markwill
08-22-2005, 04:52 PM
This question has come up before but I am not sure I completely understand how normal this is. I've had my discus tank established for a couple of months now and, for the most part, my fish are well settled. With the exception of one notable fish (Stripes), all are eating well. As of a couple of weeks ago they rush to the front of the tank when someone walks by and have even started eating out of my hand. I think that speaks to happy, comfortable discus. However...
I still get situations where one of more discus suddenly dart crazily. This happens when there is some movement outside the tank but it doesn't require sudden movement. For example, I was feeding them this morning and they had moved to the front of the tank as usual. They had started to eat. Then - for no obvious reason that I could tell - a couple of them completely lost it. Moving around at amazing speed, jumping out the water and crashing into the tank. This continued for what seemed like an age - but was probably about 4 - 5 seconds or so.
The end result was two fish with serious gashes. One, in particular, had a decent chunk removed above the eyes and a bit of skin flapping in the current. He seems perfectly comfortable now but it's not a pretty sight. Two others have less scary gashes.
I've seen some people say that this is to be expected now and again. But the damage they are doing is worrying to me.
Should I really just expect this as part of the deal? I'm half waiting for one of my fish to seriously injure himself.
Mark
I still get situations where one of more discus suddenly dart crazily. This happens when there is some movement outside the tank but it doesn't require sudden movement. For example, I was feeding them this morning and they had moved to the front of the tank as usual. They had started to eat. Then - for no obvious reason that I could tell - a couple of them completely lost it. Moving around at amazing speed, jumping out the water and crashing into the tank. This continued for what seemed like an age - but was probably about 4 - 5 seconds or so.
The end result was two fish with serious gashes. One, in particular, had a decent chunk removed above the eyes and a bit of skin flapping in the current. He seems perfectly comfortable now but it's not a pretty sight. Two others have less scary gashes.
I've seen some people say that this is to be expected now and again. But the damage they are doing is worrying to me.
Should I really just expect this as part of the deal? I'm half waiting for one of my fish to seriously injure himself.
Mark