How long is too long?

[Louis]

Hi there,

Ive just revived my hobby in Discus several days ago. I had stopped raising discus for about three years now, and had moved on to Saltwater.

But now Im back, and decided to touch up my planted aquarium with a pair of blood pigeons. Brings back memories.

However I needed a quick review on the care of these fish, so I spent a good few days reviewing info on water parameters and all that..

My question is, how long can medium size discus 4" stay healthy without consumption of food. I'm assuming mine are still in that state of acclimating to their new "planted" scenario. Its been about 2 days now and they have not eaten. I am not yet alarmed, however I want to be prepared just in case this situation prolongs.

Also I have observed that they are much more active when the lights are out, and Im assuming it makes more sense to turn off the lights, but i cant do that when I have about 3 dozen plants needing to photosynthesize. Any ideas?

Well thats my little intro and concern, any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks alot in advance, and I am hoping to contribute as much as possible in these forums in the time to come.

Take care

Louis 8-)

[Louis]

Btw...here are some pictures. Let me know if the links do not work.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v674/CyperA95/Discus/050221083706.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v674/CyperA95/Discus/050221084304.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v674/CyperA95/Discus/050221084316.jpg

[Merrilyn]

Hi Louis, welcome to Discus Forums, and a big welcome back to the King of Aquarium Fish.

Newly acquired discus can be a bit touchy and take a week or more to settle into their new home. Keep tempting them with the foods they have been used to, and offer a treat of live food each day. They will eventually come around. They can go for a week or more without eating, as I'm sure they do in the wild, but I think your's will eat before that. Try offering a meal a few minutes before lights out, and see if they will eat in the relative safety of semi-darkness.

I'm a great believer in 'dither fish' for shy discus. Can you add a school of medium size tetras to the tank. Being an intelligent fish, discus are looking for safety in numbers, so if they see others swimming happily they assume the area must be safe, and will becomed more bold themselves. A bit of competition at feeding time is also a good thing.

Leave your lighting routine as per usual, they will soon get used to it. Each time you walk up to the tank, offer a small meal, and they will soon associate your approach with food. Hope that helps.

[Merrilyn]

BTW beautiful looking tank. :o

[Dave76]

Hi Louis

Nice looking tank :)

What I found when I moved my discus to my planted tank was to ease them into full light over a couple of weeks or so - I've got the lights set on multiple timers - so they went from 20% -> 50% -> 70% -> 100% of lighting and they seemed to cope ok.

I don't think the plants will suffer too much over this timeframe.

Regards

Dave

[leanne31]

Hi Louis absolute stunning looking tank how do you keep the gravel so clean with all those beautiful looking plants in there leanne

[Louis]

Hi all,

First of all I would like to thank you for your quick responses and suggestions. They all have been taken noted of. I just went and dropped in a few granules before the timer turned off the lights, however no success. Will try again tomorrow.

Also thanks for your comments on my planted tank. I spend a lot of time maintaining it. Most of the plants are doing fairly well. The only place where I havent seem to had success with are my foreground Glossos.

I do not use pressurized CO2, instead use SeaChem liquid CO2 as a substitute. Its not the same as having a system, however it seems to be working fairly well. I have 15 Otto cats in there as well keeping the algae at bay.

Other than that, I thank you all again for your help. Will update you on the progress of my new pidgeons.

Thanks

Louis

[leanne31]

hi louis if you're only trying granules to feed them with try tempting them with some live food that always works. leanne

[Louis]

Hi there,

Yea I have also tried bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp, with so success as well. I might try bathing the shrimp in some flavour enhancer formula. The same that I use for my marine fish. It uses Onion extracts which apparently increases appetite of fishes. Will try that tomorrow and see how works.

Thanks

[wild_amazon]

Beautiful tank.

How much light (wattage) you use?

[kalebjarrod]

stunning,

nice use of height and great choice in plants,

whats your substrate?

co2?

:wink:

[flukes]

Yeah is a nice tank..

One thing i have found that works for me is that if they dont eat the food i suck it out soon after. This way it gives them the impression that there wont be food left for them 24/7 and they will eat when they are fed.

Then again i might just be a control freak :?

[kalebjarrod]

Then again i might just be a control freak


bingo LOL :wink:

[nicholas76]

Lou,


get your hands on some live brime shrimp.

it wont sink to the bottom and wiggle its way out of reach from your gravel cleaner. The swimming motion may aslo entice.


secondly your tank lights may be too strong. I recommend you turn the tank lights off and leave the room light on for awhile. Then try feeding again.


Are you in the position to ask the supplier what he fed them? its another option for you.


Regards

[Louis]

Hi,

Thanks again for your comments. I'll try to get my hands on some live brine shrimp. The LFS where I purchased the discus fed them with bloodworms.

Today they seemed a bit more stressed than yesterday. When I approached the tank this morning they darted into the plants. I havent seen them come out since. I'm planning to make a watch change right now and just take it slowly. Although im worried my movements while changing the water might make them even more stressed.

About my tank, the specs are as follows:

35 Gallon
2 X 55W Power Compact Lighting
Natural Gravel mixed with Flourite
Emperor 280 Power Filter

[Rgoganj]

Welcome Louis,

Nice setup great looking tank. 8-)

When I added new discus to my tank they didn’t eat for at least 2 weeks.

Just keep the water conditions clean and stable you will find they will come good.

By the way is the k rating on the tubes ?

Rob.G

“Go leafs Go”

[Aurora]

Hi Louis,

I had the same problem when I got my pair. I had them in a planted tank and they didnt eat for the first 2 weeks. They were also more active at night.

Live blackworms are normally irristable to them. I tried that with mine and they wouldnt even eat them when they wiggled past their face. One of them had a lot of peppering on him. After two weeks I moved them to a smaller bare bottom tank and almost instantly the male lost all his peppering. They both seemed happier and within a day or so they were eating the live blackworms.

I think it was because they have probably been born and raised in a bare bottom tank all their lives, so they didnt know what plants or gravel or driftwood or other fish were, so they were always unconfortable.

Im not saying this will be the same for you, they may start eating in a few days. This is just what happened with me.

Good Luck

[Louis]

Hi all,

Thanks again for your comments and experiences. It sure is re-assuring that this is not uncommon. They have not eaten all day for the 4th straight day. Will try again tomorrow.

Also Ive noticed something very interesting that I would like to share with you guys...Upon taking a closer look at my aquarium today, I have realized that my Otto cats have spawned, and I have seen about 2 dozen or so of these fry swimming around the tank. I have managed to isolate a few in a breeding net temporarily. Quite interesting. hehe

Once again, thanks!

[Louis]

Welcome Louis,

Nice setup great looking tank. 8-)

When I added new discus to my tank they didn’t eat for at least 2 weeks.

Just keep the water conditions clean and stable you will find they will come good.

By the way is the k rating on the tubes ?

Rob.G

“Go leafs Go”

The tubes are 9000K

Haha Go Leafs Go!

[Ben]

Louis, well done on breeding the Otto's! and ur tank looks great!
cheers,
Ben

[Kaza]

Louis I know what you are going through it is very stressful when they wont eat. It took mine about 3 weeks to eat and then when they did it was only live blackworms. It has taken another 4 weeks to get them to eat frozen food. When they have come from a BB tank into a planted tank it seems to take some of them a long time to settle.

[Darryl]

Lou. I have a pair of super red melons that are doing the same as your pair. It is now just over two weeks since I bought them and they are now beginning to eat after I tried live black worms. I have also been giving the tank about 20% water change every second dat to keep up the water quality.
This seems to be a common problem with new fish I have found, however, that it is more common in a tank with only a pair of discus. Discus are very socialable fish and prefer to school and are more comfortable and new fish settle more quickly. Having said that you must be careful not to overload your tank too quickly as the filter needs to be able to adjust to the additional load.
Another factor that I have found is that while the discus are in this hyper sensitive stage that they are freaked by passing traffic. If your tank in in a traffic area of your house every time that someone walks by they are scared by the vibrations.
I have also tried to use a product called wntice which is supposed to create an appetite in the fish and make the food more appealing but have not had any more success with this. I can only suggest that you keep trying varied foods, in particular live foods, and keep the water conditions pure.
Good luck, and let us know how they go.
Darryl (Cental Coast NSW)

[DiscusD]

Hey Louis, are these the fishys that aren't eating in the topic, They still arent eating = ( (http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2271/url)?

[Louis]

yes they are,

Its been almost 2 weeks now, and they still havent eaten in their bare bottom tank.

I keep throwing in live tubifex worms and they just watch them wriggle around.

This is getting really depressing. I feel that my re-introduction to discus has been a rather failure so far.

Oh well, ill keep trying. I just hope i dont wake up one day and find them dead.