shy discus

[govols83]

hi all! so, I picked up my first two discus yesterday at my lfs and I love them. I had a question though, they seem to hide under my driftwood most of the time, but do occasionally come out into the open every once in a while. Whenever I walk by the tank, they immediately go back into hiding. I've heard this is normal behavior for the first couple of weeks, but feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Ebichua]

Perfectly fine, once you start feeding, they'll start to recognize you as a good thing. Next thing you know, they'll be swimming to you whenever you walk near them. Even if you aren't feeding! :-P

[Crystalview]

Very normal. Mine still will hide if we move to fast in front of them. When they were the size of a small egg they hide more then I saw them. Then I started feeding Live Ca black worms. Now they love me and only hide if I am wearing a dark shirt. But that is the fun you never know what they will do. So much more busy as adults. My pair is playing mating games today. So they will have eggs soon. They are in a community tank so I don't expect fry.

[Stevie D]

THe more time you spend with your discus, the more friendly they become. Also having plants/driftwood where they can escape to if they feel threatened will actually make them more comfortable and they will be out more.

If you were to get an autofeeder and not really spend time with them, they would almost always hide when people are around. You will find that once they get to know you, you can't make them hide if you try!

Perfectly normal for them to take a week or two, or possible longer before they warm up to you and get used to their environment. THey might not eat all that well for a few day as well.

Stevie D

[deleted_user_16]

how big is the tank and are there tankmates?

[govols83]

75 gallon tank.

1 zebra danio
6 glowlight danio
1 gold algea eater
about 25 neons and cardinals


will be adding a couple yo yo loaches soon

[seAdams]

I would remove the "gold algae eater", which is probably the gold form of the CAE.

As it grows it will stop eating algae and become aggressive which will distress your discus.

[Crystalview]

IMO The Yo Yo's will be active enough like most loaches. I have Sids which are really active and the Discus ignore them. I would add oto's for the algae. CAE can be mean and as said above they stop eating algae after awhile.

[govols83]

while we're on the subject, I was wanting to add some shrimp to also help with algae. What would everyone recommend?

[Crystalview]

My little sids love shrimp for lunch. I bet the yoyo's do too.

[soundtweakers]

if you have a 75 gallon, I would recommend getting a few more discus of the same size while the two in the tank are still shy. It's much easier on the new fish if the existing discus has not develop their territory within the tank. If you keep only two, eventually one of them will dominent over the other.

I've got 2 1/2 yrs old and 1 1/2 yrs old discus living in my tank, and they follow me(as well as my daughter and wife) around if we're anywhere near the tank.

Oh yes, make sure they eat, I've lost a few in the past because of them hiding for extended period of time and not getting enough to eat.