Royal Rumble in my fish tank !!

[benjohnson]

Hello All,

I have 8 discus in my tank some male , some female, 4 red melons and 4 red turks.

Everyone is picking on Everyone else , and they always seem agressive, until it comes to feeding time oin which case they are moire interested in food, until they finish then they are back to beating each other up all the time.

It varies between a little nudge here and there to full on chasing each other round the tank, some double teaming a fish if they go to near to them .

I dont think they are defending territory as it doesnt matter where it is,

I have had most of these fish for best part of a year, bar 2 which i bought 2 weeks ago, but it hasnt changed anything opther than the fact they get picked on and have only in the last couple of days started to fight back .

Why is everyone fighting?? Anyone know any good ways of chilling them all out so everyone can be friends? I can cope with a bit of picking on each other, but this is starting to get a bit extreme!

Ben

[Mulisha]

I belive it's called the pecking order becuase you added 2 new fish they are all trying to be boss so there seeing who is by chasing and fighting etc. I had the same problem they grow out of it later don't worry about just try and get food to all the fish in the tank by putting food up both ends.

Goodluck keep us posted on how ya go. :)

[benjohnson]

They have settled down again now , thanks for your advice.

I read all your posts about how often you do water changes etc etc , and in my viewing tank, i have 180 litre Juwel , and just use the standard juwel filtration. I change the water once every 2 weeks about 30 - 40 % .

None of my fish are ever unwell , are happy and swim about, eat well and generally are happy, apart from the bickering that happens from time to time that I posted about previously. They are growing well too which makes me think that what I am doing currently is ok.

Now, im aware that this is a stark contrast to what everyone else who posts on here seems to recommend, but given that they are all ok does anyone have any big objections i need to take note of?

[nicholas76]

gday Ben,


luck of the draw kinda thing mate you just happen to have some discus that all want to be boss.

its when you start getting torn fins and bite marks youll need to take action.

tricks of the trade that have worked for me.

pull some of fish out, re aquascape the tank, change some of the fish, change the ratio add more, add dividers.

but seeing your tank has settled down dont bother :)

post some pictures please :D

[Mulisha]

Yeah you should be fine if you see any little bits of there fins missing etc don't worry they grow back nice and fast.
A picture of your tank would be good always good to see ones tank :lol:

Goodluck mate if you have any more questions just ask ... 8-) 8-)

[Merrilyn]

I read all your posts about how often you do water changes etc etc , and in my viewing tank, i have 180 litre Juwel , and just use the standard juwel filtration. I change the water once every 2 weeks about 30 - 40 % .


Your stocking density is a bit of a concern Ben. Forty litres per adult fish is recommended, but you have 8 fish in a 180 litre tank. That's just over 22 litres per fish. That sort of density is fine if you do daily water changes, but if you're only changing 40% of the water once every two weeks, your nitrates must be extremely high.

I'd really suggest that you get some test kits, and test your water for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.

Your ammonia and nitrite reading should be zero, and your nitrate should be less than 10 preferably under 5. Whilst nitrates are less toxic than either ammonia or nitrite, they will still cause problems with your fish if they reach high levels. The only way to remove nitrates from the tank is with water changes.

You may well get away with your current routine for quite a while, but sooner or later it catches up and your fish begin to suffer.

I'd like to see you increase those water changes to 40% at least twice a week and preferably 3 times a week at the very minimum.

[benjohnson]

Hi,

Ok , i will work on getting my water changes up to scratch,

The problem I have is water. I have to go to my fish shop to get RO, whcih is 15 miles away . To do 40% every day is near impossible, twice a week will be the best I can do .

Can anyone recommend a good RO unit, thats available in the UK, and that I can switch on and off as and when I need to generate some water? All the ones i have seen so far are constant runnign ones, and im just not willing to waste that amount of water when i only need at most 100 litres a day.

Ben

[*Chris*]

most ro units mate
can be switched off willy nilly
you dont want water just turn the tap off
APW has a good ro unit for cheap and im sure if you ask nicely they will send it over for you
cheers
EXAI

[UK Discus]

Hi Ben
Try http://www.ro-man.com/shop/index.php/cPath/22 for RO units.
I have one of his plumbed into a water container with a auto shut off kit fitted,that way I allways have water ready for my water changes.


Mark

[UK Discus]

sorry double post


Mark

[benjohnson]

Thanks for that mate.

Do you happen to know if an RO unit can live outside in the cold and not be broken ?? I would need to house the storage and RO unit outside, I could build it a little hut to protect it a bit, but it would still get quite cold ???

Ben