Unusual Discus behavior

[Aquaman218]

Many of my friends ask we why I keep aquariums. As a pet they wonder what the appeal is. Certainly they don't interact or have much personality. I always respond that they are mistaken. Especially with Discus, they each have their own personality and behavior traits. For instance, mine all know when I bring my breakfast into the room in the morning, they are about to be fed. This raises the excitement level in the tank a few notches.

I'd like to hear some other stories about your fish and their personalities. What sets them apart for you?

I have one discus in particular that is a really strange one. He is the largest, and prettiest Eruption Discus. When I bring breakfast in every morning, all 8 Discus are front and center jockeying for position to be the first one fed. When I start putting the beef heart in the tank (I always break it up and spread it around a little), this one guy retreats to the back of the tank and stays out of the way. I never see him eat any of the beef heart. After breakfast I like to inspect the tank and all of its inhabitants. I try to make sure everyone is healthy (not just the Discus). I also tend to find the pond snails (I hate pond sails). I pick them out of the tank and get rid of them. A few times I accidentally dropped a small one back in the tank. The guy that does not like beef heart came rushing over and tried to eat it. Noticing this I started crushing the pond snails between my fingers and dropping them back into the tank. This guy will follow me around the tank and eat every one I drop back in. A little bit later, I come back and feed Tetra Prima granules. This same discus is always the first one in line to eat, often taking them from my hands as I put them in the tank.

This has been going on now for over a month.

Robert

[Aquaman218]

I agree. As long as he is eating, I'm not worried about him. I just think the personality is interesting.

As for the Beef Heart, I guess that's a throwback to my Discus keeping 30 years ago. That was the preferred food at the time. I make my own, with a good mix of ingredients. The Discus seem to really go after it, and it produces good growth. I do agree with the bacteria issue. That's especially true in a planted tank. I have a UV sterilizer installed to help, and I always vacuum the bottom when I change water. My water stays very clear, so I haven't worried too much about it. Also, I only feed the Beef Heart mix once a day.

[Phil4Discus]

I'll tell a story not related to discus, though this is a discus specific forum. I will say that my corydoras, hoplo catfish and even rummynose tetras and rainbow fish are fun to watch during water changes or after the canister filters have been cleaned. (These fish are not all in the same tank, btw, but do have the same behavior). They all seem to love to swim across the higher flow rate of the cleaned canister filters, or go up and down into the fresh water from the hook of the python hose. It's very entertaining to watch them "play" and jump in and out of lines to "take their turn" to try out the "water slide" as they get thrown to the back of the line. Very entertaining for me. hahaha

[Aquaman218]

My Otocinclus do the same thing. It is fun to watch

[pastry]

Robert,
About 10 years ago I had introduced a new discus that looked like a flaschen and had beautiful little tails/trails on dorsal and anal fins. At the time, I had 2 big VR males paired up with pretty little blue halo'ed RC females...

Well, the new fish was only 4.75"... yet apparently was a lady killer. Within the first day both RC females were shimmying infront of him (and at times, simultaneously). One female was supposed to be helping fan eggs that her poor VR male was working overtime solo. THEN, a discus I didn't even know the sex, started shimmying with him! So we named the little **** "Casanova"