frightened discus won't eat

[lis]

:D Hi everyone I'm new to keeping discus and am very keen for help. my six discus arrived and look really healthy to me but they won't eat yet. They seem scared of the other fish in the tnk(neons,cardinals, rummy nose,corys,1 flying fox. When they meet in the tnk they take off and hide near heater and plants and because the others hurrily eat, the discus are too scared to eat. Help :?

[Mickey C]

Hi Lis - Welcome!

Have you taken some water readings at all since introducing your new discus? Also, what temperature is your water at?

What are you trying to feed them at the moment? Few background questions will help a little :)

[lis]

:D Hi mickeyc. I tested the parameters yesterday before i picked fish up and 0 nitrites 0 ammonia trace nitrates gh 60 kh 40 ph 7 because breeders tanks were 7. Temp this morning 29.9. I use ro water and add discus trace back to buffer ! :roll:

[lis]

p.s. I have tried them on blood worm and brine shrimp!

[Mickey C]

Sounds like a perfect tank to me :)

If you've only just picked them up I might suggest allowing them 2 or 3 days - the more experienced guys may have other options as to how to get them eating right now. It may just be a case of new surroundings, new fish to deal with, and getting used to your feeding routine.

Even with other species I've found they don't always eat for the first day or two. That's until they realise that the lights coming on means food is on its way :) Have a quick read in the emergency room and illness areas, there's a few different threads on what to do next, like specific foods they can't seem to resist or using something like garlic guard (I think it is) to really get them chomping food down :)

Oh, and PICS PICS!! :D

[lis]

:oops: I am hopeless with comp & cameras but I will try to get kids to help. Tank is 800 l with royal blue gravel nat grey,black,green,brown background with diff anubias & swords. I hve 1 red doll, 1 red dragon, 2 blue diamond, 2 golden crystal. Every time I see them they take my breath away! but I want them to eat. The red dragon is eating.

[Mickey C]

Dyslexic me read that as "but I want to eat them" and I thought :cry:

More experienced guys will be on tonight, but I'd think they'll be ok but if they're not eating by Friday it'll be time to really step up the efforts to feed. Hiding is normal for the first couple of days too - they'll get over it :)

[lis]

:lol: lol. I thought I was the only one who did things like that. They look nice but I don't think they would taste very good :wink:

[m.ingram]

Hey lis i wouldnt worry to much it can take up to a week for them to settle in .Just keep trying to give them a small amout of food at least once a day.Even if it takes a week before they eat it wont hurt them .Just make sure they have good colour and give them plenty of good clean water and they will come around .Good luck

[lis]

:) thanks very much! I have found a good bh & sf recipe I will make up tonight and try again tomorrow. They realy do look like they r getting more settled. They r actually separating sometimes and having a look around the tank. strange little creatures! :lol:

[ILLUSN]

Leave the light off for a day or 2 if you have them or can get them try a couple of indian almond leaves just to de stress the fish, after a few days in the dark turn on a light in the room, not on the tank and try a little food, if they start to come out and eat the following day you can turn the tank light on and they should eat normally.

[lis]

:D hi illsn I did that yesterday and then slowly put blue light on and then blue and white lights. When I did this they actually all came out of hiding and started trying to eat the air bubbles' They r swimming freely and pecking at the gravel, their fins r nt clamped & they seem very inquisitive more so than this morning when I first wrote but the other fish frenzying for food seems to make them skitterish so they will nt eat :)

[lis]

p.s what do indian almond leaves do? :o

[lis]

:lol: Well everybody I made up the bh recipe last night and they woofed the lot :oops: very embarassed ! if I had just waited they would have settled down. Just being a worried mum ! I will try to get a move on with those photos, I willhave plenty of time now (3 months of bh done ) you can probably all smell it in Canberra and all over Aus! :D

[Mickey C]

That's great news Lis, well done :) I remember once cooking up an Ox tongue for my rottweiler - that stunk :cry:

[lis]

:lol: Hi mickey! you should hve seen the ingredients hubby brought home would hve cost a bomb. He said nt in these words "the bloomin fish eat better than we do ! I could cook that salmon for my own tea." Needless to say he was watching to see if they ate it, or he was going to attack me if they did'nt. :lol:

[bruceau]

:D Hi everyone I'm new to keeping discus and am very keen for help. my six discus arrived and look really healthy to me but they won't eat yet.

mine took about 2/3 days to settle in and eat and swim about and be happy.

they have there good days and bad some days they are in a good mood and want to see me others they just wanna hide..

[Ghoti]

:lol: Hi mickey! you should hve seen the ingredients hubby brought home would hve cost a bomb. He said nt in these words "the bloomin fish eat better than we do ! I could cook that salmon for my own tea." Needless to say he was watching to see if they ate it, or he was going to attack me if they did'nt. :lol:

Blahahahahahahaha :lol:

I am so with you on all accounts.

I'm only a few weeks ahead of you on the same road Lis! My wife went ape when she saw the salmon and prawns. "You complain about me buying flathead for the family but the fish get bloody salmon!!" Lucky for me I had the comeback that they're her fish. . . well, they were.

And I still reckon Merrilyn's Beefheart mixture stinks (sorry Merrilyn :oops:)

Cheers,
Scott

[Merrilyn]

Psssst so do I Scott, but don't tell anyone :laff1

[lpiasente]

Hey Lis, great to hear all is settled down and they are eating. Don't worry about being a worried mum, we all are and that just shows that you really do care. can you post some pics of your new family additions? I always like to see other peoples babies.

[Mickey C]

Lucky for me I had the comeback that they're her fish. . . well, they were.

Bit of fishkeeping gold right there :lol:

I wouldn't dare go to the shops just yet to start buying anything like that. Having two lots of frozen fish food is annoying enough for my girlfriend, along with the RO unit on the laundry floor and buckets that always seem to be littering the place. Oh yes, she'll LOVE a water drum to age the water... :D

[goodoo]

Im such a freak when I get new discus. Lucky my girlfiend reminds me. ''remember when you got Mani he was funny for weeks'' And il be worrying about all kinds of stuff It annoys my girlfriend so much. '' You look at the fish more than me" and so on but I love her. Good one micky