best way to move discus?

[Angelman]

I'm a little fearful about moving my discus to there final tank. I don't want to damage them in any way, So I was wondering what others do to move there discus? use a net? use a bucket in the tank? I know there are very fast and lack judgment when they swim away in fear. So looking for the more exp. people to help me not hurt my fish during there move. They are about softball size now in a 75g tank. I want to move them to a 125g and that is where they will live out there lives. Thank you for any input on this as these are my pets and raised them from dime sized so I would hate to hurt them.

[mumafish]

I moved mine 300 kilometers, they are tougher than you think.

Remove any sharp objects from the tank, use a net big enough to hold them and make all movements slow and quitely.

Your fortunate that you don't have a time limit and if they get too stirred up give them a break and come back to them.

Take it slowly, they will love their new tank.

[BobbyBruce]

Hi,

When netting your fish take it slowly as Mumafish mentioned. Also, you will find if you dip the net slowly under the fish then slowly raise it in the horizontal plane you will cause them much less stress. As you lift the fish from the water cup the fish and net in your free hand to reduce "flopping" in the net where the fish may become entangled in the mesh and damage fins.

Looking forward to the pics in the new tank.

Regards,

Bob

[Angelman]

Thank you both so much for the tips. I have all day tomorrow to do it so I will not hurry them. WIll post some pictures when there in the new tank. I know they will like the extra swimming room. Thx again

[lou1]

A good tip to catch them without stressing them is turn out the lights and darken the room as much as possible . Pop the net in use a torch to find them , you will now notice the fish won't even swim away . I've caught clowns , l333 and discus in my 6ft if I had to do it with the lights on I would have to pull apart the tank

[Angelman]

Thx you lou1 that idea worked well a long with the others all goog ideas. I managed to get them moved very easy. I used a 20g rubbermade tote to put them in rather than a bucket it gave them a bit more room. They took the the new tank very well and my runt discus is much happier back with its brother/sisters.

[Angelman]

in the picture above you can see my runt discus with his bad bottom fins bent at 90 deg. angles. This fish didn't swim but to get food for atleast 1 month and just layed on the bottom of the tank. Heres a whole tank view.. Has a fluval FX 5 keeping it clean.

[Hooked]

Hi Angleman, looks great! Great advice too. I especially liked the tip that was about darkening the room and using a torch. I'll use that one later for sure,

Cheers

[Xerxes]

I read somewhere (can't remember to give it proper reference) that catching fish while the tank is half full, during a water change for instance, is helpful. Tried this myself and can say it was much easier.

When I used to have clown loaches, they were by far the most difficult fish to catch of the ones I've had. For discus, I would like to try the darkened room with the torch method. I used to check up on a sick fish I had with a torch in the middle of the night, and they were really mellow even with the flashlight beam on them. I can imagine that they would be calm even with a net near by.

[Nev]

To be honest discus are so easy to catch l wouldn't bother with the dark room etc. Just put your net near the one you want and 9 times outta 10 he'll just swim into it.

[lou1]

Just thought I would add something . I was trying to catch a very shy albino pleco in my 6 ft so what I did is use my gravel vac . Its the type with a flat attachment on the opening . All i did was piped a few wafers inside , let it rest on the bottom of the tank. Turned the lights out and half an hour later he was in there . And because he can't turn around in their grabbing the tube without him flying out wasn't a issue . Just thought i would share the idea