Discus Aggression And Not Eating

[walkjk]

I have a 75 gal tank with four Discus, 12 zebra danio, 2 cory cats, and 3 yo yo loaches. My tank is also well planted. When I first started adding Discus I put in a blue diamond and a pigeon blood, both about 3.5-4". The pigeon blood chased the other all the time and I never saw the blue diamond eat (except for one blood worm) in a weeks time. I removed the pigeon to another tank and added a blue turquoise which was a little bit bigger. Then to my surprise the blue diamond became the aggressor, but still hasn't eaten. Next I reintroduced the pigeon plus another brilliant blue turquoise (which is the largest of them all) to my tank. They all seem to be doing well, good color fins up, but the blue diamond is still trying to be aggressive and he's still not eating, but he is still very active. The pigeon will still chase the blue diamond,but not very often, the blue diamond still chases the others. How long can he keep this up without eating? My water perameters is right on, and all the other fish in my tank eat very well. Is there anything I can do to help the blue diamond to eat? I don't want to lose him.

Thanks
John

 

[rabbut]

A healthy Discus should be able to go for a couple of months without food if they have to. You can nelp him along by removing incompatible tank mates, of which you have a couple

Most Danios
The Yo-Yo loach

Will stress the Discus usualy. Discus associate fast movement with danger, and the Danios are realy fast movers. This puts the Discus in a constant state of alert, and also stress. The loaches are nocturnal and again very active. They should not be mixed with Discus realy, for the same reason the Danios shouldn't Also, Danios are cooler water fish, and Discus need it warm, arround 28-32 centigrade. This could prove an issue for your Corry's, depending on what species they are

To get the fish eating, remember to offer lots of feed regularly. You're looking at 5 feeds a day with at least twice a week 50% waterchanges for 4"-adult fish, dailiy waterchanges if they aren't that large yet Don't just offer blood worms, as this realy is a poor diet for them. Mine get;

Vipakraft Discusin for the staple, twice a day
Tropical Quintette frozen mix, twice a day where possible
Left over veg like de-shelled peas as and when cooked for the family

Discus are still considered hard to keep, because people keep blundering into them without bothering to get off their backsides to do a little research. With the corrent care they are not difficult, but you only know what the correct care is if you have reseearched them. There a loads of different methods of keeping Discus, so you are talking about 6+ months on-line and in books looking at the methods and choosing which you think is best. If you don't do this before getting the fish, you often end up with dead Discus.

With all due respect, if you don't get into researching them soon, you are likely to fall into the group of people that consider them hard to keep because they were too ignorant to research their pets needs BEFORE purchase Above all though, remember that these are an advanced species, but not always advanced enough to read. Don't expect their behavior to be text-book, as their lack of reading ability means they don't know how they are supposed to be behaving, so they just do what comes naturally

I define someone as adiquately researched to have a good go at Discus, if they can pass a valid answer to most Discus questions on the forum, from basics to the advanced topics

All the best
Rabbut

 

[walkjk]

Thanks for the quick reply. I guess that I should have been more complete in my posting. I'm 54 years old and have kept tropical fish for most of that time. I've been researching discus for about three months now. As for the feeding, I've been feeding them six times a day, which includes blood worms, beefheart, new life spectrum cichlid formula pellets, spirulina flakes, and tetra flake. I feed the blood worm and beefheart only as an inducement too try to get the blue diamond to eat and as an occasional treat. I'm tempted to try brine shrimp also. As for water changes I do thirty percent every other day. As for the Danio's, you could be right although I have never seen the Discus spooked by them yet. I purchased the loaches because of a snail infestation brought in buy some new plants. I don't think they a bothering the discus. The three more passive Discus swim with the loaches, almost like follow the leader. An odd loachy dance of sorts. After closely watching these fish, I really don't think its the tank mates creating a problem, even though I do intend to remove the zebras. These discus are as (I've posted), 3-4" (from nose to base of tail. I'm sure they're not of breeding age.
As for the tank mate, I did extensive research into what might be compatible, and found that compatibility depends on the discus you have, but , the danio's were primarily to cycle the tank ( four and a half months cycled before adding discus)
I'm not to concerned about losing any at this time ( except for the blue diamond due to lack of eating). I appreciate your candor, but please don't assume that I know nothing about fish keeping, or that I'm unwilling to do what is required to keep Discus. The only reason that I posted this issue is because that I have been unable to locate any other situations quite like this on any web site and I was hoping that someone might have some insight into the actions of the blue diamond.

I should have been more in-depth from the go.
Thanks for your response
John

 

[rabbut]

Appologies if my post came across as offencive, it was not intended to be so.

At feeding time, does the Diamond get bossed about at all? How long have you had him now? It is fairly normal, particularly with medium sized fish, for them to not eat for a week or two after being moved

4 is lower than the usual recomended group number. It can be made to work, but as a first time Discus keeper, I'd consider adding one more just to avoid a few aditional potential issues.

If you are planning to keep the Discus with the current fish, their small size gives you the best chance to "teach" them that fast moving fish aren't a risk to them, but Discus getting along with Loaches and Danios would be the exception to the rule. The Danio situation is easily monitored, but Loaches are usualy most active at night when you aren't there to monitor things. If you have more than one tank, I would consider finding space for them in another, though like the low group numbers, some keepers can make it work.

There isn't realy much wet food in their diet. Another potential stubling block is there, as it can lead to digestive track blockages If possible, consider adding a few more "permanant" frozen foods

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Jim Curtis]

I'm surprised that in your 3 months of research you never came across these facts about discus:

- Need to be kept in groups of 5 or more to spread aggression

- Are best kept in a species only tank, very few fish are truly compatable, none of your tankmates would be recommended

- Juvinille discus do best in a barebottom tank

- Discus should be quarintened to be sure they are free of diesease before mixing with discus from different sources

- They can take weeks to acclimate to a new tank after being moved, which would also mean before they begin to eat

- Discus require very large tanks (at least 50 gallons of CLEAN WATER for the minimum recommended 5 fish)

Cheers,
Jim

 

[walkjk]

Actually I did come across all the mentioned facts except for the length of time before they start eating. However, I found just about as many people say that other fish are ok as I did those apposed , that said they were not. As for the fish I have, I got those from the same tank. Adding more than four at this time was not an option due to the price factor, $70.00 to $100.00 Per fish in my area. I do intend to add three more within the next few weeks. As I stated before, I do 30% water changes every other day in my 75G tank. I thought that this would be sufficient, but maybe not. I guess that I should do more research.

Thanks for your response
John

 

[rabbut]

For the current load, 30% every other day should be OK for now, but you will likely need 50% every other day after that. That is going to be fairly heavily stocked with another 3, if you are feeding them enough at the moment, so you will have to be on the ball with maintanance