# Discus won't eat



## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I bought 6 discus fish about 5" and they won't stop hiding in the corner.

They also won't eat, and their color is blackish.

It has been 10 days since i bought them, what can i do to make them eat?


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## Hawaiian (Aug 17, 2005)

Can you give us some info on your QT and your procedures and also tank parameters.

Ike


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## AndyT. (Jun 28, 2006)

I second Hawaiian's request - what does the water chemistry look like?


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## shrimpy1 (Mar 29, 2006)

What are you feeding them? My discus will not eat dry foods at all. They're only eating frozen bloodworms and live blackworms.

Depending on how your fish were raised, they may not accept anything except what they were previously fed.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Ok false alarm guys, the discus ate like crazy today when i went to feed them. I guess they were just getting used to their surroundings. 

I fed them frozen blood worms, and tried some frozen brine shrimp, but they only ate the blood worms.

Water quality is 0 across the board, pH is around 6.0, with a soil substrate for the plants.

I did not QT them, as i bought them directly from the person who raised them. He has taken great pains to keep them parasite free and healthy. He owns the Simplydiscus.com forum.

He mentioned that he has been feeding them a mixture of foods, and that they would take flake/pellets as well as the traditional beef heart/blood worms.

Thanks for your quick responses though! I was really getting worried, since they would not stop hiding all day. Now they swim around in the open, even when people walk by. Their color is still pretty dark blue, but it noticeably improved when they were eating. Hopefully in a few days they will be as colorful as ever.


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## Ajax (Apr 3, 2006)

Glad they are coming around for ya'. Discus can definitely be finicky little buggers, but are also the most rewarding. What strain of discus did you buy?


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## AndyT. (Jun 28, 2006)

Glad it worked out!


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## gretzky (Sep 5, 2006)

*Consider a UV sterilizer*

I bought a back-up Eheim canister filter on Ebay earlier this year and the seller threw in a UV strerilizer (Coralife Turbo-twist to be specific). I really wasn't familiar with them, but for free, why the heck not try it. I've put them on every one of my discus tanks since then. I thought they were unnecessary for me because I do massive water changes (125-150%) and I don't use live foods (actually I did raise my own daphnia last year). Boy, was I wrong. The first thing I noticed was a brilliant clarity of my water. But what was most striking was the effect on my smallest discus. The couple of slow growing fish just barely over the classification of runts took off in growth. I do less frequent water changes and never use meds unless I'm bringing new fish into my system. Oh, and I'm keeping about roughly 3 adult discus per 10 gallons of tank, plus a plethora of other fish. 56 discus. I'm a believer and made the switch after 35 years of discus keeping.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

gretzky said:


> I do massive water changes (125-150%)


How do you accomplish that? :-s


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## standoyo (Aug 25, 2005)

Discus generally look darker in planted tanks as the try to blend with their surroundings. Their stress bars become apparent when they are threatened.
I notice in the 6 years of keeping them is that they colour up the best when they are feeding. They darken when they mate. [fry that feed off their parent's slime are attracted to dark colours]

Good luck!

I now have downsized and have about 50-60 adults.  
[in bare tanks though!]


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## kotoeloncat (Mar 17, 2006)

theres a different beetween dark and black

dark = fine
black = discus talking to the grim reaper


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