Discus Behaviour Questions

[30index]

Hi All,
I am 7 months into a 76g planted discus tank with some cardinal tetras, plecos, and snails. Since I'm new to the species I'm curious to know from some of you experienced with discus to share some anecdotes about their behavior. What I've observed so far is that just a few are often timid and once I introduced more (6 together) they became more outgoing and curious. Definitely seems like a strength in numbers kind of group.

What about the male / female thing? I believe I have two females that are smaller. I had to treat them for parasites a few months ago and they never seemed to really recover. One is back in time out to see if she can get more comfortable and out of her hiding area.

Sometimes they all swim into a corner and hide. Other times they are out and about. One is more of a jerk, and was named Dan Snyder. He's not even the biggest in the tank but he often nips at the others and in turn gets nipped at. He pals around with three others but they seem to tolerate him more than include him in the friend group.

I do a lot of watching and trying to take it all in but I'm so curious to hear if any of you have stories that might help me understand what this social dynamic is and could be.

Always learning!

 

[ken31cay]

How long have you had Discus in the tank and what does your water change schedule look like?

Here's my opinion based on my past experience:

My experience is that having 4 or more Discus helps. I kept 10-12 Discus in a 180gal for over 18 months and they were not shy. Of course Discus are naturally skittish fish and will dart about quickly if spooked. FWIW I found that wearing bright yellow shirts seemed to help with this.

Having decor that provides cover but doesn't allow them to be hidden helps.

The biggest things that help are:
1. maintaining fresh clean water in the tank (at least 50% daily water changes)
2. maintaining same water parameters (same pH, GH)
3. scheduled tank maintenance (wiping all surface areas clean weekly).

Having a heavily planted tank helps to reduce the frequency/amount of water changes. Yours is planted but IMO not heavily planted. Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[30index]

Thanks for the reply and info. Changing the topic from behavior to water quality for a second— did you ever have substrate with discus? My tank is definitely not heavily planted because I recently ripped most everything out due to wonderful case of black hair algae. I’ve reduced the intensity and duration of light down to 50% and 4 hours a day while I get it under control. Meanwhile I’m waiting on an order of some larger plants. Had a shipment from Buce which some I glued to the rocks but they generally all so small. Hoping to get it done this week.
Over the last few days, two have paired off and are in almost full time hiding. I’m not sure if they are unhappy or very happy together off on their own….

 

[ken31cay]

I did have gravel substrate when I first started with Discus and knew nothing about them. But after these got sick and eventually died I then did some research and learned about Discus care. On the advice of the people at www.simplydiscus.com forums, I removed all substrate, started large daily water changes (keeping same exact water pH & GH) and consistent tank maintenance, after which my (new batch) of Discus not only lived but thrived and stayed looking beautiful.

Discus require a care like no other fish I'd known and I've been keeping fish tanks since I was 12yrs old. There is a steep learning curve for most, and my experience has been that alot of new Discus owners don't believe and/ or accept that Discus really do need a much higher level of care than most other fish. Without that, Discuss will eventually get sick and die, or in some cases may survive but live a sickly, subpar state of existence. If one is used to raising young wild caught altums then they would also easily be up to the task of raising Discus. But for most of us proper Discus care is like a foreign concept at first.

 

[30index]

Thank you! All of that makes perfect sense. The funny thing is that this is my first tank ever. I don’t know anything different and have nothing to compare it to. I went from zero to one of the most high maintenance fish ever. I suppose that I could have started with WILD discus if I wanted to make things more picky.
I do regular and frequent water changes, test the water beforehand as well as the temp and clean the tank weekly. All fish don’t need this? Lol

I just found simplydiscus last week and started reading there too. I’ve picked up that a bare bottom tank is infinitely easier … at the same time, I see a lot of advanced fish keepers with heavily planted. I’m a newbie still and somehow ended up with substrate.Let’s see how it all goes … I may be following your footprints and ditching the substrate.Thanks again for your thoughts.

 

[ken31cay]

That's all good.

RE: heavily planted tanks: IME it works best to raise Discus in a 'bare-bottom' tank then when fully grown transfer to a heavily planted tank. When I kept Discus, I connected with a buddy locally and we placed an nice sized order of young Discus together. My friend raised theirs in a heavily planted tank with 20% weekly water changes, I raised mine in a bare bottom tank with 50%-75% daily water changes. My Discus grew quicker, were more robust and all lived. My friend had mixed results and it was due to the fact that Discus and plants have opposing needs when it comes to water 'quality' - that is, the more fresh/new the water is, the better for Discus, and vice-versa for plants.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Ogertron3000]

Thats an incredible tank for your first attempt, very nice indeed
I had them years ago, as stated they are very high maintenance fish, not the sort of fish you can go on a 2 week holiday and get your neighbour to feed a few times a week. All fish need care but with discus you cant slack off for a week and skip a waterchange for example.
Mine were always in a tank with gravel and lots of plants, mainly java fern and seemed to do well.
I found they looked nice but didnt reallyu do much of anything that was interesting. Due to that and the high care routine and occasional random death i moved on from them.
Maybe a nice big discus and altum angel biotope would be something to try in retirement but personally its a bit too much hassle for me now.
Well done for accepting such a challenge for your first tank, no matter what happens with it you are going to learn a lot very quickly.

 

[30index]

That's all good.

RE: heavily planted tanks: IME it works best to raise Discus in a 'bare-bottom' tank then when fully grown transfer to a heavily planted tank. When I kept Discus, I connected with a buddy locally and we placed an nice sized order of young Discus together. My friend raised theirs in a heavily planted tank with 20% weekly water changes, I raised mine in a bare bottom tank with 50%-75% daily water changes. My Discus grew quicker, were more robust and all lived. My friend had mixed results and it was due to the fact that Discus and plants have opposing needs when it comes to water 'quality' - that is, the more fresh/new the water is, the better for Discus, and vice-versa for plants.

Best of luck to you.

So interesting!! Can I ask you a question about your daily changes?
Did you do them manually? How big was your tank?

 

[ken31cay]

So interesting!! Can I ask you a question about your daily changes?
Did you do them manually? How big was your tank?

I kept them in a 180gal tank and used a Python water changer (with water pump attached to the end in the tank) for the water changes. So I would plug in the pump to empty the tank quickly, then turn on (open) my faucet valve on the other end to fill the tank. Was easy enough. I never missed a day in the ~18months I had Discus.

Just to clarify my last post when I mentioned Discus in a planted tank; IMO it is good to wait until Discus are fully grown adults before putting them in planted tanks because the adults are a little more tolerate of water conditions. Young Discus on the other hand require pristine water conditions for good health and growth.

IME the best setup for Discus is a bare-bottom tank with minimal surface areas. My 180gal w/sump was not an optimal setup for Discus because of the added surface area.

For example, an optimal setup for 5-6 sub-adult Discus would be a 75gal bare-bottom with two sponge filters and with also perhaps an airstone to aid in aeration. This minimizes surface areas which need to be kept clean. Recommended at least 50% daily water changes, vacuum up any uneaten food in tank after each feeding, wipe clean all surface areas that water touches each week. Alot of work I know but this is the reality of raising Discus.