walkers101
Fortune favours the brave
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give him time both of mine took exactly 24 hour to eat and explore the tank
I didn't realise you can keep Discus with other SA cichlids, as I thought they needed really high water temps. Though I keep my SA's at 26c/80f so I suppose it is possible. Discus with an O would be a no though, as noway would they get any food. The Sevs worked that out quite quickly. There is no 'being shy' allowed in my tank![]()
He is cute though, and I hope he starts eating and swimming about confidently soon![]()
I have mine at 84.6 too, 82 is a bit low for DiscusAnd you said he didn't eat this morning could be a sign of a slow metabolism due to lower temperatures, discus should be ready to eat all day. It is optimal to feed them small meals every few hours as well as the twice a day feedings.
Well I wouldn't consider 4 inches an adult not a baby but not an adult. It still has a good 2-4 inches to grow which will take well over 6 months in good conditions. Of course it won't be as picky as a 2 or 3 inch fish but its not a fully grown adult. You must also take into account that while it is still growing it should be a very happy feeder (in discus terms). Healthy discus will feed whenever food is present and at 4 inches I would want my fish eating 3 times a day, and due to the fact you said it refused to eat in the morning I would highly recommend raising the temperature to see if he wasn't feeding due to the lower temperature effecting his metabolism. They key to raising discus is limiting the variables that's why keeping temperature and water quality precise is necessary. Any little early clue on sickness can make a huge difference if a fish slips into a sick spell it can be a real pain to get them back on track. A loss of appetite could be due to stress, stunt, or Hex, not saying that any of these are true but its best to stick to what works best. Some experienced breeders and keepers are so anal about these conditions they keep fish in bare bottom tanks through the whole grow out stages that's a solid 6 inches. I'm not trying to be rude just suggesting you stick with the accepted norm do to the fact you are new to discus and only have a single fish.
He has been in there 24 hours give him chance to settle in then he will feedI have mine at 84.6 too, 82 is a bit low for DiscusAnd you said he didn't eat this morning could be a sign of a slow metabolism due to lower temperatures, discus should be ready to eat all day. It is optimal to feed them small meals every few hours as well as the twice a day feedings.
The way I look at it is in fish standards they are very intelligent, thus allowing them to form a social structure of sorts. And having 8 discus in my tank I can spend hours watching how they interact its quite amazing. Many biologists in the wild have also noticed there social tendencies and I see it "cruel" to limit a social fish to loneliness. Just because you can get away with doing something doesn't mean its the "best" thing. Personaly I see the vast majority only break the 5+ rule if they have breeding pairs. But to each their own.I really don't think one discus will die if it is kept alone. It has a better chance of getting sick from being beat up by another discus. There was a tank of 6 small discus at a LFS and 2 were skinny and weak. after watching I could see they were getting beat up.
These are cichlids and everyone of them is different. The books says one thing and the fish will do another. So whos to say you can't just keep one. I have read of a few people keeping a single discus for years with no problmes. One problem is a lone discus can become aggressive. other times very shy and then some are fine. I personaly think you can get away with one. BUT you will miss out on watching them interact with eachother. I'm not saying you should keep one discus but I think it can be done.
One thing I will agree with is you should keep more then 3. Because they do set up a pecking order and most always the lowest in the pecking order will suffer. The more you have the less one fish will get picked on.
And I know I'm going to seem a stickler but are you just keeping a lone discus forever or is it just short term that your only going to have one like snowflake?