Tricks on making new discus less skittish?

[cowchick]

Anybody have some tips? Thanks.

[Kindredspirit]

Don't baby them*act normal around them and don't tiptoe*Time*Time and more Time*sit in front of the tank Steph and make your presence know often~


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/29/29_5_2.gif

[aquaticplantman]

Find a good food they like. Frozen blooodworms are great, or even live black worms, though often not worth the trouble. Of course, you don't want to keep throwing food in if they're not eating it right away. And again, sometimes it just takes time. I think more often than not, their skittishness comes from their previous environment or the move itself, rather than the new surroundings.

-- Matt H.

[Squiggy]

Make sure they can see you...If you're backlit, you just look like a big dark shadow to them and it scares them.

[White Worm]

Dont wear dark colored clothing.

[swinters66]

Mine seem less skittish with the plants I have in there. Sometimes they stay around them, esp. when I first turn the lights on. Then they come out and are fine.

Mine at least seem less skittish with all the plants in there. Gives them a place to hide, or hang out, whatever.

[lhforbes12]

Make sure they can see you...If you're backlit, you just look like a big dark shadow to them and it scares them.

So that's what I've been doing wrong! I really should learn not to wear the cape inside the house...

Whenever you walk by the tank throw a little food in there. They will soon realize that you are the food god.

[soundtweakers]

My three discus are still very skittish when there are people in the room, they feed when there are food falling into their hiding spot. They've been in my tank for a month now and still the only time they swim about is when the tank light is off or when there are no one home.

Will it help if I remove the SAEs and the Angel fish?
Other tank mates includes cories, tetras, oto cats, and one blue ram.

[lhforbes12]

IMO your main problem is 3 discus. Discus are shoalers and you really need at least 5 so they feel more secure.

[crazie.eddie]

Mine seem less skittish with the plants I have in there. Sometimes they stay around them, esp. when I first turn the lights on. Then they come out and are fine.

Mine at least seem less skittish with all the plants in there. Gives them a place to hide, or hang out, whatever.

Mine are the opposite. When I removed most of the plants, they seemed less skittish.

But I do same thing as Larry, just throw some bloodworms in there. Sometimes stick my hand in the tank. Eventually, you'll get to do this...



Discus feeding...
High quality (High speed required) (http://media.putfile.com/Hand-feeding-discus-II)
Low quality (Low speed, Alternate site) (http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a25/crazieeddie/Aquarium/Fish/?action=view&current=MVI_0004.flv)

[cowchick]

Thanks, I'm following all these tricks...maybe more time!

[Dave_Discus]

Don't sneak up to look at them with the lights off. Bad mojo.

[2RedTurqs]

I'm no expert but I do agree with the comment about getting more than 3. I have a 55 gallon tank that eventually wanted to have 4 Discus some neons and a few corys.
I bought 4 Turks and added them to my tank which already had 5 neons in it. Well 3 got sick and died. I added coppersafe because I thought they were stressed and came down with ick. The last one did not look bad and after 3 days knowing that they want to be in groups, I bought another 4. In Massachusetts I only know of 1 store that has Discus (I trust), so I bought from the same tanks. Not sure if they were sick when I bought them. Well after about 4 hours I noticed that all the Discus seemed to be acting normal, swimming in a group all five. No one hidding. I threw some food in and backed off. They ate it. GREAT...

Its been a week now and not only do they eat the food they attack it !

So 5 seems to be a magic number.

[cowchick]

Thanks for all the responses all. It seems as if they do get scared now when I come by and have to sit still for them to come out and eat. I'm putting my hand in with frozen food, and letting it fall out right in front of them at least once a day and they're getting better with that. It seems that they're all dark, and then 4 will colour up nicely rather quickly and two always seem to be more skittish, but go figure they're the largest ones?:confused: The smallest two are the more brave ones...two turqs...does that seem odd to you? They're coming around and getting used to the hose for water changes and syphoning etc, just really slowly!

[Kindredspirit]

My three discus are still very skittish when there are people in the room, they feed when there are food falling into their hiding spot. They've been in my tank for a month now and still the only time they swim about is when the tank light is off or when there are no one home.

Will it help if I remove the SAEs and the Angel fish?
Other tank mates includes cories, tetras, oto cats, and one blue ram.

You have three discus not Cowchick....I was getting confused here! Yes I agree....you need more than three ~ 5-6 works best~


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/29/29_5_2.gif

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Treat for parasites.

dan

[Kindredspirit]

Dan can you elaborate on that please?


Marie ~ :bandana:

[Adam Robinson]

I have five juvenilles which i purchased from my lfs and i put them in a 25 gallon bb tank...they eat well enough i guess but only when i have back away from the tank and only after about 5 minutes of the food floating around....My three wilds in my 90 gallon tank are aggressive fish and eat like piranha....why wont the little guys be more aggresive?

[Marinemom]

My discus love the plants. Everytime I put a new plant in the tank they have to be right there to investigate. Today I put a new swordplant in their tank and they were right there. They only seem really skittish when there is some unexpected loud noise or sudden movement. Other than that they are happy cruising the tank.

Diane

[Timbo]

Everytime I put a new plant in the tank they have to be right there to investigate.
this brings up another question for me...is it necessary to QT plants before adding them to a tank full of discus? i dont have plants, so i never really thought about it...

[soundtweakers]

With plants I always rinse them for a while, if they come from a snail infested tank I would soak the new plants in water with a few drops of "aqua-sol", which is an ick treatment that contains copper salt.

[soundtweakers]

IMO your main problem is 3 discus. Discus are shoalers and you really need at least 5 so they feel more secure.

I love that answer, absolutely love it.

thanks

[Upper Canada]

Sometimes a picture would help shed some light on the situation, can you do this?

Bob
Upper Canada Discus

[crazie.eddie]

You can sterilize plants with PP dip. Keep the plant soaked in a strong solution of PP for about 15-20 minutes, then rinse. To be safe, you can soak in water with dechlorinator, which nuetralizes PP.

PP kills snails, snail eggs, and bugs/parasites on the plant.