Discus hiding

[and9744]

I have a 55 with 4 discus in the tank. I have tested the water before, everything was zero or near zero. Water changes are done every two weeks and they only come out to eat. The discus have been in the tank for a little over a month. Other fish in the aquarium are 8 cardinal,5 rummy nose,2 cory cats, 2 plecos, 2 flying foxes and 3 otto cats.

[Madaboutdiscus]

That's a whole lot of fish in a 56 tank. What size are your discus? Fill out the disease questionnaire so people here can better help you.

~Victoria

[rjs2115]

I have a 55 with 4 discus in the tank. I have tested the water before, everything was zero or near zero. Water changes are done every two weeks and they only come out to eat. The discus have been in the tank for a little over a month. Other fish in the aquarium are 8 cardinal,5 rummy nose,2 cory cats, 2 plecos, 2 flying foxes and 3 otto cats.

I am still relatively new to discus, but from my research and experience, you have a couple things that could be effecting your fish.
1) Too many fish in a 55 gallon.
2) Discus like to be in groups of 6 or more (you don't have the room for this).
3) You are only changing the water once every two weeks?? That is no where near enough. Even if you had no discus in the tank, that would be a bad schedule. But with having discus it is really really dangerous.

what kind of plecos? Plecos poop a lot. And if they are normal plecos they will get very large. Also, some plecos and otto cats will actually suck on the slime coat of your discus.
You need to start changing the water much more frequently. I bet if you did daily water changes for a week, you would start to see your discus coming out much more.

Hope this helps

[DiscusLoverJeff]

If you change 50% everyday or at most every other day, you should notice an improvement. You don't say what size they are. If they are adults, you might want to consider a 75 gal tank and adding a couple more discus might help improve the 4 you already have.

What are your water parameters?

[aquadon2222]

Eating is a good sign. When they isolate, hide, and don't eat, that's when you have to worry - you should be ok.

Good Luck!

[and9744]

Okay thanks for the advice i will remove some of the fish. The plecos are 2 bristlenose. The discus are not very big only 3-4 inches. I have been on a two week water change schedule long before discus and I have never had a problem before with my water quality. What exactly is the water change every other day suppose to remove?

[and9744]

I will be able to test my water parameters this Sunday will post the results then.

[DISCUS STU]

I've been keeping Discus for 25+ years and have, and still do see this often, Discus are often, skittish, (nervous) fish affected by environmental factors that affect their behavior even with perfect water parameters. If the water parameters are good, ph, ammonia, etc. then it may just be the tank set up and where it is situated in the room in regard to people coming and going. Discus are sensitive to high bacterial loads, which can also cause this. Water that's fine for everything else, even Angels, is many times not clean enough for Discus. Old school advice is to keep bare bottom tanks, painted on the outside bottom, to avoid bacteria that accumulate in the gravel. Barring this, I use river sand, Hudson River sand collected right here in Fort Lee, NJ, that’s been washed in hot tap water. This is good because the sand is fine enough to not permit uneaten food and waste to lodge deep and putrefy.

If the water parameters are good and the fish are not sick, this behavior is often present when they see people suddenly enter the room. If the tank is placed with the long front facing the door, which may not give them room to back up to feel secure when you enter the room, they will often scatter or hide when people come in. These are instinctual, survival tactics. Given large hiding places like rocks or other areas, they will often prefer to hide when people enter the room suddenly and scare them.

The other tank mates should be fine, even working as dithers, to help draw out the Discus and make them feel more secure. Again assuming the water quality is good, a 55 gal. with 4 or even 6 Discus should be fine.

I will often take the same fish that are hiding and nervous in one tank, move them to another tank in another part of my apartment, and instantly see a change in their disposition.

Discus keeping is part chemistry and part Animal behaviorism!

[Mikemeets]

I like discus stu's advice, very nicely said. Im going to take his advice aswell

[and9744]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I have decided that discus just aren't right for me right now. I am going to try them some other time down the rode once I am able to get a tank 75 or larger.

[Mikemeets]

All the best to you, try angels :) was thinking myself of aswell setting up a siamese fighter 3 foot tank with 1 male and 3 females in with driftwood and plants. Enough space for the females to hide if the male is being an *** haha and care is soooo easy so leaves more time to enjoy them than working on the tank aaaalll the time :) but all the best.