The Darting Discus

[Pigeon3lood]

Hey Guys, New the the forum but not new to most of you. I've been at this site numerous time looking at examples of other people's success and misfortune. Over a 2 years of being "bit" buy the aquarium bug I have finally pursued the "King" of the Aquarium. I'll be honest after two years of studying forums and keeping my nose into every book I could pick up at the LFS store nothing beats the excitement of introducing new Discus in my tank for the first time. I went from a 10 gal to 30, to 55 to 155, back to 55, to 75 and finally grew a pair to talk the wife into letting me end the madness with a 180 gallon tank. it took a little over 13 weeks of preparation.. a dent in the wallet and as of 4 days ago I am the proud owner of 2) Pigeon Bloods 2) Red Marlboro and 2) Brilliant Blue's... and I'm worried to death like a mother dropping her kids off to daycare for the first time.. HAHA!!

Anyways, I'm I'll get right down to the "worry"

My discus seem happy and well acclimated to their new home. They are filling up on Cobalt Flakes and live black worms and seem to graze all day. So far the only observation that worries me, that I haven't been able to find any answers to, is why they dart away from me every time I come to the tank. It makes it difficult to make sure they all get a fair share of food... I don't want them to shy away during feeding and I'm being very consistent with their feeding schedule, flakes at night, worms in the morning, flake in the afternoon, worms when i get home followed by a 25% water change, and a few flakes again at night. I clean the gravel everyday with my 25% water change and I'm hopeful the 6 Cory's I have will clean up what I may have left behind. I may be premature in freaking out, but I hear Discus shouldn't dart away frantically every time I approach the tank.

Another problem I'm worried about is the smaller of the two Marlboro Red (3in) doesn't hang around with the group but I find him more at the top corner of the tank...but this evening I did see him grazing the worms at the bottom "dish" with the group so maybe he's coming around??

Water Paremeters (ppm)
0 - Ammonia
0 - Nitrite
10 - Nitrates
PH - 7.2 (Consistently Day/Night - and before and after water changes)
GH - 60
KH - 80

Tank Mates
6 - Cory Juli and Sterbia
7 - Siamese Algea Eaters (NOT CHINESE)
5 - Glo-Light Tetras (These guys really take the natural look out of the tank, plan on replacing them with Rummy Nose Tetras)
1 - Betta
1 - Clown Pleco
1 - Bristelnose Pleco
4 - Nerite Snails
1 - Mystery Snail

Plenty of Low Light plants that seem to be doing well over the past 8 weeks

Light fixture is a Quad T5 @ 4' - 54W bulbs, 2 actinic & 2 10K bulbs. The tank is so deep and much longer than the lights that it doesn't appear to be too bright, I've seen the discus move all around the tank but they do tend to stay on either side more than the middle.. I don't know if the light is too strong or if the prefer the large pieces of driftwood for hiding.. any advice here?

Any advice is much appreciated and thank you guys for all your help these past couple of years!!

[Skip]

So u added these discus to a tank with others fish.. with no qt of discus?

[Pigeon3lood]

With no qt of discus??

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Scott, first welcome to Simply and what Skip is referring to is if the discus were quarantined prior to adding them to your community tank. We recommend that when a person acquires new discus the discus are quarantined in a separate tank (by themselves) for about six weeks. This is to ensure the discus have a chance to recover from shipping (if they were shipped), adjust to your water, to you, ensure they are eating and gives you an observation time to determine if the fish are healthy.

When you say you have spent the time researching over the last two years did any of that time include time on this forum reading the beginner stickys? To me it sounds like discus are new to you and so is a large tank. Yes, the discus are avoiding the light and they are shying away from you because they do not know you as a food source yet. When you feed, feed from one end of the tank consistently so they get to know you and you form a pattern with them.

A greater worry is adding the discus, dither fish, snails and plants without proper quarantine. Another worry is starting with juvie discus (less then four inches), plants and gravel which is all new to the discus keeper (this is an assumption on my part and based on your first post). We recommend to any new discus keeper to start with a group of adult fish, in a proper sized tank (1 adult per 10 gallons) which is bare bottom and learn the ropes of daily feeding and water changes need to keep the fish healthy.

Since you added the discus four days ago have you checked for daily ammonia spikes as in a mini-cycle? When you add fish like discus (which are larger then most community fish) they add a larger bio-load to the tank and the BB needs time to catch up to the new bio-load.

In the mean time do large daily WCs, clean the heck out of that gravel as gravel gets nasty quick and kills your water quality especially with the feedings juvie discus need.

[Pigeon3lood]

I linked the connection while on a delivery today..... qt for quarantine. The only other tank I have is a 10 gallon in my bedroom and I think it's safe to assume that is too small. Looks like I took a risk putting them in the tank, however so far I have not had any issues with any of the other fish in the past 12 weeks but that doesn't go very far. I can only hope I haven't doomed my discus before we even got started. I check the water parameters daily with an API Master test kit everyday before and after water changes religiously and sometimes early in the morning before going to work just to make sure the PH is stable from day to night. I have had no spikes in ammonia or nitrite, and the filter I am using is a Fluval FX5 and a marineland C-530. I swapped the bio balls for 1 liter of seachem biomax and 250ml of purigen. I clean the filters once a week, I alternate weeks between the two so that I'm not disrupting a good housing of beneficial bacteria all at one time.

I took this on as a challenge and it's going to be a good one. I'm not new to aquariums just new to discus. I had success with community aquariums and planted aquariums, the only reason I still don't have them is more linked to reasons other than my own... ::cough::

All the fish I have in there now I have read are suitible tank mates for discus and the plants add that natural look I was looking for. I received the Discus from Hans Discus in MD, I hear he is the most reputable discus retailer on the east coast.

- Pat, I think you nailed it on the water changes, Since they are Juvies i'm trying to feed them up to six times a day without soiling my water, I think having the other fish in there is helping me out in this situation and the daily vacuuming helps remove anything left behind... so far water parameters are stable and pristine. My concern was with the Discus darting away from me every time I walk by the aquarium. Discus are known to greet you at the front when you walk in, I guess it's going to take some time for them to get used to me. But I'll be honest, When the worms hit the water they are all over it, so as long as they are eating and the water parameters are pristine it will only be a matter of time before they start feeling comfortable in their new home. I'll post some pictures when i can figure out how to attach a file from something other than a URL link..

Thanks,
Mike

[OC Discus]

Mike,

As for the darting, in a fish room or breeding facility that is very calm and stable, it may be uncommon. In nature, however, almost all animals dart as an escape mechanism. Schools of wild fish dart in another direction if they feel threatened. Flocks of birds dart away when a human approaches, etc. It will just take them some time to get used to you. If you continue to feed six times a day, it wont take very long. They will watch for you to come into the room and come to the front begging for food. Even then they can be startled by sudden movements and loud noises. If you can put a chair or stool next to the tank, sit and watch them eat sometimes. They'll settle down, just give them time.

[Pigeon3lood]

Thank you guys for all your input, I feel much better and just a heads up, The Discus have already calmed down significantly! They no longer dart away like they used to but they kind of hesitate like they are waiting to see what I'm going to do next.

OC - Sitting next to the tank last night was quite the experience. They hid behind a large piece of driftwood last night and slowly came up to the front to eat while I sat and watched them graze. I just picked up the last two Discus last night (4" Fire Red & 3.5" Brilliant Turqoise) and I'm assuming they may feel more comfortable in a group of 8 instead of 6. They all stick together and I'm beginning to see the Discus establish their pecking order. For such a majestic fish they look so weird when trying to bully another fish. I think i may have seen some facial expressions on the blue turqiose. HA!

Again - Water Parameters this morning were great. After my water change last night, 0-Am 0-Nit and only 5 on Nitrate... I was expecting a lot more on nitrates just because of all the food, but I guess all the attention is paying off. I will continue to do my 25% water changes and keep that gravel clean. I'll post some pics when I get a chance.

Thanks again, I hope I can help down the road. I plan on buying a membership here soon :)

P.S. How in the world can I attach a picture from my desktop and not a URL???

-Mike

[Second Hand Pat]

Mike, read through this thread on attaching pictures http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?108558-How-To-Attaching-Pictures-to-Posts-Using-the-Forum-s-Attachment-Feature