How Long Does It Take Discus To Settle In?

[Strong Coffee]

Hi,

I've just added my first two discus to my tank (pair of juvenile blue turqs), I put them in on the 2nd Jan, turned the lights off all day and I was surprised not to see them on the 3rd, as they were hiding at the back of the tank. I am aware that discus can be timid fish, but I wasn’t sure if this was normal or not.

Today, I have given them some live brine shrimp to tempt them out of the plants, and this has worked with the larger one to a small extent as I have seen him briefly once or twice, but he soon takes for cover again, I have not seen the smaller one explore yet.

I would be interested to know everyone’s thoughts.

[Finatic]

I know it can take some time, in fact mine probably took a solid week to become the ravenous beasts they are now. However, I would say part of the timid problem you have is only having 2. Discus feel more secure in numbers, and 5 or 6 would be a recommended minimum number to have. 2 could pose you some problems down the road with aggression as well.

[Strong Coffee]

Thanks, it is good to know that it’s not just me (or my water quality, or other fish) that are the problem and they can take some time to settle in. I am looking at acquiring more discus, but I don’t want to shock the filtration system (or my wallet) too much so I will probably add another pair in a few week’s time.

I haven’t seen them eat much yet, but I guess that will come….. I don’t want to put in too much food for it just to pollute the water.

[Finatic]

Yes,

Dont go too crazy on the feeding until they start to eat more. Also keep up on the daily water changes, as clean water makes happy discus. Dont worry about the WC's disturbing or scaring the fish. They need to get use to you and your routine.

I ran into a couple of bumps since I have had mine, and just upped the WC's and all seems to be going good.

When you do get more, be sure to Quarantine them for several weeks before introducing them into your main tank.

[Strong Coffee]

Thanks, they did both hide again after a WC this evening. Are daily WCs essential, or would you just recommend this when I'm introducing new fish?

[zamboniMan]

First of all welcome!

Lots of arguments as to wether or not daily WC's are needed. I change mine twice a week and do fine. You should get more discus. Discus do best when kept in groups (generally 6 or more though some will argue this number). If you add more discus you'll probably see them more. Though some take a while to come around. Try sitting back away from the tank where they can't see you and see if they come out.

Also is there a background on the tank? If theres not adding a background will make a big difference to.

Josh

[nlintgen]

I recently moved my discus from quarantine to my main tank and they also hid constantly at first. In quarantine they got warmed up to us (some took hours, some took weeks) and were constantly begging for food when we were in the room. The third day in the main tank was a day at home for us, so we spent the afternoon watching TV and getting some stuff done in the living room... the discus seemed to figure things out again during this time and have turned back into their normal selves ever since! I think you'll be fine, just give them a little time to figure things out.

[David Rose]

Welcome to SD!

What your seeing is common in the first week or so, but if it continues past this time frame, it will be helpful to know your set up, water parameters, and possible other environmental factors.

You can never do too many water changes, but too few is a guarantee problem in the making. Some of this has to do with your personal goals as well. Daily water changes will certainly help with grow outs along with a good varied diet and proper cleaning maintenance routine of your tank and equipment.

Keep us posted and if you can add some pictures when you get a chance once you've accumulated enough posts on SD (15).

[Finatic]

Thanks, they did both hide again after a WC this evening. Are daily WCs essential, or would you just recommend this when I'm introducing new fish?


I think WC's are key for younger fish, as I have seen some bumps already go away by a vigilant WC regime. I know there are varying degrees of opinion on what works, but find something you are comfortable with, and keeps your discus healthy. Healthy discus will equal happy discus in the long run.

Happy Discus equals happy fishkeeper :)

[Strong Coffee]

I think WC's are key for younger fish, as I have seen some bumps already go away by a vigilant WC regime.

I'm a bit new to Discus, can you clarify what you mean by 'bumps', is this a growing problem or a health issue?

[Strong Coffee]

Thanks all for your advice, I would like to keep more discus with some cardinals and corys. How many fish would you recommend in a 180 litre ~50 US gallon tank (I have an internal filter in the tank - Juwel Vision, and also an external filter rated for a 400 litre tank).

Increasing the number seems beneficial for the fish and for a scenic tank, but I don't want to overstock the tank.

[David Rose]

180liters will be too small and 208liters would be the smallest in my opinion to keep five discus and corys only. If possible get 283 litres to keep the fish you want down the road.

[Finatic]

I'm a bit new to Discus, can you clarify what you mean by 'bumps', is this a growing problem or a health issue?

Bumps, as in bumps in the road, not a cyst or anything, sorry for the confusion.

[mmorris]

I would expect it to take longer for your discus to settle in if the tank has anything for them to hide behind. You might want to strip it down. Was the tank cycled before you added the discus? Did you add them with other fish in the tank? If so, what kinds? What temperature do you have the tank at? IMO you need a minimum of six to have them feel secure and to spread the aggression around. If your tank is planted and you want tankmates, IMO anything smaller than a 75 or so is too small. What kind did you get? :)

[Strong Coffee]

The tank has been running for about 5 years with tropicals, I have some bog wood a fair few plants, so there are lots of hiding places, they are emerging more now, but still not ravenous yet - I'm sure they will be soon.

[David Rose]

Glad to hear they settling in a bit. That's good news!

The only advice I would give is to support what was mentioned above. Discus are pretty picky about water quality and depending on your set up, if you're using gravel and knowing your tank has been established for years now, a lot of gunk accumulates in this sort of substrate that will be unhealthy sometimes even with frequent gravel cleaning. If this is the case, you might want to consider a proactive approach and plan to replace gravel with sand. Some would even encourage you to have a bare bottom tank for a quicker, healthier approach to growing out your discus safely. Once they are older, they are not so susceptible to illness.

It's your decision obviously and you need to make the best decision for yourself. A good routine in cleaning your tank and frequent water changes will keep your discus happy and healthy.

Let us know if you need any help!

[Strong Coffee]

I am using gravel at the moment. I do clean it regularly, but inevitably you never get it all out. I might try sand as that has a pleasing appearance, I'm not too keen on a BB as this is a display tank in my lounge so sand would be better

[Finatic]

Oddly enough, I thought I wanted to grow out my discus in a display tank, and while I think I have been doing pretty good so far, I now realize I want to do a BB just to grow them out in, then move them to a show tank once they are big and (more) beautiful.

[zamboniMan]

Oddly enough, I thought I wanted to grow out my discus in a display tank, and while I think I have been doing pretty good so far, I now realize I want to do a BB just to grow them out in, then move them to a show tank once they are big and (more) beautiful.

Adults do quite well in display tanks though.

[jltx114]

can you please share the process you go through with water changes? are RO filters necessary or is tap okay? what is the easiest and best way to do this? i am new to discus

[Eddie]

can you please share the process you go through with water changes? are RO filters necessary or is tap okay? what is the easiest and best way to do this? i am new to discus

Depending on your tap waters PH, you may not need RO at all. Do a PH test on your tap. Then fill a bucket with tap, add an airstone and after 24-48 hours, test the PH of the water in the bucket. If its below 8, you will most likely just need to age your water. This means storing it in a large barrel or container with air and a heater prior to water changes. This will keep your PH constant. I've been keeping discus for a decent amount of time and never once needed to use RO.

HTH

Eddie

[Strong Coffee]

Depending on your tap waters PH, you may not need RO at all. Do a PH test on your tap. Then fill a bucket with tap, add an airstone and after 24-48 hours, test the PH of the water in the bucket. If its below 8, you will most likely just need to age your water. This means storing it in a large barrel or container with air and a heater prior to water changes. This will keep your PH constant. I've been keeping discus for a decent amount of time and never once needed to use RO.

HTH

Eddie

Eddie,

Does it also depend upon the hardness of the water? I live in a hardwater area and I have always been under the impression that RO water is needed to keep the hardness down. (It would be great if I didn't have to keep using RO).

Strong Coffee

[Eddie]

Eddie,

Does it also depend upon the hardness of the water? I live in a hardwater area and I have always been under the impression that RO water is needed to keep the hardness down. (It would be great if I didn't have to keep using RO).

Strong Coffee

Hardness is important when it comes to breeding.

[Strong Coffee]

Hardness is important when it comes to breeding.

What about for general discus keeping rather than breeding, will they be OK if the water is a bit harder or would I end up with unhappy discus?

[Eddie]

What about for general discus keeping rather than breeding, will they be OK if the water is a bit harder or would I end up with unhappy discus?

Most tankbred/domestic discus have adapted to harder water. I have never had extremely hard water before so I couldnt tell you if it will stress them out. You can get your fish acclimated to your water parameters, no doubt. I am more concerned with PH. My own personal preference is to keep discus in water at or below 7.8. Hardness is another factor but they tend to go hand in hand.

Eddie

[Strong Coffee]

Thank you for the advice Eddie.

[lpiasente]

Funny about the bare bottom tanks I used to hate them but when raising my juvies (after making the mistake of having gravel in their tank) in a bb I really like the clean look of them. They can look very nice with just a piece of driftwood and anubius tied on. Now the family are all grown up I had added gravel and just recently changed to very very fine white gravel that is the same consistency as sand and all the mess sits on the top. This made me realise how much filth was actually going into the gravel. Never ever again will I have gravel in my tanks it's dirty stuff even with the amount of cleaning I did.

[Jason K.]

i would have to agree with what some have said, bb and little or nothing to hide behind. bb for easy maintinence, heavy feeding makes lots of mess, and having nowhere to hide i beleive gets them used to you much faster. jmo of coarse

[Arjunpun]

2 days

[gwrace]

First of all welcome!

Lots of arguments as to wether or not daily WC's are needed. I change mine twice a week and do fine. You should get more discus. Discus do best when kept in groups (generally 6 or more though some will argue this number). If you add more discus you'll probably see them more. Though some take a while to come around. Try sitting back away from the tank where they can't see you and see if they come out.

Also is there a background on the tank? If theres not adding a background will make a big difference to.

Josh

I also believe that the daily water changes are excessive. I typically do one 75% water change per week on each tank. I add Amquel Plus and Novaqua to each tank after the change. I've never had an outbreak of disease and very few pre-mature deaths. Most of the fish live to a ripe old age. I've had tanks large and small work with this method. We are on well water that I filter and soften prior to using it in the tanks. PH is consistent at 7.6-7.8 so I never try to adjust it. I run a powerhead and canister filter in the larger tanks along with plenty of flow and aeration. I prefer to enjoy my tanks instead of constantly maintaining them.

[mmorris]

I also believe that the daily water changes are excessive. .

How long have you kept discus? I was under the impression from your previous posts that you are new to discus. :confused: Perhaps I am wrong.

[tdiscusman]

What about for general discus keeping rather than breeding, will they be OK if the water is a bit harder or would I end up with unhappy discus?

for general discus keeping or grow out, i believed it's even more beneficial to have hard water. Stendker Discus, keep their discus at around 800 micro siemens, and Danzinger discus farm kept their discus at 1200 micro siemens. They all have huge and healthy discus.

Tony

[gwrace]

How long have you kept discus? I was under the impression from your previous posts that you are new to discus. :confused: Perhaps I am wrong.

You are correct. No discus at the moment. Just really researching quality sources for the fish. Not really happy with quality at the local LFS and I did not want to expose several tanks of healthy fish to what seem like a lot of potential problems with discus. I ended up purchasing several juveniles from Hans due to his reputation on this site. I will QT them just to be on the safe side. I expect delivery on Friday after the snow is cleared away from Baltimore.

[mmorris]

You are correct. No discus at the moment. Just really researching quality sources for the fish. Not really happy with quality at the local LFS and I did not want to expose several tanks of healthy fish to what seem like a lot of potential problems with discus. I ended up purchasing several juveniles from Hans due to his reputation on this site. I will QT them just to be on the safe side. I expect delivery on Friday after the snow is cleared away from Baltimore.

Hopefully you will post pics when they arrive. Lots of wc's! :)