Just Been Given A Discus.... (Now With Pics)

[roadmaster]

As said above, pigeon and red turq. I'd suggest taking out the Angels if they are getting aggressive, and also keep a close eye that the S.A.Es are not eating the slime coat off the sides of the Discus. Not all Discus will show stress bars, Pigeons for example will show "peppering" (tiny black dots) all over their body instead.

You will have to ween the fish onto other foods, it will be much better for them in the long run. There are are a few methods to get them onto other foods, the least stressful being feeding them Tetra prima (and the foods they don't like) first thing in the morning when they are most hungry. If they don't eat then you can feed them what they do like (blood worms in your case.) If this method doesn't work, mix tetra prima into a dish with a little bit of water and blood worms. Let them soak together and then feed. Start with a small ratio of prima to blood worms, and slowly up the amount until they are taking plain tetra prima readily.

If that method doesn't work, you will have to fast them for 24-48hrs, and then feed the food.

Adding Garlic Guard can help too, as this will increase palatibilty in the foods.

I agree with above, My own fish were much hungrier of an evening but it is of little matter. Is as Conner said, Important to try a variety of foods and I have found that a turkey baster can be helpful in removing foods from the bottom if needed.
Would offer new foods before water change time if possible. Would as you have done,,remove competition for foods with fish such as Angelfish. Would give the new discus perhaps an hour after feeding to forage at their liesure. After that, I would remove any uneaten food.
Also agrere that RT will always have stress bars evident but at times of excitement such as feeding time,or during times of stress due to possible aggression from other discus,water quality issues,or while exhibiting dominance behaivor,the bars will be more defined.
Sounds and looks like you have some very nice fish. Their continued development,will rest with your husbandry and clean water.

 

[stiffler69]

New fish are very nice indeed, your albino one looks like a male to me, and the penang a female, i would of personally gone for some the same strain incase any pairing off occurs however im sure the fish you have would still produce some nice colour strains when mixed

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

New fish are very nice indeed, your albino one looks like a male to me, and the penang a female, i would of personally gone for some the same strain incase any pairing off occurs however im sure the fish you have would still produce some nice colour strains when mixed

I agree on the sexing.

Mattlee, I am basing my guess off their dorsal fins. Males are more pointed at the tip, and females more rounded. Best way to sex them is to look at their breeding tubes though. It is quite hard to sex them and you can never really be 100% sure until you see them breed

 

[ChilliPepper]

They are all really lovely, and I am not usually a Discus fan. It may be because whenever I see them in my LFS they always look really dark and miserable, just sitting in the corners looking depressed.

 

[mattlee]

New fish are very nice indeed, your albino one looks like a male to me, and the penang a female, i would of personally gone for some the same strain incase any pairing off occurs however im sure the fish you have would still produce some nice colour strains when mixed

I agree on the sexing.

Mattlee, I am basing my guess off their dorsal fins. Males are more pointed at the tip, and females more rounded. Best way to sex them is to look at their breeding tubes though. It is quite hard to sex them and you can never really be 100% sure until you see them breed

the albino was sold to me as a male and im going to get him an albino female soon, gonna give it a couple of weeks before i add any more fish though....
if i was to get any issues with my water being quite hard and quite high pH how long would it take to see them....? they all seem to have settled in very well and all are now eating bloodworms but still working on the prima... it seems the only 1 that will try it is the small red turk so far. ive given them daphnia too and that didnt go too bad.

 

[roadmaster]

New fish are very nice indeed, your albino one looks like a male to me, and the penang a female, i would of personally gone for some the same strain incase any pairing off occurs however im sure the fish you have would still produce some nice colour strains when mixed

I agree on the sexing.

Mattlee, I am basing my guess off their dorsal fins. Males are more pointed at the tip, and females more rounded. Best way to sex them is to look at their breeding tubes though. It is quite hard to sex them and you can never really be 100% sure until you see them breed

the albino was sold to me as a male and im going to get him an albino female soon, gonna give it a couple of weeks before i add any more fish though....
if i was to get any issues with my water being quite hard and quite high pH how long would it take to see them....? they all seem to have settled in very well and all are now eating bloodworms but still working on the prima... it seems the only 1 that will try it is the small red turk so far. ive given them daphnia too and that didnt go too bad.

Is in my opinion hard thing to predict with any degree of accuracy. If the fishes are slowly drip acclimated,they may indeed adapt to the water chemistry though I would not be too optimistic with regards to spawning in this water.
Many who breed and raise these fish, breed them in soft acidic water and then once the fish have been weaned from the parents slime coating, they begin acclimating them to more basic water with respect to ph and alkalinity. Is a good thing in my view otherwise,, only those with soft acidic water could enjoy them.
I am sure others are successful at breeding them in perhaps moderatley hard water and these fish would adapt perhaps somewhat easier.
In my part of the U.S. particularly the city I live in,, the local water treatment plant annually adjusts the method for treating the water that comes from the tap which is what I use for source water. It sometimes switches from chloramines to free chlorine and for this reason when I kept Discus, I stored water in large tub for water changes. In this way ,Their water was much more stable.
Symptoms described earlier are signs of discomfort and hopefully,,, you will have no issues with your fishes. I would were it me,, keep organic levels(nitrates) low with frequent water changes and try as best I could to offer a wide variety of foods high in protein for the growing fishes. Good Luck.

 

[Bluetooth]

Frankly if your fish are tank bred (which most discus are nowadays) they will do fine in any water really, its the wilds that have stringent water chemistry requirements.

Regarding the feeding of these fish, if your feeding them other foods while trying to feed them something they havent tried, they will always snub the other food in favour of what they usually get. You need to starve them for around 2 days to get them begging as soon as you walk around or enter the room, once they are at that stage try a lil bit of prima at normal feeding times, they will soon cotton on that its food and start eating it, ALL my discus had issues with prima and only wanted flake/frozen beefheart, i nipped that in the budd as soon as they were added to my tank.

I have done this method myself, even on an older blue turq so that proves the cant teach new tricks to old dogs false for fish.. not that i thought it was anyway =-)

Just hold out against their puppy eyes while they beg, offer them prima, theyll soon come around

 

[roadmaster]

Frankly if your fish are tank bred (which most discus are nowadays) they will do fine in any water really, its the wilds that have stringent water chemistry requirements.

Regarding the feeding of these fish, if your feeding them other foods while trying to feed them something they havent tried, they will always snub the other food in favour of what they usually get. You need to starve them for around 2 days to get them begging as soon as you walk around or enter the room, once they are at that stage try a lil bit of prima at normal feeding times, they will soon cotton on that its food and start eating it, ALL my discus had issues with prima and only wanted flake/frozen beefheart, i nipped that in the budd as soon as they were added to my tank.

I have done this method myself, even on an older blue turq so that proves the cant teach new tricks to old dogs false for fish.. not that i thought it was anyway =-)

Just hold out against their puppy eyes while they beg, offer them prima, theyll soon come around
[/quote



Agree with most of the above with the exception that these fish will do well in any water. I wish it were so.

 

[Bluetooth]

I have found tank bred discus can survive in any water, soft acidic and i have even seen a group of 6 adult discus thrive in hard alkaline. I know this because i bought one of the adults for my tank which is soft acidic =-)

 

[mattlee]

the stress bars seem to be less visual now so fingers crossed they are happy.... simon at midland discus has goy a female albino he is saving for me of the same size until 7th feb. i would really reccomend this place for any future discus purchases guys.
the smallest discus (red turk) is eating anything i put in so thats good progress but the others are still just demanding bloodworms! ill try as you have all suggested. thanks for your help so far, much appreciated

do i need to worm the fish often or at all as ive read they need regular worming, if so what products do you guys use?

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Is in my opinion hard thing to predict with any degree of accuracy. If the fishes are slowly drip acclimated,they may indeed adapt to the water chemistry though I would not be too optimistic with regards to spawning in this water.
Many who breed and raise these fish, breed them in soft acidic water and then once the fish have been weaned from the parents slime coating, they begin acclimating them to more basic water with respect to ph and alkalinity. Is a good thing in my view otherwise,, only those with soft acidic water could enjoy them.
I am sure others are successful at breeding them in perhaps moderatley hard water and these fish would adapt perhaps somewhat easier.

Breeders lower pH/hardness because the TDS (total dissolved solids) in hard/basic water are high, and this makes it hard for eggs to be fertilized. They will still breed for you, lay eggs. Who knows what kind of hatch rate you will get though (I can tell you it will be low.)

 

[roadmaster]

Is in my opinion hard thing to predict with any degree of accuracy. If the fishes are slowly drip acclimated,they may indeed adapt to the water chemistry though I would not be too optimistic with regards to spawning in this water.
Many who breed and raise these fish, breed them in soft acidic water and then once the fish have been weaned from the parents slime coating, they begin acclimating them to more basic water with respect to ph and alkalinity. Is a good thing in my view otherwise,, only those with soft acidic water could enjoy them.
I am sure others are successful at breeding them in perhaps moderatley hard water and these fish would adapt perhaps somewhat easy

Breeders lower pH/hardness because the TDS (total dissolved solids) in hard/basic water are high, and this makes it hard for eggs to be fertilized. They will still breed for you, lay eggs. Who knows what kind of hatch rate you will get though (I can tell you it will be low.)

Indeed, hard basic ,or alkaline water is said to also harden the membrane that surrounds eggs making it difficult to near impossible depending on particular sample of water,for males to fertilize the eggs.
As mentioned,,,many of these fish will thrive in moderately hard water but if rearing young Discus is ones aim,, I would not be too optimistic with Rates of success with hard alkaline water.
Would always try and buy fish from breeders who work to keep total dissolved solids in their aquariums low. Many fish stores waters are high in total dissolved solids and moving this sensitive species of fish from waters of differing degrees of same,,often leads to weakened immune system from stress, and possible sick fish.

Total dissolved solids are often higher in basic alkaline water due to possible higher levels of minerals /salts,, but one must also consider that evrything capable of going into solution and thus allowed to pass through the filter ,remains in the tank/aquarium until we remove/dilute it ,, and also contributes to total dissolved solids., Fish foods,fertilizers,fish waste,medications (if used) along with minerals found in source water as well as foods,,all contribute to total dissolved solids and or high conductivity levels in the aquarium, and remain there until we remove/Dilute them ,through water changes. Is my belief from caring for these fish,, that they will always benefit from low levels of the afore mentioned.Opinions vary.

 

[roadmaster]

the stress bars seem to be less visual now so fingers crossed they are happy.... simon at midland discus has goy a female albino he is saving for me of the same size until 7th feb. i would really reccomend this place for any future discus purchases guys.
the smallest discus (red turk) is eating anything i put in so thats good progress but the others are still just demanding bloodworms! ill try as you have all suggested. thanks for your help so far, much appreciated

do i need to worm the fish often or at all as ive read they need regular worming, if so what products do you guys use?

Some observation is required to determine if worming the fish is needed in my view. I am not of a mind to medicate unless it is clear that this is the way forward. If fishes (poop) looks solid,segmented,and well formed,, as opposed to white or clear looking and stringy. I would not worm the fish. If the (poop) resembles the latter ,, I would possibly look for med containing levamisol, or Praziquantel. These are used here in U.S. not sure bout where you are. Breeder in your area should be able to help you.

 

[mattlee]

the stress bars seem to be less visual now so fingers crossed they are happy.... simon at midland discus has goy a female albino he is saving for me of the same size until 7th feb. i would really reccomend this place for any future discus purchases guys.
the smallest discus (red turk) is eating anything i put in so thats good progress but the others are still just demanding bloodworms! ill try as you have all suggested. thanks for your help so far, much appreciated

do i need to worm the fish often or at all as ive read they need regular worming, if so what products do you guys use?

Some observation is required to determine if worming the fish is needed in my view. I am not of a mind to medicate unless it is clear that this is the way forward. If fishes (poop) looks solid,segmented,and well formed,, as opposed to white or clear looking and stringy. I would not worm the fish. If the (poop) resembles the latter ,, I would possibly look for med containing levamisol, or Praziquantel. These are used here in U.S. not sure bout where you are. Breeder in your area should be able to help you.

im in the UK and a popular one here is wormerplus, i have an old packet from when i trying to medicate for flukes months ago as its said to treat this too. its out of date now but i can look and see if it has any of the said ingredients in if i can find it.....

 

[mattlee]

i noticed today that one of my discus (yelllow pigeon blood) sometimes looks as if its shivering. it does it for a second or two then stops, should i be worried? it doesnt do it all the time and ive not noticed it before. it is eating and looking fine with no obvious signs of anything abnormal.
my water is good with
ammonia = 0
nitrite = 0
nitrate = 10/20
temp = 30C

ive had the fish for about 10 days and it settled in with no probs. none of the other discus or other species in the tank are doing the shivering. i did a 50% water change 4/5 days ago and have just done a 30% change today so they are getting a good supply of fresh water.
can anyone tell me why its doing this?
should i post a topic in the emergency section.....?

thanks,
Matt