Few questioins on new discus

[frinklinduds]

I have always wanted discus for a long time now but was never able to find decent ones in my area. One LFS always had them but they were very dark colored, even some were black and just did not look good. Recently i found a store that carries a few different sizes and colors that look pretty good. I decided to pick up 1, then went back a day or so later and grabbed 2 more. The one i got first is a blue turquoise discus and is about 2.5 inches, the second 2 are very small probably not even 2 inches yet so im guessing these are all juvenile. The 2 smaller ones are stripped with red eyes... i will post pictures later. Right now for the time being i have them 3 in my 20 gallon long tank with 2 clown loach and 2 neon tetras. I know it is to small for all of them but right now they are doing alright in the tank together. I am upgrading to a 50-70 gallon aquarium this month to put them in.

My question is that they seem to hide alot and get nervous wen i even attempt to approach the tank. My water parameters are good, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate ~50

Temp in tank is 82-84 proximity at all times and i check the temp of water when doing a water change before adding it to tank.

I have been doing a water change every other day

my ph is at 6.4 right now and i have been slowly adding discus buffer with water changes to reduce gh and ph (I am not doign any drastic ph changes)

I have removed my activated carbon from my HOB filter

After all this its about 5 days since i have put the first one in and they are still hiding and being scared of me.

Is there any advice as to what i should do ?
and any tips on discus keeping for a newcomer are much appreciated

THANKS - frank

[Skip]

After all this its about 5 days since i have put the first one in and they are still hiding and being scared of me.

Is there any advice as to what i should do ?
and any tips on discus keeping for a newcomer are much appreciated

THANKS - frank

yep.. just use tap water by itself.. don't add stuff other then prime.. its easier NOT TO SCREW things up this way.. :)

it can take 2 weeks for fish to settle and also, they feel less scared if they have more company.. 6 discus seems like the magic number..

good luck..
and welcome to SD

[Scot]

Hello
I went a similar route as you the first fish I got hid for a week then when I put 5more in he came out the second he saw the others I'm at two weeks now and when I go to feed them they take food right from hand as I put it in Thier bowl and recognize me as their food guy I also agree with the above if you go and ask the Lfs about the water you'll probably find out Thier on you're local tap water and prime I hope you enjoy keeping discus as I and post some pics I'd love to see them

[jlcoop277]

Mine did that for a couple weeks when i first got them. Now they
All come to greet me whenever I get anywhere near the tank.

[strawberryblonde]

Hi frink and welcome to simply discus!

As everyone has mentioned so far, the hiding is perfectly normal for discus in a new environment. As they adjust to the tank, to you and to the activities around the tank they'll become less shy and will eventually swim right up to eat out of your hand.

There are a couple of things that I see that you might want to consider changing in order to keep your discus healthy.

The first is your nitrate levels. Discus are sensitive to nitrates so the lower you can get them, the better. I try to keep mine below 5ppm, though they sometimes spike up to 10ppm depending on how much beefheart they eat and how much they leave laying around on the bottom of the tank during the day.

Do you have a gravel substrate? Substrate hides a LOT of uneaten food and poop, which all raises the nitrate levels and also can harbor some nasty germs and bacteria that can sicken discus. If you do have substrate, it's a good idea to remove it while you're growing out your juvies. It will make cleaning so much easier and will reduce those nitrates.

You can also increase your water changes to once per day. With as much as juvies eat, plus the size of the tank, once a day is nearly a necessity. If it was me I'd do 60=80% per day.

About the pH. There's really no need to buffer your tap water. The pH you have is pretty darned awesome just as it is and domestically bred discus don't require anything special in the pH area. Mine are very healthy in extremely high pH and I have a pair who spawn in my tap water every 5 days like clockwork.

Post some pics of your fish for us and keep up those water changes, ok? =)

[frinklinduds]

Some pictures of my discus

[frinklinduds]

sorry if u cant see them to well

[frinklinduds]

they are hiding alot and i dont want to bother them

[frinklinduds]

sorry just need to post this many in a row so i can post the pics

[frinklinduds]

sorry

[frinklinduds]

to much as i want the mt relax a bit


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[walt3]

get them in a bigger tank as soon as you can. at least 5-6 more is better will help calm them down. i have 6 and after they settled in they attack my hand as i feed them! they rush the glass when i enter the room! a big group will really help out there confidence. i went with substrate before i knew the work involved and it is work. i gravel vac everyday! no exceptions! 1/3 water daily with dechlor added. thats it. just test temp with finger and put it in. mine were about 2 plus when i purchesed and have grown quite alot in the 3 months i have had them. test often until you know how your water changes effect the quality then just stay on schedule and your good. have fun.

[frinklinduds]

i will be removing my gravel this week but shud i remove it all at once or should i slowly remove it? i do not want to mess up my bacteria i have built up on the tank.
also i just removed the filterbag from my hob filter becasue i didn not want the activated carbon that was inside to be with thediscus.

basically my hob filter consists of biomax media and a small plastic grate that stops the flow of particals..... i do want to remove the gravel because it will make cleaning easier but i do not know at the rate i should do it

also i am upgrading to a 50-70 gallon rimless for these guys and will get more i just do not have room for more in this tank at the moment

any suggestions.....

[Skip]

i put my fish in a bucket.. drain the water and fill 5 5gal buckets.. removed gravel.. pour the buckets back in.. with the fish.. and fill back up.. kind of like a large water change.. my filters are where all the bacteria is at..

[walt3]

gravel will definately hold lots of good bacteria but you should have plenty in the filter if they have been running for a while and the tank was properly cycled.

[frinklinduds]

i have some bio max in my hbo filter but idk if it is enough to go and fully remove my gravel from the tank because of how i just threw out the filter bag that waas in there because of how old it was and how it had the carbon in there..... should i slowly remove the gravel or just get it all out and proceed with daily 80% or so water changes..... i dont want to damage the bacteria so bad that it could put my fish in harms way

[walt3]

hard to say. tricky. someone else may have a better solution.

[Skip]

just remove it all at once.. you have a tiny tank

[frinklinduds]

alright i guess i will be siphoning all my gravel out today before i got to work, ill let you guys know how it turns out, thanks for the advice

[frinklinduds]

i have removed all of my gravel from the tank and removed 1 plant and my one tree decoration.... the discus seem to be opening up much more to me and now it seems that they are able to eat better aswell because no food gets lost under gravel. they have seemed to start pecking at eachother wen food is put in the tank, the biggest one does it the most... i read that this is common so i guess its a good thing, im going to flip my background to blue tomarrow and will post new pics!

[Skip]

yes.. they peck alot to establish their pecking order :)

[joe l]

When you approach the tank stick your hand out in front of you.They might regonize you(really) other than just a blob.Let us know if it helps them from being scared.

[frinklinduds]

they have actually now started to come out much more, at some point in the day they will still sometimes hide in the back but if im by myself in the room they seem to slowly make there way to the front to see me. They also know that i am the one with the food so i think that has alot to do with them now being more comfortable with me around. the 3 little ones are doing very well and the 2 smaller ones are just starting to show some signs of color they seem like they all might be the same type.,... i dont know yet if this is a good or bad thing LOL

[Jason K.]

you made the right choice going bare bottom. will make your life much easier for sure. now start the feeding and the waterchange's...