybe with the more pristine water conditions that the Discus require will help with my luck with the rams. Any thoughts on that?

Liz

[bs6749]

Don't get rams from your LFS unless they are from a local breeder. More often than not what the LFS has are Asian rams and those are subjected to hormones both for faster growth and coloration. Even wilds are hardier than those and the hormone treated ones typically last 6 months tops. You are lucky to get them to live that long. I'll be setting up a ram breeding program in my new fishroom but won't have any available for some time. Rams do tend to be pretty finicky about their water.

[lizandcourtney]

Don't get rams from your LFS unless they are from a local breeder. More often than not what the LFS has are Asian rams and those are subjected to hormones both for faster growth and coloration. Even wilds are hardier than those and the hormone treated ones typically last 6 months tops. You are lucky to get them to live that long. I'll be setting up a ram breeding program in my new fishroom but won't have any available for some time. Rams do tend to be pretty finicky about their water.

Wow, I had no idea that the rams I was getting were treated with hormones. And unfortunatey, my LFS is the only store around here that carries them. Does anyone know of a good source to get them online? and BTW, thanks for making me feel better, I though the rams dieing after about 6 months was my fault. :)

[bs6749]

Where are you located? Not all rams are treated with hormones. Nearly all of them that come from Asia are treated with hormones. You can usually tell pretty easily if they were treated with hormones or not. They tend to have elongated bodies. The rams at your LFS may not be treated with hormones but if they come from Asia you can bet that they are. Depending on your location you may want to see if there are local breeders in your area. I know of one reputable breeder, where I get my breeding stock from, but he doesn't have any in right now. There are others that I haven't done business with but have heard good things about from others that have. Their quality as far as colors go don't compare with the ones that I get but they are certainly nothing to pass up if you can get your hands on them. Rams are my favorite fish to work with and I don't mind paying extra for the best stock. 99% of everyone else doesn't "demand" the best quality like I do in rams.

[Daniella]

Dunno...I have 9 black neon tetras that I so wish my discus would eat (they eat all the live food before the discus can get it) but none of my discus chase them or try to eat them.

I recently added a wild heckel and he went a few times after some of the tetras but gave up really quick.

I wish I would not have bought those tetras as when my fish were skittish it did not help them one bit.




Hi, I'm Liz. I'm a newbie to keeping Discus but not a newbie to the hobby. I've had FW tanks for many years and even had a mini reef for a few years.

I currently have a 55 gal Discus tank and a 29 gallon community tank. Before I introduced my Discus to the tank I had a small school of neon tetras, and 2 cockatoo cichlids. When I introduced the Discus they were nice to everyone. Last night, I added a small school of bleeding heart tetras, and they (mainly my Emperor Red) has been harrasing the bleeding hearts, chasing them around the tank, trying to eat them, and even started going after the neon tetras. The bleeding hearts aren't mature, but they are by no means small enough to even fit in their mouths. I don't get it!?! I know Discus are cichlids and therefore, can get nasty, but why now all of a sudden? I'd like to keep at least one small school of tetras as dither fish, otherwise I'm afraid my Discus will never come out of hiding....

Liz

[Tito]

I'm so glad I don't have those problems with my fish.

[discusjoe27]

also move before introducing new tank mates, moving the driftwood around or taking it out and putting it in a new spot in the tank helps. that way all the fish have to claim new spots in the tank.