running and hiding

[Fresh Fish]

Hey all, Im new to this forum and to discus, i have a 120 gal with some angels, and 2 discus, a RT, and mar red. the mar is fine, and the rt is fine too until i walk up to the tank, then the rt runs and hides behind a plant. when i put food in hell sit in the plant until i walk away, then hell come out nad eat,then he will stay out and swim around until i walk up, then hides until i walk away again. his color is fine, not dark, not breathing hard etc. the water params are all fine, i do 50% wc twice a week.. i know 2 discus is not enough for them to be comfy, so i am planning on getting a few more in the near future. im feeding flake, bloodworms, beefheart, and brine shrimp. i feed 3 times a day, flake bloodowrms, then flake. temp is at 86, im running a fluval 404 and 304 tank has been set up for quite a while. any help would be great. oh, there size is about 3 1/2 in. from nose to tail. thanks. FF

[AADiscus]

How long have you had them?

You might try keeping the light off the tank for a couple days. Also make sure there aren't any shadows on the tank.

Are your angels bothering them?

[Fresh Fish]

they have been in ther efor about a month, and the angels dont bother them as far as i can see, so i duno,

[Cosmo]

Do you have a lot of decorations i.e. hiding places in the tank? I've found that providing too much hiding space actually encourages hiding. If you think that might be the case, remove a few items and see what happens.
Jim

[Fresh Fish]

i just have plants in the tank, thats it.

[RyanH]

As AAdiscus mentioned, shadows can really cause fits for Discus. I never have my tanks face windows anymore for this very reason.

Also, I've found that Discus are social fish and are much more outgoing when kept in groups. Having only a couple of Discus in a tank with other species is usually going to cause problems, IME.

hth
-Ryan

[ronrca]

I agree with Ryan. Discus are school fish therefore security is found in large numbers. Typically 6 is the minimum to start with and anything less spells trouble. My advice is get as many as you can afford. Beware though that juvenile discus in community tanks are not recommended as growth will be hindered due to feeding traits of the various fish.