plebian
Fish Crazy
I raised Buster and Sailor, a male and female discus, from 3-month old juveniles. At around 10 months they formed a pair. Several weeks later, Sailor spawned but Buster was more interested in eating the eggs than fertilizing them. A week or two later, Sailor spawned again. Again, Buster showed more interest in eating the eggs than fertilizing and this time Sailor joined in.
This is not unusual behavior among discus, especially young pairs. What is unusual is the fact that Sailor, who is now two years old, hasn’t spawned since. This is not important to me because the eggs would never have developed anyway given how hard the water is. Perhaps Sailor senses this, who can say?
For the next few months, Sailor and Buster were getting along normally, greeting each other with the well known discus bowing ritual and generally moving around the aquarium as a pair.
Then Buster displayed symptoms of what is commonly referred to as “mad discus disease”. It’s a nervous system disorder with an unknown cause. I personally believe it to be genetic in origin. In any case, the symptoms include uncontrollable dashing about, sometime whirling in circles, and sometimes simply going limp. These symptoms are brief, but almost always recurring with greater frequency and severity, ultimately ending in death.
Occasionally, discus with this disease do recover. And this was the case with Buster. He went berserk several times over a period of several days and went into hiding between episodes. About a week or so later, the symptoms disappeared and he began to come out of hiding, only to be harassed by Sailor.
This behavior lasted for nearly two weeks, during which Buster was unable to feed. Eventually, Buster composed himself and became more assertive and Sailor discontinued the harassment. For the next few months they got along normally, just as before.
Then Buster turned the tables and began attacking Sailor, forcing Sailor into hiding. Again this continued over a period of weeks, when Sailor began to reassert herself. Gradually, normal behavior returned and they began moving around the aquarium as a pair, frequently feeding next to each other.
Several weeks ago, when performing weekly maintenance, I inadvertently knocked the overhead lighting fixture off its mounts and it fell onto the cross bracing with a loud metal against glass bang. Sailor panicked and leaped out of the aquarium, landing on our tile floor. I returned her to the aquarium, where she immediately went into hiding, as one would expect.
What I did not expect was that she remains in hiding, now nearly one month later. I have had discus leap out of the aquarium before, but none of them stayed in hiding for more than a day or two. Even stranger, up until about a week ago, Buster joined Sailor in hiding and stayed there with her up until about a week ago, when he began venturing out on his own.
Now they both did come out of hiding after lights out. There is some ambient light until late in the evening, so I was able to observe this. But as soon as the aquarium lights come on in the morning both would go back into hiding.
During this period, neither would eat. It’s likely they did forage after lights out, but I reduced both the frequency and the amount of food out of fear of overfeeding my other fish and possibly fouling the water. In any case, whatever food may have been left would most likely be cleaned up by the catfish before the discus could locate it.
Once Buster started coming out, I began to increase feedings slightly, but neither Buster nor Sailor paid any attention to the food drifting down right in front of them. Eventually, Buster began picking at it. Sometime afterwards, Sailor also began picking at the food, but only by poking her head out just far enough to grab a nearby bit.
A few days ago, Sailor’s behavior changed. She still spends most of the time in hiding, but has now started to act aggressively towards Buster anytime he comes near. Sometimes she will charge right out into the open in a kind of mock attack, stopping just short of an actual strike.
Buster mostly ignores this behavior unless Sailor persists, in which case he will turn and retaliate by turning to face her, flaring his fins and gills. This typically results in Sailor going back into hiding, but on occasion it has led to mouth-to-mouth fighting. This is the situation as it stands today.
This is not unusual behavior among discus, especially young pairs. What is unusual is the fact that Sailor, who is now two years old, hasn’t spawned since. This is not important to me because the eggs would never have developed anyway given how hard the water is. Perhaps Sailor senses this, who can say?
For the next few months, Sailor and Buster were getting along normally, greeting each other with the well known discus bowing ritual and generally moving around the aquarium as a pair.
Then Buster displayed symptoms of what is commonly referred to as “mad discus disease”. It’s a nervous system disorder with an unknown cause. I personally believe it to be genetic in origin. In any case, the symptoms include uncontrollable dashing about, sometime whirling in circles, and sometimes simply going limp. These symptoms are brief, but almost always recurring with greater frequency and severity, ultimately ending in death.
Occasionally, discus with this disease do recover. And this was the case with Buster. He went berserk several times over a period of several days and went into hiding between episodes. About a week or so later, the symptoms disappeared and he began to come out of hiding, only to be harassed by Sailor.
This behavior lasted for nearly two weeks, during which Buster was unable to feed. Eventually, Buster composed himself and became more assertive and Sailor discontinued the harassment. For the next few months they got along normally, just as before.
Then Buster turned the tables and began attacking Sailor, forcing Sailor into hiding. Again this continued over a period of weeks, when Sailor began to reassert herself. Gradually, normal behavior returned and they began moving around the aquarium as a pair, frequently feeding next to each other.
Several weeks ago, when performing weekly maintenance, I inadvertently knocked the overhead lighting fixture off its mounts and it fell onto the cross bracing with a loud metal against glass bang. Sailor panicked and leaped out of the aquarium, landing on our tile floor. I returned her to the aquarium, where she immediately went into hiding, as one would expect.
What I did not expect was that she remains in hiding, now nearly one month later. I have had discus leap out of the aquarium before, but none of them stayed in hiding for more than a day or two. Even stranger, up until about a week ago, Buster joined Sailor in hiding and stayed there with her up until about a week ago, when he began venturing out on his own.
Now they both did come out of hiding after lights out. There is some ambient light until late in the evening, so I was able to observe this. But as soon as the aquarium lights come on in the morning both would go back into hiding.
During this period, neither would eat. It’s likely they did forage after lights out, but I reduced both the frequency and the amount of food out of fear of overfeeding my other fish and possibly fouling the water. In any case, whatever food may have been left would most likely be cleaned up by the catfish before the discus could locate it.
Once Buster started coming out, I began to increase feedings slightly, but neither Buster nor Sailor paid any attention to the food drifting down right in front of them. Eventually, Buster began picking at it. Sometime afterwards, Sailor also began picking at the food, but only by poking her head out just far enough to grab a nearby bit.
A few days ago, Sailor’s behavior changed. She still spends most of the time in hiding, but has now started to act aggressively towards Buster anytime he comes near. Sometimes she will charge right out into the open in a kind of mock attack, stopping just short of an actual strike.
Buster mostly ignores this behavior unless Sailor persists, in which case he will turn and retaliate by turning to face her, flaring his fins and gills. This typically results in Sailor going back into hiding, but on occasion it has led to mouth-to-mouth fighting. This is the situation as it stands today.
