Have you ever seen your discus sleep?!

[frenchie100]

I went downstairs last night after all the lights being out for a couple of hours and when I looked in their tank, they were like, commatosed. They weren't moving, breathing really slowly and...I swear their eyes were facing down!!!!
Anyone ever noticed that?
Kinda freaked me out, but then I thought it was pretty neat!
-Julie

[White Worm]

Thats exactly how I would describe it. Very normal. Their eyes do face down when in "sleep" mode. Same as if they were out of the water. Like a V \ /

[Scribbles]

Yeah, fish "bed down" for the night except for catfish and other nocturnal fish. You think they look cool now, try adding led lunar lights. I saw a tank with them in blue to mimick moonlight and it looked great. I got a couple for my planted discus tank and was up all night watching the fish. You should see how awesome the discus look! Depending on how the light hits them they can seem to glow.

I don't know if this is like our sleep or if they are just reserving energy. Wonder if they dream, hmmm...

[JFlo]

I have a blue light but not an LED light and it is very cool to watch. The colors look different and they seem to act a little different :D

[White Worm]

I dont believe they sleep as we do since they would always have to be aware of their surroundings in their natural habitat for predators but they do have a "rest' period when lights are out. You will notice that they will be aware of you even when they are in the rest period so they are not really asleep.

[Eddie]

So it's like they sleep with one eye open. LOL

Eddie

[airbus123]

i observe that usually they would turn to a darker tone in color... of course, albinos will remain the same. haha

[Chad Hughes]

Mine have little beds, PJs and eye masks. They are so cute. LOL!

Kidding.

I have the same LED night lights. It's really cool to watch them sleep.

[Scribbles]

Mine have little beds, PJs and eye masks. They are so cute. LOL!

Kidding.

I have the same LED night lights. It's really cool to watch them sleep.
Yeah, but do you read them a bedtime story? Mine like "Little Nemo".

ha,ha,ha,ha

[Eddie]

Yeah, but do you read them a bedtime story? Mine like "Little Nemo".

ha,ha,ha,ha

Mine like the ancient story of the 4 wise discus....The Red Spotted Green, the Brown, the Blue and the Heckel.

;)

[Roxanne]

...not very funny if you don't know what they are doing though...I thought mine were dead/dying the first time I saw it....and I freaked out(always my first reaction:D)....you've just got to be careful not to spook them as they are waking up...I turn on the lights then step back for 15 mins or so and let them wake right up before I appear at the tank..

I think it was Brew who described it as more "resting" than 'sleep' as we know it....I've noticed too they can be in varying stages of this "rest"...kinda like my Rottweiller who seems to rest mostly, but snores her head off when she falls into a deeper rest state...the discus seem to be more sideways and darker if they are in a deeper rest state....IME:)

[Scribbles]

One of the reasons that I added the lunar lights was so my fish would have a "night light". This was recomended in a book I read and I thought that it was a good idea. The discus are less likely to spook if someone walks by their tank at night. The blue ones give a moonlight glow without being too bright.

[White Worm]

I have found that they fade in color instead of darken. Thats just what I have seen.

[Roxanne]

oops...Actually, yes WW, my melon goes light and the rest go dark...:)

[thekarens]

Our turqs go dark and rest on the bottom of the tank. The cardinals seems to fade and rest on the bottom of the tank. Freaked me out the first time too.

We made our own diy set of moonlights and they work pretty good.

[cleenw]

When the light goes out on my tank, they all move to their favorite spots...... each one goes to the same place, every night!

[mikesmac]

Whether they are in a rest period, or actually sleeping they are definately not as aware of their surroundings when the lights are out for around an hour +. I always try move my Discus from one tank to another when needed, in the dark with a small flashlight "spotlighting" them while they are sleeping as they are a) much easier to catch (very important if they have a lot of area to get away from the net chasing them!), and b) much less likely to go into stressed out mode if they go to sleep in 1 tank and simply wake up in a different one. If they are all sleeping, the normal jostling for pecking order that happens when introducing new fish, or removing dominant ones, which can also upset the mood of a tank community, very rarely happens before the new, or old inhabitants realize there was a change in the makeup of the community.

Mike

[rcomeau]

i observe that usually they would turn to a darker tone in color... of course, albinos will remain the same. haha

...not very funny if you don't know what they are doing though...I thought mine were dead/dying the first time I saw it....and I freaked out(always my first reaction:D)

Our turqs go dark and rest on the bottom of the tank. The cardinals seems to fade and rest on the bottom of the tank. Freaked me out the first time too.
This is an old thread and new experience for me. I thought my new discus fish would be dead this morning because they were very dark, motionless, and face down (not just eyes) last night. They also looked dead this morning. I gave them a nudge this morning to see if they were alive. They barely moved. They were at the front of the tank begging for food brighter than ever in full regalia apparently after taking a few minutes to wake up. I'm glad I didn't make the beginner's mistake of medicating. Maybe they had little reason to be awake when I looked late last night after they were over fed.

[camuth8]

This is an old thread and new experience for me. I thought my new discus fish would be dead this morning because they were very dark, motionless, and face down (not just eyes) last night. They also looked dead this morning. I gave them a nudge this morning to see if they were alive. They barely moved. They were at the front of the tank begging for food brighter than ever in full regalia apparently after taking a few minutes to wake up. I'm glad I didn't make the beginner's mistake of medicating. Maybe they had little reason to be awake when I looked late last night after they were over fed.
Yes! Thank goodness you didn't make the beginner's mistake of medicating. It wouldn't work out very well!:p