Discus Being A Total Butt

[GAB99]

Hey I bought a pigeon blood discus around 3-3.5" a while back, poor guy refused to eat so I order four more discus (marlboro red, blue diamond, dark angel and flachen) these guys are 2.5" and I just now added them, at first the pigeon blood was submissive and tried to join the group but now he is bothering the heck out of them and I really want tobfix this before I get an ich issue.

So basically how do I get him to calm down? Seperate him?

All are in a planted 55 with a external (i think eheim e3) and tankmates are some very small angels (quarter size) and some smaller livebearers

 

[justin85]

Could be a male showing his dominance to gain the females attention, is it happening all the time or around feeding time ?
Has the discus shown any breeding behaviour ? ( vibrating, cleaning a surface etc ) Is the discus bigger than the rest ?

 

[GAB99]

I just put in the four smaller ones, the one that is being a bit nippy is the biggest. I have yet to feed them

 

[snowflake311]

They set up a pecking order. It will change some times my oldest pigeon rules the tank.

They are cichlids and that's just how they are. Move stuff around in the tank can help. Removing dose work some times.

 

[justin85]

I just put in the four smaller ones, the one that is being a bit nippy is the biggest. I have yet to feed them

You could try separating the nippy one untill the others settle in, or just leave them all together for a day or 2 and keep a close eye on them. Try feeding them.
IMO from previous experience this is normal behaviour, But you should keep a close eye on them, and if it gets to bad separate him/her.

Hope this helps.

 

[GAB99]

Thanks ill just keep an eye on them and feed them and see how things go

 

[GAB99]

for the first day i had to stick the larger one in a bag until night, today hes still being aggressive but it is no longer actively bothering the other discus, only when they get too close.

is it normal for discus to sort out a hierarchy? or something?

 

[ainsy]

Yes it took mine the better part of three months to sort one out & they still have the occasional go at each other now.

 

[GAB99]

ok great, and sorry for going off thread topic but ive tried feeding them blood worms, black worms, brineshrimp, mysis, flake, and shrimp pellets and only one of them has eaten anything, and it was one of the new ones (the biggest one ive had for a month and ive only ever seen it eat maybe two or three times) they are always picking on algae though. im going later today to get some discus pellets but is there anything that these guys will go crazy for?

 

[ainsy]

They usually go mad for bloodworm.

Mine hardly fed at all for the first week and a 1/2 but once they had settled in they began to feed. I was advised to feed them exclusively beefheart because that is what the breeder fed them & eventually it worked. It still makes up 85% of their diet.

Can you find out what yours were fed on previously?

How long haven't they been feeding for?

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

They usually go mad for bloodworm.

Mine hardly fed at all for the first week and a 1/2 but once they had settled in they began to feed. I was advised to feed them exclusively beefheart because that is what the breeder fed them & eventually it worked. It still makes up 85% of their diet.

Can you find out what yours were fed on previously?

How long haven't they been feeding for?

+1 with Ainsy....... Frozen bloodworms and live Brine Shrimp should get them going. However, if the fast goes on for more than a week I would take serious look at your water quality. Also, Discus have tiny stomachs, but a very fast digestive system, so little and often is the key to feeding

 

[GAB99]

The new fish were on a beef heart diet, which I tried because the stores near me do not sell discus food. They ignored it and the catfish is now very fat.
I'll try bloodworms again and brine. The only live food I have is daphnia (magnum/magnus) and I finally got the biggest discus eating that.
The biggest discus I bought from a chain store and they told me it was eating blood worms. Nope

The majority of the small discus now seem to be getting hungry because they are beggining to nibble on the shrimp pellets ( I offer the tank a bit of all the dry foods every other day and one of the frozen stuff every other day)

So far I've tried black worms, beefheart , shrimp pellets, daphnia, and flake with all the discus

The biggest discus (not the other four) has also had bloodworms.

The only things that haven't been ignored are the daphnia and pellets.

They are still bickering but honestly they can fight all they want as long as they eat something in decent quantity.

Water quality isn't an issue as Ive been doing 25% once a week at the least since may. Tests are clean with a tad bit of nitrate (10)

Also the receipt for the big discus is dated for may 14
The other four I got this past Tuesday but have been off food for 24 hours prior to shipment.

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

Sorry to be a stooge, 25% water change once a week ain't enough. I do 50% 3 times a week, and would say that unless you are running a sump filter(refugium), 30% twice a week is really the absolute minimum. They are real delicate to even the slightest drop in water quality.

 

[GAB99]

Ok, what are ideal discus parameters? Right now the water is at
84 degrees
PH is at 6.5
Ammonia is 0
Nitrite is 0
Nitrate is at 10
This is with a new kit and everything with a 25% weekly wc I honestly do not know what else I can do to get the water any better than that for freshwater.

I'll change the water again tomorrow and change out filter medias If I have to. Even the filter itself is for a tank 3 times the size of this one.

Do they need a lot of flow/water movement? That's the only issue I have right now other than them not eating.

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

The readings are ok, do you know the hardness GH reading?

Are you using tap water? If so do you treat it?

What I would try is a big water change, say 50-60% and see how they react. If after that they liven up and get hungry, then you will know it is the water, if not then likely not.

I wouldn't go changing the filter media if i were you, that won't be the problem.

They don't like water flow, they are still water fish.

Do they look healthy, or are they dark and holding their fins down?

See how you go tomorrow, and let me know