Do Heckels ever swim?

[wannafish]

Hello,

No really, do Heckels ever swim. My Heckel fish
just stay under and behind the branches of wood
I have. The only way I can tell if they are living
is to get close and look at their gills. Because
they don't swim at all. Even when I feed them
they don't glide across the sand and dig for
food, they dart out and take a sniff of the
blood worm and than dart back behind the
branches. I heard they were shy, but this is
absolute fear. I have had them for about
3 months now. I do water changes, 50% once
a week, in a 60 gallon, and I just added another
cannister filter. I was wondering if it was the
lighting. I wish I had room for a larger tank.
I am just guessing here, but I think these Heckel
fish need a lot more swimming room.

Anybody have fish that don't swim?

Thanks,

jeff

[yim11]

Assuming the water conditions are optimal (not the cause of of the hiding), try adding some tannins or peat moss to color the water. I had some stressed fish once and that really helped to get them acclimated to the tank.

HTHs,
-jim

[erikc]

I would assume that you have bought them from a LFS and not someone else ?

Heckel's take at the minimum six months to year to acclimatise to their new environnement, this fact is hardly ever mentioned but you must take this into account.

How is your tank set up ? Do you have sand in the bottom or gravel, what colour, where is the fishtank located, is there any dircet sunlight etc. ... ?

It sounds like youre Heckel's are stressed, they won't come out in front of you and they probably eat when you are gone.

If you could give a better descrition of your setup and feeding regime Iit would help.

[poconogal]

Please post your water parameters - ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH, temperature. Also, how many do you have?

[Eddie]

They swim at my house but I don't give them anywhere to hide.

I also keep mine with hybrids which many many people frown upon. To each his own I guess.

Eddie

[wannafish]

O.k. here's the skinny,

I have a 60 gallon acrylic. I just added a second cannister for better filtration
two fluvals 404's. Sand substrate with wood branches. I have tried to make it a
biotope from the info gathered here. I have been doing water changes
with water conditioned with peat. Using 80% of this water. My last
w/c I used only 50% and added tap water. My tap water is 7.6 ph
This kinda perked them up. Plants, a sword, and some floating frogbit.
Temp. 85. I feed them frozen blood worms, 2 to 3 times a day.
They forage for food better at night when the room is dark. And yes
they only eat when I am not there. (How do they know?). My water
is blackwater, rich with peat. I just did test a with 2 different test kits
from API.

Test strips Master kit
PH 7.2 7.5
Ammonia 0 0
Nitrite 0 0
Nitrate 20 20
KH 180 12drops
GH 120 can't even get a reading
phosphates 2.0

I was hoping the peat would alter my ph, but no.
I guess R/O would be the way to go. But I don't know!
I know using a buffer would bring down the ph, but
I don't know about that one either, especially with the
Heckels. There has been a dominant male keeping
everyone back for the worms, but this past week,
he has calmed down. I guess it is just going to take
awhile. My main concern is getting my ph to 6.5
or 6.8.

Thanks!

[KDodds]

Only discus in this tank? No dither fish? If not, you might want to try a bolder, but not nippy, tetra, something like a bleeding heart, maybe a dozen of them (room provided).

[wannafish]

Oh Yes! I do have some dithers!

Forgot about those lit'l buggers.

10 black neons,

4 rasboros

2 ottos

2 panda corys

2 clown loach

there you have it!

[erikc]

Thanks for the info.

Okay IMO I would drop the clown loaches and tetras (not literaly ) and have only a group of corries, say 6 - 7 . The clown loach will have the same hiding places than the discus and will compete for food, tetras are fast swimmers and can be annoying.

Try some FBH (a good brand from your local store) in the morning and give them something else in the evening. You have to try to ween them of BW and have them come and get the food in front of you

It takes time and patience

[KDodds]

Ditto on the loaches. IME, black neons can be a little feisty, I'd think about replacing them with more rasboras if removing the loaches doesn't help after a couple of weeks.

[Dan S]

Hello Jeff,

Im with the others, take the Clown loach out straight away.

What type of lighting do you have on the tank?

How many Heckels do you have?

How much Peat do you use? You need quite a lot to change the Ph especially if the water is well buffered. I use very soft water and I use 3 - 4litres of peat and that only moves my Ph from 6.5 down to 6.

Dan

[wannafish]

Sounds good!

I can take the loaches out. They are still quite small.
I can do with the neons also. They looked so cool
in the blackwater. I was treating my water with a
bucket filled with peat and a pump. I got the idea
either here or somewhere else. I will look for the
link. I would pump the water from the bucket into
tank for w/c. I filled 50% with 90% water from
bucket and topped it off with tap water. I noticed
a change of .5 on the ph also. So mine went from
7.5 to 7.0. I just would like to get in the 6's.

Thanks,

[crash]

HI,
Sorry if you already anwered this question, but how many Discus do you have in your 60 gallon?

As you might know, discus are shoaling fish, so their strength is in numbers. in 60 gallon at 10 gallon per fish, you should have atleast 5 discus IMHO in that tank.

Also, I would add some sea salt, tbsp / 10 gallon. It will unstress the fish a bit.

Possibly try keeping the light off and also when you feed them try and sit there for 10 mins. Discus start associating you with food and are less likely to be spooked when you enter the room.

Another thing that will cause them to dart are shadows, so you should always keep in a place where you dont cast any shadows on the tank.

One more thing, if you give them places to hide they will hide. So I would just keep the tank barebottom until you feel comfortable to add the wood back in.


Hope that helps,
Amol

[wannafish]

Hi there!

Thanks for the input. I apologize I thought
everyone out there knew how many fish I had!
LoL.
I have 6 Heckels about 4.5 inches in diameter.
I came home last night and I saw more
movement. A couple of them came out
letting me know they were hungry! I don't
know but I think adding the other filter
may have helped. Or the added tap
water. They were getting w/c with
90% peat water. But I will try some salt.

Thanks!

jeff

[erikc]

Hi there!

Thanks for the input. I apologize I thought
everyone out there knew how many fish I had!
LoL.
I have 6 Heckels about 4.5 inches in diameter.
I came home last night and I saw more
movement. A couple of them came out
letting me know they were hungry! I don't
know but I think adding the other filter
may have helped. Or the added tap
water. They were getting w/c with
90% peat water. But I will try some salt.

Thanks!

jeff

I wouldn't try salt IMO. What is exactly the readings for your peat water ?
Salt in this case will not help your heckels.