Discus not eating

pikwik

pikwik

Fish Are Friends
Jun 13, 2005
82
0
0
50
Surrey, BC
I am new to Discus and was just wondering if it is normal for them to not eat when you first get them? And should I keep the fish that I have in the tank with the Discus or trade them in for something else? What goes well with Discus? :hi:
I have had him for 24hrs now, and he has ate only 2 little pieces of blood worm!!
 
discus fo well withi discus :P...nt will tell you taht for beggining out the fish, you should just keept he species tnakl alone. this is just aclimination and stiellting in. give it time, amybe im' worng, i'm sure brain will yell at me...:rolleyes:

and loine discus is a sin or something linke that...:D
 
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What is your temperature? It should be in the 86F range. This temperature will have a poor effect on your neons, as IME and in my reading I have found them not to well at all in temps above 80F. If your temperature isn't around 86F, then you should bump it up... then you will probably see an increase in appetite.

Sublime is right, discus should never be kept alone, because they are a shoaling specie. Juveniles (under 4.5'') especially do poor alone. 3 individuals is the minimum, 6+ is highly prefered, but you can't do that in your 40g. I personally would pick either the current stocking, or the discus because you do have quite a few conflicting temperature requirements.

Next, I highly recommend going into the article section and looking at the "Beginners Discus Article" as it will help you immensly and get you started. You may also want to skip over to DAAH ( http://discusasahobby.com) which is a forum dedicated to discus.


IMO, your tank is too small for any other fish besides a shoal of 3 discus... you may be able to have a small shoal of 3 bronze/sterbai cories and 3 otos but that's about it. If you wanted to drop some money and buy a bonded pair (they don't have to be a mating pair), then you could have just the pair (your current discus would have to go though), then you would have space for a shoal of tetras (glo-lights are great with discus, BTW : ) ) like cardinals, pencil fish, or any other heat tolerant shoaling fish.

HTH
 
sublime1184 said:
i'm sure brain will yell at me...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
HA!! "Brain" yell at you??!! I'll yell at you for talking like a troll :sim:
Speak...er..type something readable man!!
 
Its normal for them not to eat for a day or two after getting them....however....

You have far more concerning issues than him not eating. First you didn't quarantine, basically with discus you do not take that risk. Two reasons, Discus are EXTREMELY susceptible to Bacterial/parasitic infections and it takes nothing for them to get them from other fish/tanks even ones that show no signs of having them. Second discus also can harbor a lot of nasties, they regularly have internal parasites.

QUARANTINE QUARANTINE QUARANTINE I can not stress that enough.

As mentioned, a lone discus or even 2-3 other younger discus will not do well. They are a shoaling fish, in the wild you will find them in groups of several hundred or larger. There are a few people here on the site who will put their two cents in because they don't do that and keep lone or a couple young discus and have had "success" for a few months-a year etc. Simply put they don't have a clue, never will, and won't change things that they are doing for the better health of the fish. I would urge you not to follow their advice.

Read the article I have in my signature, and as Puma suggested, do some looking around/asking questions at http://www.discusasahobby.com I'm also regularly on there, but there are a lot more experienced/knowledgable people there than myself and not just a few people that know their stuff, and a bunch that think they do. That forum is dedicated to discus, and the people there for the most part know their stuff.
 
Thanks for the advice Nataku,

If I have any Discus questions I am going to ask you, you seem to know quite a bit about them. I really like Discus and want to upgrade to about a 75-100g tank in the next 6 months or so. I have had lots of success with all my fish to this point and really wanted some Discus. I was told that long term I needed to have a bunch of Discus together for them to be really happy, but to try 1 Discus first as a test fish to see if I could keep it alive. I know this sounds cruel but I am very good with my fish and keep the tank in great condition at all times. If this fish survives a couple of months then I am going to add a few more Discus to my tank. Then I am going to start looking at getting the bigger tank. I have already taken all the other fish except the rams out, and the Discus seems alot happier already. He has started to eat now, and he really moves around the tank and explores lots now. I have Discus flakes, Blood worms, and Brine shrimp for him so far, and I am trying to find a good homemade recipe to make food for him. Believe me, besides being a little lonely, this fish is going to be treated like a king. I just hope that being lonely will not kill him.
 
Pikwik,

Good for you and your discus...wish you great success with them ! Rams are a great tank mate for discus, they both have similar requirements and generally do very well together.

They are a fish that I someday hope to have a tank of.....but I don't think it will happen unless I win the lottery and can set a large tank up in the basement...lol....but then I would have to hang out down there to enjoy them....and...I don't play the lottery....soooo :huh: :rolleyes:
 
I wouldn't suggest rams at least untill you've gotten a good deal of expirience just dealing with the discus. Which is why anyone with any knowledge at all about the fish will tell you to start bare bottom, and just the discus. They are a fairly touchy fish compared to what most people have kept, so its essential to learn their behaviors, and indicators before you take the jump into keeping them with other fish.

Anyone advocating keeping discus in with other fish, and in planted tanks for a person new to the hobby is just setting people up for problems. It can be done, but I wouldn't take advice from people that do suggest keeping your first discus in a planted community or anything other than a bare bottom.

Nice to see you on DAAH though Pik, lots and lots of great info on there, and we have the best and most knowledgable folks from around the world on there.
 
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