Weird Discus Behaviour: Shaking & Pecking

[jamesx]

Greetings to all discus masters here. I have a new discus tank that's been up and running for a month now, and there are 6 sub-adult (approximately 4"-5" in size) discus in there.

I just noticed today that two of the discus always swim around my heater, chase off other fish, shake/shim their bodies frequently, and most weirdly pecking on my heater like crazy but there is nothing on it.

I have no idea what happened. I do know that these two fish always hang out together and they don't attack each other at feeding. To me they seem like a pair but as a discus newbie I cannot confirm it.

I keep my daily 90% water change on schedule, and I feed all of my discus 6 times a day with a mixture of frozen bloodworms, flakes, and homemade beef heart mix. The fish are only about 9 months old.

Are these breeding behaviours or signs of sickness? I was told that discus fish won't lay eggs until they are adult?

Thanks in advance!

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi James, they are teenagers. Just have to deal with young love. :D
Pat

[Sturiosoma]

Do you have access to a heater guard and spawning cone or piece of slate

Jeanne

[jamesx]

Hi James, they are teenagers. Just have to deal with young love. :D
Pat

Haha. I remember those days, but I guess they should last longer than that.

Is this for sure breeding behaviour? I had to turn off the light last night when I observed it, and they all went to sleep pretty soon after. I just turned the light this morning and I haven't seen anything unusual yet.

Should I leave the light on next time I see this?

[jamesx]

Do you have access to a heater guard and spawning cone or piece of slate

Jeanne

Hi Jeanne. I actually don't have anything in my tank except a big piece of driftwood. Should I remove the driftwood and place a standing PVC pipe or spawning cone inside? I have never seen/known a heater guard.

[Second Hand Pat]

I would let them grow some more before I would encourage breeding!
Pat

[Mando]

I would let them grow some more before I would encourage breeding!
Pat

+1, unless they are older fish already.

[jamesx]

I would let them grow some more before I would encourage breeding!
Pat

You mush have a special ability to read my mind, as this is the question that I was about to ask! My discus are still juveniles and I would really love to see them growing a bit more before I move them to another tank for breeding.

Thank you Pat for giving me the answer before I even asked.

For now, should I just ignore even if they lay eggs? Should I leave a spawning cone there?

[BrendanJ23]

IS the tank cycled?

[CliffsDiscus]

Teenagers firting

Cliff

[Sturiosoma]

Hi Jeanne. I actually don't have anything in my tank except a big piece of driftwood. Should I remove the driftwood and place a standing PVC pipe or spawning cone inside? I have never seen/known a heater guard.

I would leave the driftwood, and you can get a heater guard at Amazon, if nothing else to keep them from burning themselves

Jeanne

[jamesx]

IS the tank cycled?

Yep, it's an one year old tank. It's just that the discus fish are new. All test readings are zero except nitrate which I keep below 5ppm everyday.

[jamesx]

Teenagers firting

Cliff

Haha. Totally got it.

[jamesx]

I would leave the driftwood, and you can get a heater guard at Amazon, if nothing else to keep them from burning themselves

Jeanne


Would flipping my heater horizontally work as well? Right now the heater is in upright position.

[Second Hand Pat]

You mush have a special ability to read my mind, as this is the question that I was about to ask! My discus are still juveniles and I would really love to see them growing a bit more before I move them to another tank for breeding.

Thank you Pat for giving me the answer before I even asked.

For now, should I just ignore even if they lay eggs? Should I leave a spawning cone there?

Yes and do not put a spawning cone in the tank. I would suggest placing the heater horizontal in the tank. They are less likely to lay on it (and it is best that they didn't. Would hate to see them burn the neither regions).
Pat

[Sturiosoma]

Would flipping my heater horizontally work as well? Right now the heater is in upright position.

I would say yes to flipping the heater, and I was not suggesting you promote breeding by adding a cone or slate, but more of a deterrent to the heater, as Pat said their curious teenagers so if they want to pick and clean something let it be something safe.

Jeanne

[jamesx]

I would say yes to flipping the heater, and I was not suggesting you promote breeding by adding a cone or slate, but more of a deterrent to the heater, as Pat said their curious teenagers so if they want to pick and clean something let it be something safe.

Jeanne

Thanks a lot Jeanne. Totally understood! I will flip the heater once I get home tonight.

[jamesx]

I just wanna share an update: my fish spawned!!

Luckily they didn't spawn on my heater as I have flipped it horizontally. They quickly switched to my filter which is another vertical object next to the heater. Last night after the daily water change, I saw them dancing around the filter and pecking it like crazy again. I just ignored these behaviours as told and turned off the light.

This morning, when I turned the light back on, I immediately saw a few eggs on my filter! It was weird that I only saw a few. I wonder if the fish have eaten most of the eggs, or there just weren't many eggs laid. The eggs were a bit white in color and I thought they may never hatch.

However, if they spawn on the filter again, should I try to hold back on my water change and wait out? I was super excited!

[Sturiosoma]

Sounds like you have early bloomers, congrats

Jeanne

[jamesx]

Sounds like you have early bloomers, congrats

Jeanne

Haha. Thanks Jeanne. Should I stop the water change and wait out for 48 hours next time I see them spawning? What are the chances of hatching if the eggs were laid on a filter intake?

[Mando]

You will greatly reduce their growth if you let them. Put a sponge on the filter intake so they don’t spawn. If they spawn on the glass, then you’re screwed lol.

Nonetheless, freaking congrats! They like your husbandry.

[Sturiosoma]

Haha. Thanks Jeanne. Should I stop the water change and wait out for 48 hours next time I see them spawning? What are the chances of hatching if the eggs were laid on a filter intake?

I don't know that I would change anything your doing your obviously firing on all 8 cylinders for them to want to spawn to begin with and far as the eggs hatching on the filter tube is gonna be a wait and see.

Jeanne