My new guys!!

[swinters66]

I got a couple of discus today, and they are doing fine. Swimming, not together sometimes, but it looks like they are getting along. They are in a tank with 5 harlequin rasboras and 2 cory cats. The temp is 86.5. I have gravel, wood and some rocks and some silk plants (for now, plan on getting real plants when funds are better). I am running 2 filters, one whisper and one aquaclear(both filters 150gph). The aquaclear has foam, carbon and the biomax ceramic rings. The water is clear, and the PH is 7.7-7.8 (which is the exact PH the fish I bought where in, in the fish store.)

My question is really regarding one of the discus picking at a piece of the wood. Is this normal? Is this bad? The man who runs the fish store gave me some of the homemade frozen food he feeds his discus, but told me to wait and feed them tomorrow morning. So, I dont know if this little guy is hungry or curious or what. I also dont know if him picking at this wood means he is actually eating it or just picking. Does anyone elses discus do this?

[oodi]

How old are they? Adult discus will exhibit this behavior when they are preparing a spot to lay eggs. Nonetheless... nothing to worry about.

Judi
:)

[swinters66]

No they are small...about 3 inches is my guess. Not good at eyeballing sizes haha. I tried feeding them this morning, but they ignored the food....so I am worried. They arent acting stressed, just swimming around. Then I had to go in a scoop out the chunk of food because I didnt want to let it sit there.

[Dissident]

Find out what they were being fed where you got them.

[Willie]

Turn off the light, leave them alone and give them 24 - 48 hours before feeding. Have patience.

Willie

[swinters66]

Yeah I know I'm trying to be patient...Just want to make sure they are ok is all.

[LizStreithorst]

From what you've told us everything seems perfectly normal to me. Discus are NOT agressive eaters like Africans for example. They're in a strange place right now. You need to give them time to get used to things.

[swinters66]

Well thanks everyone...like I said, I just want them to be ok. This is a first for me...all the other fish we have are S American and African cichlids, so yeah I am used to seeing aggressive, fast eating.

I've been reading a lot on what people feed their discus, and beefheart keeps coming up. People make their own food, etc...but I have seen, in the frozen food section at pet stores, a beefheart food. Would this be suitable for my discus? What about frozen food called Emerald Entree? I already have that in my freezer!! I'd like to eventually get my fish eating a varied diet, since I keep reading that they benefit more from eating that way.

[steve.ryall]

hi Swint'

Welcome to SD,

Food.....try reading the foods and nutrician section, loads on there about different recipies and so on. I feed mine on my own Beef (OX) heart mix, as well as frozen Blood worm, glass worm, brine shrimp, black mosquito lava, tetra bits, flake.
I always feed BH every day, and then a selection of others to give them a variety. Other people/experts here will have other regimes for feeding, depending on what they are doing.

We all love photos here Swint' so at the next chance see if you can post some, (ha ha, got that in before marie :D )

Good luck,

Steve

[Kindredspirit]

We all love photos here Swint' so at the next chance see if you can post some, (ha ha, got that in before marie :D )

Steve


That you did Steven ~ that you did! I will give ya that one;)

Welcome to Sd Swint'!! Patience is a virtue when getting new discus ~ One I have ...well......I am better now:)


Keep us posted with Pics!!


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_4_10.gif

[swinters66]

OK lets see if I attached this photo right...its not the best picture...but you can see what they look like.

I keep thinking I have the only 2 finicky eaters ever! My husband keeps telling me, they are fine, theyll eat when they get hungry enough....I suppose he's right. They seem to like picking things off the wood more than going after the food when I drop it in. They literally watch it sink...then swim off. So, I dont get it. I put flakes in there for the rasboras...but the discus dont seem to want that either. I am going to pick up some frozen bloodworms tomorrow on the way home. What about the Emerald Entree? Anyone tried that? I have some....just a thought.

[diskboy]

never heard of it. they look pretty nice like everyone else patience is a virtue. One thing i'm not good at but i can live with it.

[swinters66]

Jeez I need to get a full photo of the entire tank....:grin: I take horrible pictures haha. I did a water change, not much, but I did vaccuum the gravel, so I am happy I was able to do that. They are still picking at that stupid piece of wood...I just cant figure that one out!

[Kindredspirit]

Your pics will improve ~ trust me ~ ask me how I know:o I like that one discus up there with yellowish/orangish colors:)

Did I hear you say gravel? Oh No.....the "G" word? lol!! All joking aside...there are some that believe bare bottom is best for growing out discus ~ I am not sure if you said and forgive me if you did mention it ~ I don't know how big yours are....or how old....

Do some reading here ~ you may come to a dif conclusion;) one that many can help you with!


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_14_50.gif

[t_j]

If its small gravel like what you would put in a cichlids tank the discus may eat that.

[Alight]

I'm sure you've read the mantra here by now. Water change, water change, water change...


I'd seriously check out the nitrates in your tank. They should be under 20 ppm and preferably under 10 ppm. How much water had you been changing before you got the Discus? If not much, I would slowly start a bunch of changes now. I say slowly because if you have high nitrates and dissolved organic compounds in your water, you can seriously stress or kill your fish by doing a sudden large change.

So I'd start with 20% today, 30% tomorrow, 30% the next day, 50% the next, and finally 75% the next day.

As you have already heard, gravel is not a good idea, although Discus won't eat gravel. Not sure where that came from. It's not good because of the bacteria and parasites that can grow in gravel that's not kept very clean.

I know this last statement will spark a bunch of protest, so just as a disclaimer, I have actually raised Juvies to large adult (6" plus) in gravel bottom, planted tanks. I just cannot recommend that any beginner try to do this. It's just not worth it. Too much else to learn.

Another recommendation for new, finicky eater Discus is to raise the temp to 89 - 90 F for a few days. Some have said this only helps if the fish have parasites, but I really don't recommend trying to treat for parasites untill your fish are more acclimated to your tank, anyway, and chances are they don't have them anyway.

Welcome to Simply!

Al Light

[t_j]

A couple of sellers that I know say that when the discus are pecking at the gravel to get to like the BW they can digest the gravel accidently. But who knows maybe I'm wrong.

[White Worm]

Discus are experts at sucking in food and other particles at the same time but you will see them spit out whatever is not food 90% of the time. Dont worry about them eating gravel (they are smarter than the average cichlid). There are too many other things to be conscerned with. ;) Some keep their discus with sand substrate with no problems. There are plenty of nutritional frozen and dried foods on the market so beefheart is not required. Some like it because of the growth it promotes (mostly faster growth). Plus, I guess it is cheaper if you make it in bulk and you can add all the vitamins or meds to the mix.

[swinters66]

Ok well thanks everyone....I got some aquarium salt as well..a friend at work, her and her ex husband raised discus so we called him today. He said some salt is fine...whatever the doseage would be...cut that in half.

I got some tetra color bits (the petsmart didnt have hikari) and frozen bloodworms. They did have white worms...mosquito larvae or something...would that be ok for them too? I almost got that, but went with the bloodworms instead.

Temp is still at 86.8...Ill turn the heater up a tad and monitor the temp tonight. And Ill do another WC in the morning.