The blue bully

Hi @Marco I did not mean to discredit anyone.You have been keeping discus well and bred them over some years.i have been keeping discus for just over a year fairly successfully.I do however sit on the net researching these facinating fish until 4am in the morning they are addictive.That being said i think weve drifted off course here i just wanted to check that @nuvijunkie did not have tank extreamly hot. lets get back to point .how is the fish doing.discus are moody and much more resiliant than thier owners.dont stress they will eventually settle down.and if all else fails dont tell anyone and try the mirror trick for 2 weeks.LOL

 

Good morning,
@Quakeszn,

You are quite right that I have kept Discus for a number of years. During that time-and some of the people on this forum that know me might attest to it- Ive been drinking, eating and breathing Discus.....
Still to this day I have a ton of information I need to find, digest and correlate with my observations.
So by no means do I, or should anyone for that matter pretend to know it all.

On top of that I have always followed an approach in Discus keeping which strays from the written rules and is rather guided by the observable condition of the fish. Irrespective of what the "experts say".

That said-guidelines are given so that new discus hobbyists who do not understand the species yet, and do not understand their warning signs can have an easier start into the hobby.
It does not mean it is set in stone and it does not mean others may not differ in their opinion. Of course we wont always agree.
It is however only relevant if the "wrong" advise could lead to a fish's death. If not why split hair about it?

So-as a noob the person has to take responsibility for his fish-and that includes whose advise to follow.
Most Discus are killed by bad aquarium husbandry.
So it is vital that the best advise is given.

You gave advise to a new hobbyist to lower his tank temperature in which one discus was being bullied by another.
Yes you are right that reducing temperature might lower aggression, but because of a lack of experience you do not understand the larger picture.

The reason why I disagreed with your advise is because the bullied fish would already be stressed at this time from the bullying and thus susceptible to stress related issues. Bearing in mind that it had just been moved to this tank, had probably not eaten properly for a number of days and suddenly the stressors are accumulating.
Now you lower the temperature to alleviate the aggression, but all you have done is expose this fish to other problems far worse than a bully.

So please explain to me how you have helped this particular fish?

Whenever I give advise my advise is based on personal experience or discussions with other keepers and hobbyist breeders.
My advise is not based on misinterpreted internet literature, or misunderstood Simplydiscus advise.

That brings me to my last point-you say you did not mean to discredit anyone. Please then explain to me what it was you were attempting to do?
Please explain to me why, without asking my permission and/or informing me you copied my post to a thread in Simplydiscus for their "scrutiny"?
If not to discredit why not inform me of this so I could at least "attend" the discussion?
If not to discredit and in some twisted way inflate your ego, why not paint an accurate picture on simplydiscus as to the state and immediate history of this tank and fish in question-as I just illustrated above?

If you knew me youd realise my advise is NEVER based on my ego - even when I get upset it is because of the fish. I honestly couldnt give a rat about anyones opinion of me!
In this case, your behaviour is and was in bad taste and based solely on your ego. It lacked integrity and good manners!

Sorry dude-I do not take kindly to that type of shit at my expense!

Kind regards

Marco

 

@Marco As a Discus keeper for years, I understand that you have first hand experience and I'm willing to learn a lot more over the next few years. Knowledge is power indeed although it boils down to obtaining 'quality' knowledge. I guess it's a learning experience for all of us in which some of us make more mistakes than others. Ultimately, we can do this proper with the correct sources of information. Thank you once again for all your advice. Please post pics of your tank, would love to see what you have

 

I failed to mention that I've purchased some Canadian spaghnum moss from seedsfromafrica and they have assured me that it is in its purest form. Where is the best place in the aquarium and can one avoid high amount of tannins leaching into the aquarium water? Is it the tannins itself that lower the ph?

 

Guys @Marco and few others on this forum, are some of the most experienced discus keepers I know and have learned from. The idea that a members post was taken from here and pasted on another forum is really not cool if the member was not told to comment.

Guys TASA is a community of people that learn and share so let's keep it that way. Let's keep on topic now.

 

Hi @nuvijunkie

Apologies-my rant was really not aimed at you so no need for you to explain anything from your side.
If I can be of help - I try to. If not I'll tell you that I cant. Deal?

Canadiam spaghnum moss is the best! I use the exact same thing and also get it from a nursery.
I take it you made sure it has no fertilizer or pesticide mixed into it?
I put a handfull of it in a stocking and put it in my filter. It does make the water brown and will reduce kh to just keep an eye on your ph levels. Once kh is at 1° or lower the ph will start coming down. It can fall quite quickly so keep an eye on this.

Tx @dash- having healthy discussions on tasa is what forums are for. Even if we end up agreeing to disagree on something. But this type of behaviour is a definite NO!

Lets move on though....

How are these fish and has the bullying calmed down a bit and/or is the fish that was bullied standing up for itself yet?

Rgds

Marco

 

Hi there. My apologies for the really late reply. I've added two more Discus to the tank. They are two adults or at least close to adulthood. The one is a Pigeon blood strain and the other one I'm still unsure of and by doing this, the bullying has subsided nearly completely. I still have a Little tiny loner Discus though. He tends to stay in the corner. He doesn't eat much so I have a bad feeling that I might just lose him soon.

I haven't had a chance to add the moss into my tank yet. I really appreciate opinions that make sense thanks for that

 

hi there
how are all these discus getting along? ive see first hand you souldn't be raising babies with adults but your case you have more babies than adults so you might get off lucky they are all very pretty. keep an eye that the adults dont stop the babies eating as thats the main problem with having small discus with sub adults also watch the pecking order... the one could be a royal or turk cross... enjoy your lovely discus

 

Just an observational comment : those look like neons in with the discus. unfortunately they cannot tolerate the higher temps we keep discus at and end up burning out.

rather see if you cant trade them back to the lfs for some cardinals which can withstand discus temps.

 

Hi guys. Gosh it's been so long! My fish are starting to grow already and all is looking good thanks to you guys. I've upped my water changes and they definitely seem happier. Lol they are Neons. I got them before I decided to get Discus. One of them has already burned out argh. My job has become more demanding recently and although I really love my fish, I am forced to sell them. They are perfectly healthy and have loads of energy and very enthusiastic when I pass them. Any ideas?