Who Gives A Fish Forums

Noticed my Discus keep swimming near the top of my 75-gallon tank. Water params are good, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10 nitrate, pH 6.8, temp 84F. They're 6 months old, fed beef heart mix twice daily, with a Fluval FX6 filter and sponge filter backup. Tankmates are 10 cardinal tetras and 6 sterbai corys. No recent changes except a 30% water change 2 days ago. Any ideas why they're doing this?

Mine do that sometimes too. Got a 55-gallon with 4 Discus, temp 82F, pH 7.0. They're about a year old, fed flakes and frozen brine shrimp. Filter's a Marineland Penguin 350. No idea why they hang at the top, but they seem fine otherwise. Maybe they just like it there?

Could be the oxygen levels. My 90-gallon has a powerhead pointed at the surface for extra agitation, and they don't hang up top much. Running a Eheim 2217, temp 83F, pH 6.5. Feed them pellets and bloodworms. How's your surface movement?

Silva wrote: ↑Sun Aug 17, 2025 1:31 am Could be the oxygen levels. My 90-gallon has a powerhead pointed at the surface for extra agitation, and they don't hang up top much. Running a Eheim 2217, temp 83F, pH 6.5. Feed them pellets and bloodworms. How's your surface movement?

Surface movement's decent, but I'll try adding a powerhead. Got an old Koralia lying around. Thanks for the tip.

Might try that too. My surface is pretty calm, just the filter output. Got a spare air pump I could hook up. Tank's got sand substrate and some Java fern. Maybe they're just bored?

Boredom's possible. Mine got more active after I added driftwood and floating plants. Using Frogbit and red root floaters in mine. Also, check if they're gasping. If they are, it's def oxygen. My heater's a Cobalt Neo-Therm, keeps temp steady.

Not gasping, just chilling up there. I'll mess with the flow and see if it helps. Got some floating plants coming in next week. Appreciate the suggestions, everyone.