Distressed Discus

[Zante]

Have a look at my signature: one of the discus in the 400 litre tank is still sitting in a corner and very very dark. It does come out for feeding, and occasionally colour up, but I believe it is being bullied by the other 5.

I was wondering if it could settle (at least temporarily) in my 95 litre tank, especially considering the population.

The 95 litre is VERY heavily planted, a veritable swamp, and the filter is a bit oversized so the extra bioload should be soaked up, especially if I step up the water changes from every other week to weekly.

Opinions?

 

[mattlee]

i wouldnt risk it in with gouramis in a 95L tbh, my experience with gouramis isnt great though so i class them all as evil......

if the discus is number 6 in reference to your other topics then if hes not settled by now i would think about quarentine and treatment. if hes feeding well then it may just be that he is at the bottom of the hierachy but there should be plenty of spread aggression in a 400l with 6 smaller discus.

are the others ok? eating well, chunky heads, bright colours etc etc?

 

[Zante]

i wouldnt risk it in with gouramis in a 95L tbh, my experience with gouramis isnt great though so i class them all as evil......

if the discus is number 6 in reference to your other topics then if hes not settled by now i would think about quarentine and treatment. if hes feeding well then it may just be that he is at the bottom of the hierachy but there should be plenty of spread aggression in a 400l with 6 smaller discus.

Indeed it is. He is sort of feeding well... used to come out and colour up for feeding, but in the last days she's been coming out and feeding just for the live food. I do sprinkle sone granules for her at her corner, but the others come along to investigate and eat.

Mind you, on friday there was a bit of a party for a couple of hours, and all six of them spent all the time hiding behind the trunk, so maybe, being more timid than the others she still hasn't recovered from the fright, but I do think it could be bullying.

are the others ok? eating well, chunky heads, bright colours etc etc?

Yep, fine. I poke my finger in the tank and they come and investigate, they spend a lot of the time at the front of the tank looking into the room, now they've started to allow me to stroke them a bit. When I feed them the frozen food they sometimes get impatient and try to jump up as I pour it from the jar.

 

[mattlee]

i hope she pulls through for you mate.

just a word of warning about stroking fish as it can easilly remove slime coat from them which can be a bad thing as this is their method of defence against illness etc so i wouldnt do it too often or at all if it were me....

 

[Zante]

i hope she pulls through for you mate.

She'll have to go in with the gouramis. My hospital tank is currently unusable.
I'll wait a couple of days to see if I can get it back, and then, hospital or gouramis, she's out.

just a word of warning about stroking fish as it can easilly remove slime coat from them which can be a bad thing as this is their method of defence against illness etc so i wouldnt do it too often or at all if it were me....

Nah... I'm careful about that. Fot that very reason I'm a bit squeamish about it, but it's nice that they trust me like that