Scared discus

[penstar1000]

The forum is great, I have really enjoyed reading it over the last few months and have learnt a lot. I have 2 large discus in a 4ft planted tank, tank mates are a pair of German Rams, a pair of Bolivian Butterflies and some cardinals. The discus have grown quite large and seem generally happy, they eat well etc, but they are still extremely skittish. The only time I can observe them is feeding time, and then I have to be careful not to make any sudden movements or they dive for the undergrowth. The largest one recently took a chunk out of his head he was that quick to get back into hiding behind his favourite log. I know they take some time to settle in, but I have had these 2 for about 2 years, and I was hoping they'd be more confident by now! Any thoughts?
Thanks!

[Ben]

penstar welcome to the discus forum!
I hope you enjoy your time here.

As far as your discus goes,it could be a few reasons but the 2 that spring to mind are.

1/ water specs: what are your nitrite, nitrate and ammonia levels? If they are elevated this can make the discus skittish.

2/the overhead light levels, I have found if there is a good strong light source they will not recognise the presence of you outside of the aquarium.

Hope this might help

Ben

[RichVic]

Hi
I just wanted to add that the position of the tank may have something to do with it - they seem to feel every bit of noise going on nearby eg. doors shutting, TV noises from next door, even cutlery being clanked as it was put away. Water enhances vibration of ordinary noise and fish think something is in their water coming for them, naturally they hide as an instinctive response for their survival. Even noisy filters, airstones, waterchange tasks and lifting lids can be stressful. I accidently left lights on very late one night, and noticed that they were at their best around midnight. Everyone else was asleep, the house was quiet - my discus cruised around very happily in the open. If the water parameters are Okay etc. this may help you. Cheers
Vicki

[sharn]

they might just be hiding because they dont have enough numbers to feel safe?

[FishLover]

I find that the light contrast between the room and the tank plays a role too. If your room light is about the same or stronger than the tank light, the Discus are scared more often.

Another thing is the tank mates you have in the tank. If these are active fish, they make the discus jummpy too. Especially if they are active at night, that would not give Discus sleeping time they need, in turn, makes them jummpy next day.

Last thing, you only have two Discus in the tank. They feel more relaxed with a group of at least 6.

So, on top of what everyone said, which are true IMO, you may want to check the above three things

[rytis]

here's an explanation to hiding Discus

i had 11 discus for almost a year in my heavily planted, real nature-like 265 tank. with the time they get more and more spooky, accept when they're hungry they eat from hand without any problem...

bought one more discus same size yesterday. he's doing great, eating and all. but when i walk past, he is the only one who completely doesn't react to run away in the bushes

WHY?
because he was raised in a tank where there is no place to hide

CONCLUSION:
it's not the bad water, IT IS NATURAL for these fishes to hide when the tank is full of places to hide in.

[penstar1000]

Thanks so much guys for all your replies, I really appreciate it. It's funny that you say that rytis as I have noticed the same thing. I purchased a baby discus a couple days ago and after it settled in it has been much less scared than the others, certainly hasn't developed the diving for the undergrowth behaviour.... yet.Previous to owning discus I had 2 large gouramis in the same tank with similar thick vegetation and they had exactly the same behaviour! However, I think there may also be a water quality issue in this case as my nitrate level is around 40 :oops: I guess it's time to start upping the water changes and see if that makes a diff. Quick question on this: my usual method is to add water from tap after adjusting temp and using water conditioner. The ph in the tank is quite low (lower than my test kit so < 6.2), doing small water changes with > 7 tap water doesn't change the tank at all, but if I start doing large and frequent water changes to reduce nitrates will I have ph trouble?

[G-1000]

Penstar,

Accumulation of nitrate is a cause for a drop in pH.

So if you increase the frequency (NOT quantity of water) of water changes, your pH will come back up.

You could add shellgrit to the water if that doesnt work.

G

[m1]

i use seachems discus buffer which works great for me :thumb