Dark Bars On Discus

[clayt101]

Hey, I have 3 discus, all 2-3 inchs. Two that I have had are siblings and have had black vertical bars on them since day one. I recently got a 3rd discus, and now it has the bars too. When it was by itself, he did not have the bars. What do the bars mean? I am hopeing that it means the fish are very happy.

 

[anonapersona]

Stress bars

No, not happy. Not necessarily unhappy, but not happy.

Now, if it turns ALL black, THAT is unhappy.

Keep up the temperature, 84 to 86F, and daily water changes if you can handle it. I do 30% a day, raising young discus, in a somewhat crowded tank feeding 4x/day and siphoning the bottom 2x/day.

I have 23 discus, mostly about 3", more and less, in a 55 Tall. I'll be dividing them pretty soon into two tanks, they will be crowded in just a few more weeks.

 

[N8DOGG]

I thought there were some discus that did have the vertical bar on them.......is this only on stressed ones?? It can't be I've seen way too many that were healthy and happy...

now if I had a bright red or blue discus that all of a sudden got a black verticle line I would be concerened

 

[clayt101]

I was reading about them on the internet, and some people say that they just ignore the black bars. I will bring my water temp up a few degree and see if that helps, from 82 to about 84. :dance

 

[anonapersona]

There are some discus that are bar-less, but most have bars. Most of the time, at least with grown fish, the bars are not showing, except the first bar through the eyes and the last bar though the tail is usually showing. With young fish, the bars are always showing, in-between they are in-between.

My juveniles, now as big as the palm of my hand, are showing bars about half the time now. When the room is quiet and they are calm, almost all of them are without bars, but when they see any activity that might lead to food, like anyone moving within sight, they get bars, I suppose in preparation for competing for food. Only one or two seem to be able to eat without bars showing.

While the temperature is very important, the water changes are even more important. You want to keep the nitrate level down very low, which is hard to do with a fish that eats meaty foods.

Young discus are better in larger groups, they are cichlids and are prone to all the bickering that cichlids are known for. "They say" that you need 6 or more discus to spread out the aggression, for in smaller numbers the smallest will get picked on until he fades away, then the next smallest will be picked on, until only one remains. I don't know if this is always true or just sometimes true, but Ihave a lot of juveniles because of reading that.

 

[125gJoe]

From what I have read, the "wild" Discus have more pronounced bars on them. They can get darker when agitated..

Here's something interesting..
http://www.chanmingdiscus.com/asian_discus02_content.html

Quote: "Right : After processing the babies with extensive light,the vertical black bar on the body virtually disappeared.
Inset : When Pigeon Blood babies are exposed to prolonged artificial lighting,the black pigmentation will be greatly reduced."

I have never heard of this, but I suppose it could be true..

 

[clayt101]

Well, I bumped up the temp to 84 degrees. The bars are still showing, but I am not worried. As for water changes, I do about 25% per week. I know the water parameters are fine because I also keep Altum Angels (wild caught) in there, and they are doing great. I do plan on getting 2 additional discus, a red variety, probably pigeon blood, but it really depends on what the LFS can get.

 

[anonapersona]

As for water changes, I do about 25% per week.

25% per week is not often enough, IMO.

The level of waste in the tank is equal to 1/0.25 = 4 so it is like not changing any water for 4 weeks. If the tank is big enough and the fish are small enough, this might be OK but at normal stocking densities this is dangerous. Expect the fish to start sulking and going dark or some white edges on the tail as it disintigrates with fungus, it takes a while to get to that point of waste concentration. If that happens, do a very large water change to gain some time, or just increase the volume and frequency now. The fish won't grow and will get sick if the water is bad.

Can you do 50% per week (= 2weeks waste)? Or 25% 2 or 3 times per week? 25% every other day means that the max level of waste in the tank is 1/.25 or 4 times 2 days = 8 days waste. So, it'd be like putting the fish in a fresh clean tank of new water and not changing any water for 8 days, which is certanly tolerable for most reasonable stocking levels.

How big is this tank?

 

[djlen]

As I remember it, the 'bars' on the Discus reflect their mood....not necessarily good or bad. I always paid more attention to their demeanor for signs of stress. If they were unhappy, mine tended to pout and get sort of reclusive.

A question.....where did you guys get your Discus? I'm starting to get the bug again, but have no idea where to look. My LFS's got them, but they don't look that good, and the prices are ridiculous.

Len

 

[clayt101]

Well, my first 2 came from an LFS. It was an "impulse" purchase. They said that they were already acclimated to our local water, so I figured why not. I was wooried that they might not be able to compete with the other fish for food, but so far it has not been a problem.
My most recent purchase actually came through the classified ads in my local paper. The guy I bought it from said he had it for about a week, but his mother wanted smaller fish. This one too was already acclimated to our harder water.

As for water changes, I may bump it up to about 30% a week. The aquarium is 110 gallon: 4 Altums, 3 Discus, 7 German Rams, 10 Cories, 1 betta, 5 plecos (2 albino ancistrus, 1 baby albino ancistrus, 1 L-134, 1 Goldy)

BTW, what do you consider ridiculous? I got mine for $20 each at the LFS, and $15 through the classified. Some stores around here have much more expensive ones, but they are usually kept at a pH of 6, and I don't want to bother with acclimation.