How many bully's do you have in your tank?

[kreekree]

Bought new discus (six total in a 75). My question for those that are experienced do you usually just have one bully in your tank that rules the tank? As I have never owned discus I find it interesting to see the pecking order being established. It appears the biggest one is the king right now. How bad have you seen the bullying get? Do they learn to just avoid the king? From reading I have learned there is a pecking order I'm just curious of your stories? Do you know who your king and queen are in your display tank? Since mine are all new and entered the tank at the same time there's seems to be a lot of nipping? I'm not worried I just wonder if this continues and what everyone else experiences?

[camuth8]

Yes. There is usually the "Alpha" as a lot of people call it which is the bully and the leader of the tank. When you have a lot of Discus, the bullying shouldn't get very bad. Sometimes they avoid the leader of the tank, but a lot of times, he's the one who leads the shoal around the tank.

But overall, the pecking order should not get too serious.

[Teshi]

I probably shouldn't say this cause I'll jinx myself.. I really haven't seen "bullying" in my tank yet. My 6 fish are about 6" too.

[camuth8]

I probably shouldn't say this cause I'll jinx myself.. I really haven't seen "bullying" in my tank yet. My 6 fish are about 6" too.

I doubt you'll jinx it. :) Wow, though. No bullying. That's crazy.

[timmy82]

Yeh it all depends on many things I have found. I had some small discus around 4" at the time and then got 2 larger over 6" and put them in and one of the small ones would harass the largest one like crazy and she would do nothing it ended settling down and they kept to their own area. Also temperature and ph can aggrivate some too and in that case the more dominant one that is familar with the tank.

[bogia99]

I have an alpha and a pair bullies ... the alpha chases every one else (about a dozen) into a corner and the pair in the same corner chases every one else out of it, including the alpha. The alpha will literally stand guard above the food and will give chase if certain fishes attempt to eat. The interesting part is the alpha kind of ignore the juvies. This only happen during feeding time. I can see even if you can provide the best environment for grow out, they will not growth at the same rate because of the fish behavior.

[Disgirl]

I have 15 discus in a 125 gal tank. They have all grown up together and not a single bully. They all get along, just a bit of pushing and shoving at feeding time, when I feed FDBW or my frozen mix. None of it with other dry foods though.
Barb

[Tommy Saville]

I have 6 5"/6" Discus in a 50-gallon planted tank. The smallest is bullied by one slightly larger, and I'm concerned that it doesn't get enough to eat, because it's being forced to hide in a back corner and is chased away from food when it emerges to eat. I've tried putting an extra piece of food in its corner, but others muscle in and drive it away ! I've tried altering the layout in the tank but it makes no difference. They've been in the tank for about 3 months; all put in at the same time and from the same supplier..Is there a solution?

[damba]

My smallest PB is a monster. He bullies the others including my male cobalt who is 2" bigger than him. He is the only bully.

[kreekree]

I understand the survival of the fittest. I have one of my six that just keeps getting bullied by two discus. As soon as he begins to come out somebody nips at him to get back into the corner. I have yet to see him eat when all the others have. Is it to early to assume he's the one that is going to die? What do you all see when this occurs? Many of you have lucked out not getting any bully's but lucky first time discus owner gets a challenge. I'm doing water changes daily. Temp is 85. Water is all normal.

[Elliots]

Tommy, I do not know if you are doing this but try feeding in two places at the same time. I have not seen anyone on SD try this but maybe you can overfeed your fish and allow maybe half an hour before you remove the extra uneaten food? In my community tank I have many bottom feeders that hide. I do what I think is feed too much but it is all gone in half an hour!

[bogia99]

I understand the survival of the fittest. I have one of my six that just keeps getting bullied by two discus. As soon as he begins to come out somebody nips at him to get back into the corner. I have yet to see him eat when all the others have. Is it to early to assume he's the one that is going to die? What do you all see when this occurs? Many of you have lucked out not getting any bully's but lucky first time discus owner gets a challenge. I'm doing water changes daily. Temp is 85. Water is all normal.

That is also my observation. The alpha will pick on 1 or 2 fishes and not allowing them to eat. I have to overfeed and leave food in there a lot longer than I would like too. I also place a temporary screen in the middle just to create barrier (or blocking view) to make it difficult for the alpha to patrol the whole tank from a distance. I think they have great eyesight. It seems to help a little as far as letting the picked on fishes to sneak out to grab a few bites here and there.

[jozwikjp]

I have a single 5" discus that charges anyone getting close to the food, but there is so many discus that it seems like he himself barely eats because he has to constantly chase away other fish. I even push him out of the way so other fish can eat and he doesn’t care. He just pushes me back.

[GrayLadyPat]

I am new at this, and I have only had discus for a few short weeks.

I noticed that Fido (Yes, I named them) is the tank bully. He spends his days patroling the tank, and running the others into the bushes, so to speak. I was worried about Corrigan (another of the same strain but smaller) wasn't getting enough to eat, but after watching them a while, he is getting food, but he has to sneak in and get it when Fido isn't looking.

I am curious as to how far should I let the bullying go before I do something about it?

[pastry]

I don't think there's always a bully but I certainly think there's always an Alpha; whether noticeable or not. If you have group that doesn't have a bully yet you figure out the alpha and you take that alpha out... then the next in line to be the Alpha could possibly end up being a bully. It's not just discus nature... but human nature. "Some have it... some don't".

I didn't really have a bully in my last group but definitely had an Alpha that enforced the order but only just with only enough needed. My current group... my second largest is the current Alpha and the biggest is the vice-Alpha (for lack of better words). All of the others are in the pecking order but the third largest is picked on most by the Alpha (could it be the most likely threat to the Alpha?). Can't really do anything about it... you'll be surprised how over time the Alpha can change (the last time I had a Alpha that was a bad bully she (yes, "she") ended up in the end being the weakest link... can you say "karma"?). My fish tank is like the slowest television program ever...

[ashtricks]

I don't have any ONE alpha in the tank. I have 7 3 - 4 inches in a group and every one beats the butt off of every one during feeding. Its just been a few days together. I hope they settle down in a few days.

[Tommy Saville]

I usually feed both ends of the tank at the same time. I now put more food at the end where the bullied fish hides. He nips out and grabs a bit when the others are busy, but I'm fairly sure it's not getting enough food. However, it looks in OK condition, fins well spread and eyes bright. Guess I'm a worrier !

[YSS]

In my experiences, as the fish grow, bullying decreases. Also, I have found that there is less bullying among wilds than domestics.

[SMB2]

It would be great to keep this thread active, because I have a war going on in my 90 gal planted tank. There are 6 RTurks that have been in the tank for three weeks.
The first week everybody is schooling, eating and making nice. The second week I'm posting in the Disease section because various fish keep having periods of dark coloration. Turns out they are just wearing camo! The two largest have set up stations at opposite sides of the tank and spend time cleaning off wood. They are each courting the same fish (Hard to tell male/female although one clearly has a pointed dorsal). While one is entertaining his guest, doing the shimmy, the other "alpha" gets frustrated and beats the crap out of the three innocent bystanders. Or the two big fish duke it out mid tank.
The only time there is peace is during feedings. They have always hand fed so they line up at chow time and each gets his fill. Some meals the two big fish spend more time posturing and wont come up to eat. Then for an hour or so they are to full to argue.
Hope this quiets down.
I was wondering if a mixed strain group of fish show less bullying than all the same type, like my Red Turks?:argue:

[GrayLadyPat]

As time goes on with my new discus friends, my alpha for the first 3 weeks is now my omega...At first I thought it was illness, but the more I watch, the more I think he's just being out-bullied...

In any case, I have 3 strains in the tank, and it didn't really matter who was bullying whom, just who was in the right pecking order. Thankfully, I think that none of mine are old enough to pair up, so I don't have that issue to contend with yet...

[kimbo]

I have a pair that hog all the food. I fed in two places but they were still chasing others off. I still fed on separate ends but i stand at the end i want the bullies to eat and they stay where im at expecting more good. it works for me.

[SMB2]

Well one female has just laid three sets of eggs, one for each of the two Alphas and one for herself. The Plecos ate one set and the Alphas ate the others.
At least the three bystanders got a little break!

[SMB2]

She is still laying eggs all over the place. The Alphas don't know where their territory is but they still want to fight something!

[SMB2]

Well when the egg laying stopped and all the eggs eaten, the tank has been relatively calm. At least no blood drawn today.

[oldfar]

It would be great to keep this thread active, because I have a war going on in my 90 gal planted tank. There are 6 RTurks that have been in the tank for three weeks.
The first week everybody is schooling, eating and making nice. The second week I'm posting in the Disease section because various fish keep having periods of dark coloration. Turns out they are just wearing camo! The two largest have set up stations at opposite sides of the tank and spend time cleaning off wood. They are each courting the same fish (Hard to tell male/female although one clearly has a pointed dorsal). While one is entertaining his guest, doing the shimmy, the other "alpha" gets frustrated and beats the crap out of the three innocent bystanders. Or the two big fish duke it out mid tank.
The only time there is peace is during feedings. They have always hand fed so they line up at chow time and each gets his fill. Some meals the two big fish spend more time posturing and wont come up to eat. Then for an hour or so they are to full to argue.
Hope this quiets down.
I was wondering if a mixed strain group of fish show less bullying than all the same type, like my Red Turks?:argue:

Hey dude , just love it I do constant fighting mixed bunch of discus ,fire reds ,dark angels,blue turk ,and PBs .Had a buddy come over 1 night ,he said are they eating each other .NO man that's just the way they are.

[SMB2]

Well they are Cichlids...