I was thinking of giving them to my Mom for mother's day.

I'm not really sure I understand the appeal of these guys. They went from very active at 2 inch to hiding in the plants all the time at 4 inch.

I'm doin' the same care, the same water changes and the same food. The only thing I can think of is the 1 year old is now mobile enough to cause problems, but he's never been that bad. In fact he hardly ever stops near that tank since they're hardly ever all that active.

I don't believe it's a health issue, they're all seem to be doing and eating fine. Also the behavior change has been going on like this for near 3 months now, if it were health related they should have been long since dead.

Is this just normal behavior for Discus? Perhaps it's me. Perhaps it's perfectly normal for them to be this mellow, and I just find it boring. It's just a lot of work for fish I hardly ever see out

How many do you have? I have 7 and they are active. I have noticed that they mellow out until they get bigger than 4 inches. I think that is when they go into breeding mode.

I have four left. I had six, then the four as a group started beating on the two of them. So those two went to my mom.

The four just slowly dawdle in the gigantic sword plant in the tank. Watching them and watching the two angels in one of the other tanks, I realized they're acting near identical, which is to say not very active to me.

I don't mind the Angels in the other tank so much since they're in with some Parrots. I think the combination makes the tank active enough that I'm okay with it. Also, the angels don't seem to care if I do weekly water changes for that matter either. They've been just fine about it.

Are you doing daily water changes on yours? I don't think I'd even mind if they could go twice a week. This OMG need for daily water changes for a fish that's not sick, and that doesn't do much of anything is just getting old.

I'm not trying to put down Discus or you guys that keep 'em or anything. I'm just starting to think that they're not exactly the fish for me and I should get them to someone who will take care of them properly.

Since I'm not getting the volume of rescue fish in anymore I've gotten to give more thought to and pay more attention to some of the rescue guys here beyond making sure they're healthy and fed. Maybe Ivan is right, maybe I'm coming around to the dark side. I don't just think it's a big surly cichlid thing though. I think it's personality. The discus and angels hang out in their own little groups. They eat, they do stuff, but they could care less about what else is going on. They could care less when I come near the tank. This flowerhorn I haven't had for a day yet, and already comes to the corner where I was feeding him every time I walk by the tank to see what's going on (and beg for food).

For the fish that I've been thinking how I wouldn't mind if they never left, they're all the ones like that and the discus just aren't.

I'd add some silverdollars or dithers to keep them active.

Is there anything else in with them? As Alex has pointed out, some dithers may help. I've seen discus in with Cardinal tetras and it makes a nice combination.

Dither fish will likely help with their shyness.

Rick I have 2 AC110's and a sponge filter and I have gone from everyother day to twice a week and the discus seem to be doing alot better with the twice a week WC's.

If you get dithers stay away from large danios they make the Discus very skitish. I'll give you more info later today, My break is up and I got to get back to work

Well it can't hurt.

That's all on a 75g right Mike? I think here I can free up an XP3 to use for them.

My current care is basically what Pops does for his. Daily changes, freaky made food (which I think necessitates the water changes). I have nothing else in with them. Pops didn't even approve of the few apple snails I put in there for cleanup and that seemed to be consistent with what I had been reading online.

I can get some super fancy guppies from my one friend that breeds 'em. Would that work as a dither?

Nothing else fish in with them, that is.

I have a regular reliable source of pretty guppies, so that's going to be my first crack. We'll see how they do in there. Depending on the timing my freind has them coming out his eyes now and again.

I'm surprised your Discus didn't like Pop's secret blend of 11 herbs and spices. The discus here and most of the other cichlids loved that stinky smelling stuff. Hikari brand is nice, but I find them to be way to expensive. I can get Omega, OSI and Ultracolor wholesale. I'll have to check and see if any of them make a discus flake.

Yea. I never had a problem with the apples in there either. I never knew what the fuss was. I never did put other fish in there though just because that was considered a big no.

Just with some guppies I don't think they'll be that messy with an xp3. I have them in a 55 right now with a Emp400 on it and a plant/sponge filter. it's been more than enough to keep it clean. That's what started me wondering about the daily water changes. I did modify the filter cartridges for the 400 though so that may have helped some.

We'll see how it works out.