Blue Angel Peppering

[LakeWendouree]

Hi

I am new to the forum and am hoping to get some tips regarding my blue angel discus. I recently bought two of them around 10cm. I also bought two pigeon blood from the same supplier. They were all very clean when i got them home, no peppering whatsoever. Over the past 48 hours, the two blue angels have developed quite a bit of peppering. I took down the dark blue background and now have almost white / light baby blue background. I have upped the lighting temporarily seeing if I can get rid of the peppering. The store's nitrate levels were very high, so I was wondering perhaps it is reverse nitrate shock as mine is very low? What else can I do to get the blue angels back to being peppering free? Your suggestions will be much appreciated.

[mattgoanna]

Peppering is the same as stress bars, it will show up when they are not happy. They will need to establish a pecking order and just settle in, so that will take time. If you have the 4 in together (and only the 4) you are in for trouble. Sexed pairs or more than five to spread aggression is necessary. If you have them as pairs and they have not bonded, they will also fight. Hope that helps.

[LakeWendouree]

Peppering is the same as stress bars, it will show up when they are not happy. They will need to establish a pecking order and just settle in, so that will take time. If you have the 4 in together (and only the 4) you are in for trouble. Sexed pairs or more than five to spread aggression is necessary. If you have them as pairs and they have not bonded, they will also fight. Hope that helps.

Thanks for the explanation. There are 9 discus altogether right now in that tank. So far there hasn't been much aggression and they are all shoaling together, so fingers crossed. I am looking at getting three more discus of the same size to complete my stocking.

[mattgoanna]

Great. Sounds like they just need time to settle in.