Discus feeding techniques

[MadAnthony]

My tank is a 94 gallon corner tank, well planted with plastic plants and a gravel bottom. No under gravel filter.

I bought my Discus within the last two weeks, so I am new at this. I have 8 Discus in the 3-4" range. My water chem is good. I am doing three or more 25% changes per week.

Lots of water movement with two filters and a UV with a power head.

I have been feeding with two corner cones and yes, a couple of the more aggressive Discus have started to control them. Should I add food to the open water every few minutes and let them pick it from the water and out of the gravel instead of the cones? If so, how will I know if I am feeding them enough?

Lastly, Some fish have started spending all their time hiding in the back corner! I have looked these fish over closely and none have fin or tail nips at this time.

What should I be doing as far as feeding them goes and is there an answer to the hiding problem? Remove some of the plants?

[Hollowman]

Fisrtly, welcome to the forum.

Ok, feeding, feed them as much as they can eat. You can feed them as much or as often as you like,(at this stage and size) but remove any uneaten food as it will get trapped in the gravel and rot, unless you keep on top of it. Discus are grazers, so will take food from the bottom readily.
I would remove the gravel and go for a sand substrate as you do not get the 'trapped' food scenario.

Secondly, do something about the water flow. No wonder the fish are hiding!!
Discus do not like a strong water flow, period. It will stress them and they will become ill. Direct the flow of water towards the sides of the tank, fit spraybars, or diffuse the flow with a sponge over the outlets.

Any photos ?

hth

Steve

[MadAnthony]

Steve, Thanks for the welcome. I will post a pic. Thanks for being interested.

One of my filters is a Marineland 400 so the output there is what it is. My other filter is a Eheim 2217 I can point the spray bar toward the back of the tank.

I also run a UV with a built in power head. I can aim it more to a side, I think.

I have around 1 inch of ½” gravel in the tank that I suction out with every water change.

Do you think the stone size is too large for them to pick food out of?

Would you abandon the cone feeders?

[Hollowman]

Hi Anthony,

Just try to reduce the current around the tank as much as you can, these are basically still water fish, you should see he difference in their behaviour.
Large gravel is imo not good, even a vac each change (for me) would not be enough, I would vac no more than a half hour after each feed.

Cones are ok for some foods, but I never use them, the fish can generall follow the food as it sinks.

hth
Steve :)

[BigDaddyAdo]

Cones are really only good for worms imo.

Sand is much better than gravel as the food ill sit on top allowing the discus to pick at it.

Just dont drop all the food in one spot, try and spread it out a bit.

[MadAnthony]

I spent two months preparing my tank for Discus and reading.

There is a lot of contradicting opinions out there, I wish I would have found this forum first.

I want with the 10 gallon per fish rule and decided to get my fish all within a few days. I bought 7 from a breeder, relatively close to me in Indiana so I could “pick” my fish instead of taking what they chose to send me.

One died the first night. Rats. I ordered 3 from a well respected breeder on the Internet. Got those in last Tuesday. They all started eating, then Saturday night one of the three, a 4” beautiful Pigeon started hiding behind the plants. No marks on him. He appeared to be "breathing hard".

I changed the water flow in my tank, thank you to Steve for the advice, and the Pigeon came out right away. He was dead this morning. Double Rats!

My water chemistry is good except for the PH, city water I have no choice. The rest of the fish are eating, the newer 2 still seem a bit shy.

So, PH shock? Bad luck? Stress? Knife in the back from a bad fish?

I’ll stop whining now. It’s just sad. :cry:

[BigDaddyAdo]

What are your water parameters?

Thats a lot of fish to add in onw go. Did you keep an eye on your ammonia levels? Was the tank properly cycled?

Also doesnt sound like much filtration for the tank size and stock.

[bartek]

I agree with Ado.

May have been too many fish add at one time.

PLease post your water parameters so we can comment on them.

PH, Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia etc Water hardness would also hlep if you have the test kits as well as water temp.

[MadAnthony]

I agree with Ado.

May have been too many fish add at one time.

PLease post your water parameters so we can comment on them.

PH, Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia etc Water hardness would also hlep if you have the test kits as well as water temp.

I do not have the hardness test kit.

86 degrees
PH -7.4
Nitrate 10ppm
Nitrite zero
Ammonia zero

Thank you. Your advice and comments are welcome.

Lost another last night. It's like some horrible deathwatch! I hate turning on the lights in the morning!

[Hollowman]

Anthony,
Your water looks ok, what temp is it? How much are you changing? do you add de-chlorinator?

These things being correct, I think you may have bought a poor group of fish, maybe already infected with a disease. Where did you buy them from? Maybe go back to where you bought them and ask if they have lost fish too. I would suspect you will get a 'no' from that question, but the chances are that the fish were never quarentined, and put on a system with a thousand other fish, just a recipe for disaster.

Photos will help

Steve

[bartek]

Yep apart from maybe the PH being a little high the water looks ok.

I would as where you go the fish from about their water paramters so you can then try and match them if they are different. This may help but as Hollowman has said, you may just have bought poor qiality fish.

Im also thinking that it may be something else in the water that is killing your fish.

How long has the tank been running?
What did you clean the tank with before setting it up?
Do you add anything to the tank other then water when you do water changes?
Do you treat the new water when doing water changes?
When you say you suction out the gravel when you change the water what do you mean? Do you remove it form the tank to clean it and then replace it?
Do you clean the filter and if you do how do you do it.