Solid
04-14-2011, 11:06 AM
First a little background, or you can skip down just to read my questions. I've been into planted tanks for over 2 years now and have had several successful heavily planted tanks, and then decided I would like to try my hand at discus. So my first attempt at keeping discus hasn't gone so well. Since I was putting them into a planted tank (not bare bottom, I know a lot of you think this was my first mistake...) I tried to buy the largest discus I could afford and started with 6 3.5" red panda discus. When first introduced to my tank they were very skittish when I walked by especially if I was wearing dark colors. During this time, I lost one at night because he jumped out the top of my open top tank (I know this is my fault). After a few weeks they calmed down and settled in nicely. I had been keeping them for about 2.5 months and then something very unfortunate happened, I woke one morning after I had done a large water change the night before to a tank full of dead and dieing fish. I lost ~25 rummy nose tetras, 3 blue rams and worst of all 4 of the 5 remaining discus. This was apparently because my local water company was "cleaning" their lines and used "a higher amount of free chlorine". I almost gave up the hobby right there. Ever since then, my one remaining discus has been terrified of me, he will be out and about swimming and hunting guppy fry or hanging out, but as soon as I walk through the door, he immediately hides in the corner of the tank behind some driftwood and wont come out. Even during feedings he will hide until I leave (or he thinks I've left) and then come out and eat. He does eat alot, and looks (to me) to be pretty healthy. Very bright colors and shows very little peppering.
Tank Parameters: 86 gallon tank. Fluval 405 and 305 filtration with mostly bio-media some filter floss and 1 bag of Purigen. 2x54watt T5ho Lights. I keep my water at 83-84 degrees. It is kept pretty soft GH 2 and KH 1. My Nitrites and Ammonia have always tested 0 for well over a year. And my Nitrates will go down to 0 when I'm not dosing fertilizers for my plants, but I keep them at ~20-30 ppm. Ph is at 6.8 and dips down to 6.5 w/ Injected Co2.
So, my question is: I have a single very skittish discus. Is he skittish because hes all alone? Or because of past trauma? Or should I look into him maybe being sick?
Also, I feed all his food through a worm feeding cone. I mainly feed Frozen blood worms, but mix in several types of flakes, some pellets, brine shrimp and occasionally live black worms. And he snacks on ghost shrimp that I add occasionally and they last a few weeks. But all prepared food for him goes into a worm cone because if not the tetras and guppies gobble it up before he comes out of hiding. Will this cause any problems?
Tank Parameters: 86 gallon tank. Fluval 405 and 305 filtration with mostly bio-media some filter floss and 1 bag of Purigen. 2x54watt T5ho Lights. I keep my water at 83-84 degrees. It is kept pretty soft GH 2 and KH 1. My Nitrites and Ammonia have always tested 0 for well over a year. And my Nitrates will go down to 0 when I'm not dosing fertilizers for my plants, but I keep them at ~20-30 ppm. Ph is at 6.8 and dips down to 6.5 w/ Injected Co2.
So, my question is: I have a single very skittish discus. Is he skittish because hes all alone? Or because of past trauma? Or should I look into him maybe being sick?
Also, I feed all his food through a worm feeding cone. I mainly feed Frozen blood worms, but mix in several types of flakes, some pellets, brine shrimp and occasionally live black worms. And he snacks on ghost shrimp that I add occasionally and they last a few weeks. But all prepared food for him goes into a worm cone because if not the tetras and guppies gobble it up before he comes out of hiding. Will this cause any problems?