Discus fish help!!! Please :(

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TomCarter13

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jan 20, 2014
Messages
168
I bought 4 discus a week ago and 2 of them were to aggressive toward my other 2 favourites. So i returned the aggressive 2 back to the store yesterday (the lady will be ordering replacements next week) since yesterday when i netted the fish out, got new driftwood and plants, did a wc, etc the 2 i kept have been hiding and have not come out swimming. Their poop is orangey (not stringy or white) and one if them eats alot! The other doesn't really. He does pick through the gravel though.
My water parameters are:

PH: 7.2
Am: 0 ppm
Nitri: 0 ppm
Nitra: 5 ppm
Tank is a 60 gallon Tall (Aqua one 980T)
Well planted.

They were fine before so maybe they're stressed from me messing around in the tank but i don't know. I'm definately getting 2 more the same size as the ones i have next week from a breeder but shes on holiday this week so ill have to wait. I thought i was doing everything well but now im making myself sick with all this worry thats occured since day 1 of keeping these fish :/

Please please help me :(

Thanks.
 
Heres a pic of the tank and fish (the marlboro isn't eating as well as the other one. Can anyone help me with that to?) just mind some of the lighting isn't good sorry.

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1398657359.341171.jpg
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1398657477.936872.jpg Marlboro
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1398657512.809165.jpg pigeonblood
 
A bunch of things really. First off, they do best in groups of 5-6, require about 10 gallons per adult size. Secondly, are they all the same as in Asian, Stendker, etc ? Did they all come from the same tank or different tanks ? You said you bought them from a store but getting new ones from a breeder. That doesn't make sense. Same person ? What size are they ? Juvies need lots of feeding and lots of large WC's to grow out and generally don't do well in planted tanks. Did you just put them in the tank, (sounds like it) or did you QT (highly recommended) them. An "orangey" poop sounds more like worms (reason for QT, good six weeks) but without a picture it's hard to guess. What other fish are in the tank ?

Edit : what's the tank temp and looks as though their close to direct sunlight.
 
Firstly the the store is run by a lady who orders fish from a breeder down the road from her. So thats what i meant about getting some off of a breeder (sorry i know it didn't make sense). I know these fish need to be in big groups of 5-6 but there is nothing i can do about that for now until the lady gets back and brings in the 2 i asked for as i said above.

The temp is kept at 30 degrees celsius at all times and i do a water change (with gravel siphon) twice a week and both times are 50% on a monday and friday so i have time for my new water to be rid of any heavy metals or chlorine. I use a filter and heater in the new water container.

The sunlight problem i know of but as you can see i have blinds and i usually l shut them early to keep sun out of the tank. I also took that picture at later hours when the sun starts to come down.

I test my water once a week for ph, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

The fish have come from the same tank and from the same breeder i mentioned before.

And finally i'm not so worried anymore because my fish have started to come out and this morning my marlboro i was worried about finally at half a cube of beefheart! The pigeon blood always comes out now and never had a problem eating and the poop was actually from some JBL novo bits i was
Feeding them. The orange poop was only coming from the pigeon blood but mow they have gone to normal color.
They were never stringy by the way. Just a lite orange color.

Thanks.
 
Also the filter is just like a small sponge filter! I just use it for extra cleanliness and to get small things like hair to get taken out of the water.
 
How are they doing now?

☆☆ FISH LOVER ★★
 
My fish are seem to be doing fine now :) i have bought 3 more (2 blue diamond, and 1 blue leopard discus) for my tank. They are all eating but there seems to be a bit of aggresion? They all come out to eat and fight over food a little bit which i thought was normal. But out if the three new fish i bought my 2 blue diamonds only yesterday and they were actually being trapped by my blue leopard this morning???? Wtf?? The B.L literally stayed in one spot by the heater and any movement from the other 2 he would nip them. As im writing this he seems to have left them alone as hes found the filters current to play in, and the other 2 try to come out but the the B.L chases them back in? All of them are picking on each other but some are just less aggressive than others. Will and when is this going to stop? Btw there are no dark colours on any of the fish or any other signs of stress :)
 
You can never say for sure when or if aggression will stop entirely. Especially with Discus. Their pecking order may take a few weeks to get to a level that you're okay with.
 
Okay :) i know that they're cichlids and that they won't stop being aggressive but i was hoping that the aggression would slowly die down after awhile :)

Thanks
 
You're gonna have to give it a good while to settle down. A couple of days is nowhere near enough time. More like 4-6 or even 8-10 weeks if not longer.
 
So just an update to just let you guys know my discus are doing a lot better. They become less aggressive when i come up to the tank and when i do they all follow me and swim round the front of the tank :) also they are all eating very well so far :) they all enjoy the varieties of food i feed them :) the 2 blue diamonds have been body slapping and standing up for themselves a bit to :) the aggression has calmed down a little bit. Like in the morning there isn't much and same with in the evening and at night they don't fight as much and their alot more placid. However their is a fair bit of aggression midday and at eating time.

So far i haven't noticed any symptoms or sicknesses like; they don't have cloudy or black eyes, their gills aren't clamped and look as if their functioning well , they aren't heavily breathing (unless being chased), they aren't dark in colour, no stringy poop or white poop, and they aren't being skittish or dashing, no clamped fins etc. but not so often but other than that everything is going ok :) my water parameters are good and the same as before :) just hoping that there will be less aggression in the future :)

Thanks for the help :)ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1400048289.671304.jpg
 
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