Newly inserted scared fish

[Chaotica]

hello everyone , just wanted to share and get some info on newly inserted fish
15days ago i inserted a group of 6 leopard snakeskins 7-8cm in a 400L tank
with some plants red moore wood and white sand. clean tap water filtered through a 2 stage R/O carbon and 5mmp (or whats it called )
what i want your opinion on is my fish get really worked up when there is even the slighest movement even 4-5m away from the aquarium most of the times they just go and hide but sometimes they go like crazy running from end to end trying to jump out of the tank. So what i want to know is if there is an average time of days that the fish will eventually calm down, or i am gonna have to move out of my house ? :)

ps. i ve noticed that jumping thing 4-5 times some with ligts on , today with lights off before i go to work !!

thanks in advance

[Pardal]

Please provide some more info.
Are they eating , how often WC. one important what is your water temp.
maintain at least 82F ~84 F. stable conditions, and daily WC they will be eating out of your hands.
To start them in to eating start with frozen blood worm like Hikari, and if you can get some live food like live adult brine shrimp. or even black worms from a good source of course.
Once you got them into eating they might even reconized you an approach to the glass when you get close. Eventually you can move to pellets or flake and home preparations since variety is good.
You might be doing all of this already. In that case give them stable conditions, clean water with WC and they should be fine eventually.

[kingranchu]

I'm no expert, but I would assume it's something to do with your water chemistry. I mean, if your fish is trying to jump out, than the problem is clearly your water! What's your water temperaturs sittin' at? Ph level? Did you check for nitrates?.. Or maybe the fish just came from an "unhealthy" stock? IMO, healthy discus that are brought up right can not be scared so easily.. Then again, what do I know :o I'm just a newbie myself.. hahaa..

[Chaotica]

well its not a feeding problem, all 6 of the fish eat everything i fed them , ocean nutricion flakes , tropical bits ( all 3 foods ) , they ve tried some artemia frozen. i change water every 3 days around 75-100L . my water temp is 30 mb thats the problem ?
so i guess i ll have to be patient. the fish look very healthy doing their normal cichlid stuff , full colors and their fins are almost always erected.
they just seem to be REALLY REALLY scared of me !! :(


ph : 7.2
no2 / no3 : 0
ammonia : 0

i dont think its the water my tank is cycled

[boxters]

what usually works very well in this situation, would be to cover the tank with a sheet and just leave one end of the tank exposed. This will make them feel secure and help them settle in. after a couple of days expose another end and so on

[Chaotica]

coming back from work today i witnessed the same sight again, the fish as soon as i entered the room started panicing running around the tank ( not around himself) obviously smthing went wrong with my water last night , i did a water change and i ask you now whats my next action, should i add salt to the tank ? or whats your course of actions in such cases ?

[Jennie]

did you test water before change? What does he do when you peek around the corner and observe. If it's your water then he would be darting all the time, not just when you enter the room

[joshua 74]

what usually works very well in this situation, would be to cover the tank with a sheet and just leave one end of the tank exposed. This will make them feel secure and help them settle in. after a couple of days expose another end and so on

iv never herd of that boxter but it seems so smart!!

[Chaotica]

what do u mean test the water before change ? i use a 2 stage r/o to filter my water from chlorine etc etc ( carbon + 5 micro ) . well they havent speeded for 1h that i am home neither while i was doing the WC. they just stay hidden.

what on earth is going on ?

[Jennie]

what were the tank readings before you drained it??

[Chaotica]

PH : 7-7.2
Gh : 5-6
KH : 7-8
NO2 : 0
NO3 : 0

[Jennie]

what is red moore wood, never heard of it?? Sometimes can take fish long time to settle in. I would just give him a couple more weeks.

[Chaotica]

http://images.google.com/images?q=red%20moor%20aquarium%20wood&biw=1680&bih=869

[Chaotica]

something is wrong , its not normal behaviour i mean the last 5-6 days the fish were simply fine ...

[Jennie]

I think you are worrying too much.

[Chaotica]

people keep telling me that !!

anyway i got some salt just in case, the fish seem to be a bit relieved after the WC, altho that guy has scratched on his body.

[Jennie]

He has a scratch on his body or he is scratching against objects?

[Chaotica]

he has a scratch on his body from all the freaking knocking on the glasses he did...

thanks for your interest discuslover :D really appreciate it !!

[Jennie]

add salt and keep eye on it. also, is your home loud

[Chaotica]

nope its not even close to loud !!

[ceh23]

I will tell you from my own personal experience.

I have 6 discus. Two were fine when I got them but 4 were scared hiding all the time and one was so bad I thought he was going to kill himself swimming into things!!! Eventually all settled except for the one. When the one panics, it would cause all too. This was annoying because you could never see them!!! So what I did....

I ordered some Australian freeze dried black worms from the board. Fed them this for 2 weeks....they went crazy for this stuff. After about 4 weeks...when I walk up they ALL come up!!!!!

[Vern Archer]

If I might suggest lowering your light level temperarily so they can better see you ..if the light is to bright they see you as shadows and it scares them. Most young fish are raised in indirect light low light situations and suddenly to be thrown in a huge tank with bright lights scares the hell out of them..v

[Chaotica]

really interesting thoughts, i added the salt for now , they do seem a bit better, i am not gonna feed today.

that black worm u are reffering is it just regural frozen black worms ?

[Jennie]

freeze dried.

[Skip]

6--3" fish in a 100 Gallons.. thats really big for them.. i have read/told that juvies can get very scared being in a large tank like that.. maybe try a divider so make their area a little bit more smaller, therefore less scary for them..

if not. then they will just need to get used to the new area..

jus saying..:antlers:

[ceh23]

really interesting thoughts, i added the salt for now , they do seem a bit better, i am not gonna feed today.

that black worm u are reffering is it just regural frozen black worms ?

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=82243&highlight=black+worms

[Chaotica]

salt added , discus seem to be reliefed BUT i noticed my little "speedy gonzalez" scratching on a wood like there is a parasite or smthing . if i notice it again what course of action do i follow ?

[Jennie]

do nothing for now till they get used to you. It may be the scrape and the salt is irritating it. Just leave it be. the salt may help it heal faster