Mean discus

[SeattleMarathon]

Hello, great forum, glad I found it on google! First time posting here. I'm curious how some of you deal with aggression from the alpha. I started with 6 discus in my 120g a couple years ago. In a matter of months, two of them established themselves as the meanies and managed to harass the other three until they succumbed to stress/starvation(?). So for the past 18 months or so I've kept these three and they seemed to tolerate each other except for the occasional chasing during feeding, and in the last few months I've noticed the blue wild discus (yellow alpha 1) is picking on the Heckel (alpha 2) incessantly during feeding like he wants the Heckel to die. Alpha 1 ignores the third discus (much smaller). I completely "rescaped" yesterday to see if the new environment will reset alpha 1's anger management issues. I put in new wood and attached the anubias in a fun, peek-a-boo fashion where they can hide or dodge things.

Sadly, no change in alpha 1's behavior. It seems to desire the entire tank to itself and does not like any discus friends. Attached a video showing the aggression during flake food feeding and a slow mo video (yes was playing with my iphone). Excuse the darkness, the water has tannins in it from the new wood. I kind of like the amber look though.

http://youtu.be/4XxGU3Lv1Hc

http://youtu.be/SwXKaBNeblU

[Phillydubs]

The solution is quite simple. Add more discus. Not even sure how you got away with it this far with no issue. If you leave things the way it is win that few one will get harassed until illness or death.

That being said your claim of 2 fish killing three others doesn't seem right. You sure that's what did it and not another issue?

A tank your size could and should easily have 7,8,9 even 10 with proper water change. I see you have other tank mates and you didn't mention your set up our WC schedule but if you do daily to bi daily large changes then you would be fine. But you need to add more soon or that one is in trouble. Make sure you qt whatever you get.

Did you clean that wood in anyway or soak it before you added it? If not that can lead to problems. As well

[SeattleMarathon]

oops duplicate. deleted. Sorry new here.

[SeattleMarathon]

Grrr I think I pressed cancel and my reply got zapped into the internet nether regions.

Phillydubs, I'm not sure adding more discus is going to solve alpha 1's aggression. I worry I might just be throwing another few hundred bucks so he can spread it around to a weaker victim. (And the Heckel is no push over either, he was bullying too.) From my observations, I definitely feel alpha 1 and alpha 2 contributed to (if not caused) the others to succumb from the stress of being bullied. The final cause of death may be from some other opportunistic thing that is not apparent to my eyes, but the stress definitely did not help. These two are kind of my favorite (I play favorites) so I didn't really want to give them back to my neighborhood fish store.

As for adding 7-10, I'm not sure I want to load my aquarium that much. Large (>50%) WC daily or twice daily is just not practical for me, and not sure if they are necessary for adults at my current biomass. I also like the Heckels...so I would get more of those if I were inclined, but I prefer to give Heckels 20-30g per fish, and must consider the tetras present in biomass calculations and actual water volume.

Sorry I forgot to include the set up and routine (for the past 2 years):
Aquarium size: 120g (est. actual vol closer to 100-110)
Filtration: Fluval G6, Aquaclear HOB 50 and 75. Mechanical and biological ceramic things. No carbon. Mech filtration washed once a week with the water running from the aquarium (using the siphon thing attached to the faucet, no tap water running after initial venturi suction to prime the tube).
WC: I don't use RO, just tap water. About 30% 3-4 times a week.
Tank water just before water change: temp 86F (my fish seemed happiest at this temp so I've kept it there for a couple years), pH about 7.2 and without sig changes post WC, NH3/NH4+, NO2-, NO3- not detectable/lowest level by API kit, have used Salifert before with same results, I only use Salifert for their saltwater kits now for my reef tank. I don't check divalent cations like Mg/Ca for freshwater. I don't check alkalinity either, I know it's low. TDS is approx 50ppm from my conductivity readings (from Fluval G6 continuous conductivity meter which has a plus minus 10% variance, pretty good at this low conductivity range and correlated once in a while with hand held device). Conductivity does not vary greater than 10 uS from WC to WC. If I see fast rise in conductivity I start to wonder about nitrates and accumulation of conducting organics or my partner adding iron supplement unbeknownst to me...but thankfully that hasn't happened haha.
Tap water: pH is about 7.4-6 per read at the tap. TDS per published quarterly reports is mid 30s-40s ppm depending on the year, fairly consistent with readings in my tank, no chloramine, negligible nitrates (0.02-0.11ppm per report) and lowest level on API kit.
I've read some articles in journals characterizing the Amazon waters with pH ranging from 4.5-7 depending on the time of the year. Adjusting pH is not really practical for me for a couple reasons. One I don't have the time to monitor daily, and two the buffering capacity/alkalinity of the water is low, I'm not interested in big swings in water chemistry and I favor stability over swings. If they are tolerating current pH, I'm letting them be and the aggression during feeding problem does not correlate temporally with any pH issue.
Heaters: two heaters, one has an electronic read out and keeps the temp plus minus 0.5 of 86F
Air pumps: two with air stone, nothing fancy
Plants: various anubias spp, low light, low tech (no tech, haha). No CO2 injection.
Chemicals: Prime for dechlorinating tap. Occasional (maybe once a month) of homeopathic doses of aldehyde-based carbon source for plants like Seachem Excel.
Feeding: usually just flake food (whatever my ocellaris and rose bubble tip anemones get, they are my babies) Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 or 2 twice a day, alternate every couple of days. Hikari frozen brine shrimp with spirulina, 1 cube 3-4 times a week. Hikari frozen blood worms 1 cube once a week...this is when the aggression REALLY comes out so I try to minimize it...but they like it.
Medications: never used
Other fish death: none except for a couple cardinal tetras that "mysteriously" disappeared. Actually I know the alpha 1 ate two of them because I saw him trying to bite one before my eyes a while back, likely ate them when they were asleep/catatonic. Colombian tetras too big for their mouths, no deaths.

Overall things have been pretty much the same for the past 18 months. When not feeding, they seem fine and tolerate each other. Here's a video after feeding is over...back to themselves:

https://youtu.be/SMBAANzaUWA

The aggression during feeding is a problem though. Sad face!

Oh the big change is my re-scaping. I just rinsed under tap water and soaked the wood for a day in bucket, no special treatment. Hence the tannins in the water. It was some aquarium wood at the fish store, was just sitting on the shelf. Manufacturer claims it is aquarium and vivarium safe.

Hope those addressed your questions! Your suggestion is well-taken.

[rickztahone]

Grrr I think I pressed cancel and my reply got zapped into the internet nether regions.

Phillydubs, I'm not sure adding more discus is going to solve alpha 1's aggression. I worry I might just be throwing another few hundred bucks so he can spread it around to a weaker victim. (And the Heckel is no push over either, he was bullying too.) From my observations, I definitely feel alpha 1 and alpha 2 contributed to (if not caused) the others to succumb from the stress of being bullied. The final cause of death may be from some other opportunistic thing that is not apparent to my eyes, but the stress definitely did not help. These two are kind of my favorite (I play favorites) so I didn't really want to give them back to my neighborhood fish store.

As for adding 7-10, I'm not sure I want to load my aquarium that much. Large (>50%) WC daily or twice daily is just not practical for me, and not sure if they are necessary for adults at my current biomass. I also like the Heckels...so I would get more of those if I were inclined, but I prefer to give Heckels 20-30g per fish, and must consider the tetras present in biomass calculations and actual water volume.

Sorry I forgot to include the set up and routine (for the past 2 years):
Aquarium size: 120g (est. actual vol closer to 100-110)
Filtration: Fluval G6, Aquaclear HOB 50 and 75. Mechanical and biological ceramic things. No carbon. Mech filtration washed once a week with the water running from the aquarium (using the siphon thing attached to the faucet, no tap water running after initial venturi suction to prime the tube).
WC: I don't use RO, just tap water. About 30% 3-4 times a week.
Tank water just before water change: temp 86F (my fish seemed happiest at this temp so I've kept it there for a couple years), pH about 7.2 and without sig changes post WC, NH3/NH4+, NO2-, NO3- not detectable/lowest level by API kit, have used Salifert before with same results, I only use Salifert for their saltwater kits now for my reef tank. I don't check divalent cations like Mg/Ca for freshwater. I don't check alkalinity either, I know it's low. TDS is approx 50ppm from my conductivity readings (from Fluval G6 continuous conductivity meter which has a plus minus 10% variance, pretty good at this low conductivity range and correlated once in a while with hand held device). Conductivity does not vary greater than 10 uS from WC to WC. If I see fast rise in conductivity I start to wonder about nitrates and accumulation of conducting organics or my partner adding iron supplement unbeknownst to me...but thankfully that hasn't happened haha.
Tap water: pH is about 7.4-6 per read at the tap. TDS per published quarterly reports is mid 30s-40s ppm depending on the year, fairly consistent with readings in my tank, no chloramine, negligible nitrates (0.02-0.11ppm per report) and lowest level on API kit.
I've read some articles in journals characterizing the Amazon waters with pH ranging from 4.5-7 depending on the time of the year. Adjusting pH is not really practical for me for a couple reasons. One I don't have the time to monitor daily, and two the buffering capacity/alkalinity of the water is low, I'm not interested in big swings in water chemistry and I favor stability over swings. If they are tolerating current pH, I'm letting them be and the aggression during feeding problem does not correlate temporally with any pH issue.
Heaters: two heaters, one has an electronic read out and keeps the temp plus minus 0.5 of 86F
Air pumps: two with air stone, nothing fancy
Plants: various anubias spp, low light, low tech (no tech, haha). No CO2 injection.
Chemicals: Prime for dechlorinating tap. Occasional (maybe once a month) of homeopathic doses of aldehyde-based carbon source for plants like Seachem Excel.
Feeding: usually just flake food (whatever my ocellaris and rose bubble tip anemones get, they are my babies) Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 or 2 twice a day, alternate every couple of days. Hikari frozen brine shrimp with spirulina, 1 cube 3-4 times a week. Hikari frozen blood worms 1 cube once a week...this is when the aggression REALLY comes out so I try to minimize it...but they like it.
Medications: never used
Other fish death: none except for a couple cardinal tetras that "mysteriously" disappeared. Actually I know the alpha 1 ate two of them because I saw him trying to bite one before my eyes a while back, likely ate them when they were asleep/catatonic. Colombian tetras too big for their mouths, no deaths.

Overall things have been pretty much the same for the past 18 months. When not feeding, they seem fine and tolerate each other. Here's a video after feeding is over...back to themselves:

https://youtu.be/SMBAANzaUWA

The aggression during feeding is a problem though. Sad face!

Oh the big change is my re-scaping. I just rinsed under tap water and soaked the wood for a day in bucket, no special treatment. Hence the tannins in the water. It was some aquarium wood at the fish store, was just sitting on the shelf. Manufacturer claims it is aquarium and vivarium safe.

Hope those addressed your questions! Your suggestion is well-taken.

I quite enjoyed reading through your post. Very thorough detailing of events.

First, I will say that Philly wasn't wrong in his suggestion.

However, you kind of hit a wall when you are dealing with fully grown discus, which these are at 18+ months of being in your care. Your tank would benefit from a much larger group, say 6-8 would be a minimum in your size tank. This helps spread out the aggression. Think of it as a form of checks and balances act. The more in a group, the easier it is to maintain a happy community. When you only have a few, it is easy for one to step up as the "alpha" and bully the rest. This usually leads to less eating by the weak ones, which in turns means lower immune system, which ultimately makes it easier for them to get sick and not bounce back.

The reason I say you hit a wall is because at this stage, your solution is to introduce new discus to make a larger group. However, you would have to keep these new arrivals in a quarantine tank (QT). Then, if you placed them in the same tank, chances are that they would get bullied as well if they are younger discus. So, your solution is to actually get LARGER discus which in turn is much more expensive. I think you could get away with getting 5" discus, but anything smaller than that may just get chased around. Either way, those 3 discus on their own will eventually kill each other. I had it happen in a tank once, and it almost happend with my last tank where I lost 1 out of a group of 5 and the remaining 4 were just beating the snot out of each other. This is the reason why we generally recommend a group of no less than 5.

I hope some of this helps.

[SeattleMarathon]

I agree about the bigger discuses, and that would be the case if I added more (started out with 6). But these two are my favs and I don't want them to be victims. Juat want them to get along!

[rickztahone]

I agree about the bigger discuses, and that would be the case if I added more (started out with 6). But these two are my favs and I don't want them to be victims. Juat want them to get along!

If you had to guess their sizes, what size do you think each of your discus is currently?

[SeattleMarathon]

I'd guess 5-6" for the blue wild, and 4" for the Heckel.

[Phillydubs]

I don't really see any other options for you if you don't want to add other fish... You will just see the same results as you did. If these two are your faves as you say then I am sure you don't want to see them kill one another. You could qt other larger fish and seperate these two as you wait? Either a tank divider or grab two twenty gallons w a seeded sponge. The only way to curb aggression is to have a proper sized group. I over stock and always have for this reason. Most people here would say I have too many but I do large 100% changes and flushes. There is always going to be bullying and nudging but not to the extent of death. These are cichlids after all it's the nature of the beast.

[strawberryblonde]

You've gotten really good advice on how to lessen the aggression in your tank.

Since your current discus aren't all that big, you could purchase 5 or 6 4" discus, then QT them in a 55 gallon tank. They grow quickly with 90% daily water changes and plenty of high protein discus food, so they'd be at least 5" before they entered your main tank and well able to fend for themselves.

The goal in adding more discus is to spread out the aggression during feeding time. One discus can't possibly bully ALL the other discus equally without allowing them, individually, to each get plenty of food.

Your water parameters sound good, so that's not a problem for you. Might need to up the water changes though. In the beginning shoot for daily water changes, then dial it back slowly till you reach a happy medium.

I currently have 10 discus in my 120g tall and it is SO much easier than when I was down to just 3 in that tank. With just 3 I had constant bullying and agression - the alpha picked on one of the others to point of illness. That doesn't happen anymore - the alpha chases all of them equally, but doesn't harm any of them because there's just too many for him to deal with. LOL

As the others mentioned, these are cichlids and it's their nature to nip, chase and bully, but they are more comfortable in larger groups and become less aggressive, not more aggressive.

[SeattleMarathon]

I'm definitely considering it. Have been thinking about adding 3-4 Heckels but still doesn't hurt to explore other ways of minimizing aggression if not long term, at least in the interim as the qt process takes weeks. I'm also eyeing a pair of Lake Tefe Greens but worry they will pair up against my favs. :-)

[Reesj]

If I were you this is what I would do!
Get few 4-5 inch discus say like 4 of them. Put them in quarantine tank for 2-3 weeks to make sure they are safe. Then Clean the QT tank. And put the new fish in the original tank and put the alpha 1 in QT. Change the decorations inside main tank before putting the 3-4 new fish inside. The 2 inside will be a bit skitish with new decore and changes and new 4 will have decent time to get used to the surrondings. Also as as you said the alpha 2 might not be that bad. After about 3 weeks when they have settled down, put in the your Alpha 1 in to the original tank. By now he is the new comer and all the decorations in his old have changed to look like a new tank. That should keep the things smooth for a while hopefully. :)

[Reesj]

BTW one of the main reasons why your fish are so aggressive is because you are feeding them way too little. from what you have written and observation and your fish size this is quite apparent. Please feed a bit more large servings to your fish consistently and this would also reduce the aggressions.
PS:- I also once had a very bad bully who was a runt so was much older than rest and chased all away always. In situations like that I had to give him away. But feeding time bullying is normal and a thing that can be solved.

[DISCUS STU]

The solution is quite simple. Add more discus. Not even sure how you got away with it this far with no issue. If you leave things the way it is win that few one will get harassed until illness or death.

That being said your claim of 2 fish killing three others doesn't seem right. You sure that's what did it and not another issue?

A tank your size could and should easily have 7,8,9 even 10 with proper water change. I see you have other tank mates and you didn't mention your set up our WC schedule but if you do daily to bi daily large changes then you would be fine. But you need to add more soon or that one is in trouble. Make sure you qt whatever you get.

Did you clean that wood in anyway or soak it before you added it? If not that can lead to problems. As well

Yes, that's a good solution. There really aren't enough fish to dispel/share the aggression. With the right care, a 120 gal. could accommodate as many as 12 or even a few more. Big fish in big tanks with few fish around them set up big territories.

[SeattleMarathon]

Thanks for the insightful advice! I am definitely considering 3-4 Heckels, though adding more than that would require much larger and likely more frequent water changes than is practically feasible for my schedule. I suspect with a water volume of 100-110 gal, the WC needed with 10 adult discus would exceed 50% every day just to manage the nitrogen load once I get down to 1 adult/10 gal. My philosophy (for myself) in fish keeping is to stock what is practical in the long run, not what is fun and exciting even if I can manage the husbandry required in the short term. Stocking up to 10 adults is just not going to work for my schedule. But 4 more Heckels? I'm always thinking about that. :-)

Reesj, interesting idea about the swap. Definitely doable. The only hesitation I have is stressing out my blue wild (alpha 1) with the multiple transfers. My priority is NOT stressing it out or let it get into a situation of being bullied (e.g. buying a discus that is MUCH bigger than it is, but it can definitely take on a discus an inch bigger). He's my fav. But will definitely consider that option when/if I get new discus. As for feeding larger portions, I am skeptical about that. First, it is taking them 30-40 min to find and finish eating everything with each feed at the current amount. Second, with the current feeding regime all the fish (including the tetras) have a noticeable bulge in the stomach after feeding. The smaller 3rd discus (the stunted one I got from the pet store) almost 2 years ago routinely ate so much that the stomach distension (dry food+expansion in stomach) led to pretty bad swim bladder compression resulting in buoyancy control issues. I almost used Mg on him, but he returned to normal each time after defecation so I didn't have to. But I had a good gauge on when the bulge might be too much for my current discus from that experience. If total caloric intake is the issue, I can definitely try increasing the frequency of feeding, although twice a day is really what works best with my work responsibilities.

I did try something new with feeding when Reesj sparked the idea of not getting enough food. Rather than not getting enough total caloric intake as the basis for the aggression during feeding, an alternative hypothesis is that they are not seeing enough food per time during the feeding, leaving more room for chasing/aggressive behavior. So I tried exposing them to more food at once but keeping to the same amount per feed. Instead of dropping the flakes on the water, I pushed and wiggled the pinches of flake food under the surface of the water throughout the tank so it was snowing down to the bottom all at once. My prior observations suggest that alpha 1 gets distracted by the falling flakes very easily and even stopped in its chasing tracks to eat a flake (also evidenced in the video uploaded). By making the flakes all snow down at once, my hypothesis is that it would be so distracted by the flakes that it would concentrate on eating all the falling flakes rather than chase the Heckel. Sure enough, this morning when I tried that there was no/minimal chasing, and the two were crazy trying to eat the snowing flake foods they barely noticed each other, and when the flakes got to the floor of the aquarium they were too busy kissing the floor scavenging in their respective ends of the aquarium that they didn't interact with each other. Of course this is only an n=1 so anecdotal evidence at best. I will continue this method of feeding for the week and see if the aggressive behavior during feeding has any observable improvement.

The Heckel and the smaller fish are really enjoying the new wood and anubias arrangement 3 days into the new decor. The Heckel has claimed the lower half of the wood and big anubia foliage while the smaller discus has taken over the top half. Alpha 1 goes where he pleases and he seems to like the entire tank except for behind the wood where he cannot fit (purposely made an escape sanctuary for the smaller discus and tetras in case there is aggression after new landscape, but none so far). :-) Interesting how quickly they get used to new decors and claim new landscape. I suppose that is why it is so easy to catch them in the tributaries and lakes in the Amazon...throw a thatch of bush in the lake and wait for them to gather around the bush.

Will definitely keep you updated on how the feeding aggression goes. Hoping the new method will yield reproducible results.

[rickztahone]

Thanks for the insightful advice! I am definitely considering 3-4 Heckels, though adding more than that would require much larger and likely more frequent water changes than is practically feasible for my schedule. I suspect with a water volume of 100-110 gal, the WC needed with 10 adult discus would exceed 50% every day just to manage the nitrogen load once I get down to 1 adult/10 gal. My philosophy (for myself) in fish keeping is to stock what is practical in the long run, not what is fun and exciting even if I can manage the husbandry required in the short term. Stocking up to 10 adults is just not going to work for my schedule. But 4 more Heckels? I'm always thinking about that. :-)

Reesj, interesting idea about the swap. Definitely doable. The only hesitation I have is stressing out my blue wild (alpha 1) with the multiple transfers. My priority is NOT stressing it out or let it get into a situation of being bullied (e.g. buying a discus that is MUCH bigger than it is, but it can definitely take on a discus an inch bigger). He's my fav. But will definitely consider that option when/if I get new discus. As for feeding larger portions, I am skeptical about that. First, it is taking them 30-40 min to find and finish eating everything with each feed at the current amount. Second, with the current feeding regime all the fish (including the tetras) have a noticeable bulge in the stomach after feeding. The smaller 3rd discus (the stunted one I got from the pet store) almost 2 years ago routinely ate so much that the stomach distension (dry food+expansion in stomach) led to pretty bad swim bladder compression resulting in buoyancy control issues. I almost used Mg on him, but he returned to normal each time after defecation so I didn't have to. But I had a good gauge on when the bulge might be too much for my current discus from that experience. If total caloric intake is the issue, I can definitely try increasing the frequency of feeding, although twice a day is really what works best with my work responsibilities.

I did try something new with feeding when Reesj sparked the idea of not getting enough food. Rather than not getting enough total caloric intake as the basis for the aggression during feeding, an alternative hypothesis is that they are not seeing enough food per time during the feeding, leaving more room for chasing/aggressive behavior. So I tried exposing them to more food at once but keeping to the same amount per feed. Instead of dropping the flakes on the water, I pushed and wiggled the pinches of flake food under the surface of the water throughout the tank so it was snowing down to the bottom all at once. My prior observations suggest that alpha 1 gets distracted by the falling flakes very easily and even stopped in its chasing tracks to eat a flake (also evidenced in the video uploaded). By making the flakes all snow down at once, my hypothesis is that it would be so distracted by the flakes that it would concentrate on eating all the falling flakes rather than chase the Heckel. Sure enough, this morning when I tried that there was no/minimal chasing, and the two were crazy trying to eat the snowing flake foods they barely noticed each other, and when the flakes got to the floor of the aquarium they were too busy kissing the floor scavenging in their respective ends of the aquarium that they didn't interact with each other. Of course this is only an n=1 so anecdotal evidence at best. I will continue this method of feeding for the week and see if the aggressive behavior during feeding has any observable improvement.

The Heckel and the smaller fish are really enjoying the new wood and anubias arrangement 3 days into the new decor. The Heckel has claimed the lower half of the wood and big anubia foliage while the smaller discus has taken over the top half. Alpha 1 goes where he pleases and he seems to like the entire tank except for behind the wood where he cannot fit (purposely made an escape sanctuary for the smaller discus and tetras in case there is aggression after new landscape, but none so far). :-) Interesting how quickly they get used to new decors and claim new landscape. I suppose that is why it is so easy to catch them in the tributaries and lakes in the Amazon...throw a thatch of bush in the lake and wait for them to gather around the bush.

Will definitely keep you updated on how the feeding aggression goes. Hoping the new method will yield reproducible results.

You should buy a flake/pellet feeding station. It is simply a round/square that is buoyant and it attaches to the glass via suction cup. You put a pinch of flakes there and it goes straight down from the feeding station. Maybe buy two so that the bully can't get to both at once. Have you tried not feeding more per serving, but more times a day?

[SeattleMarathon]

I haven't increased the frequency as mentioned earlier but will try it if the new feeding method isn't effective. I will look into the flake feeding station, thanks for the suggestion! If it goes against the side of the aquarium wall I'll have to see if that device works with the pre-cut acrylic openings of the acrylic aquarium.Thanks!

[rickztahone]

I haven't increased the frequency as mentioned earlier but will try it if the new feeding method isn't effective. I will look into the flake feeding station, thanks for the suggestion! If it goes against the side of the aquarium wall I'll have to see if that device works with the pre-cut acrylic openings of the acrylic aquarium.Thanks!

If it is anything like mine, it probably will not. However, you can simply hold the feeding station in the middle to pour the flakes in, and then simply move it over to the edge under the bracing.

[SeattleMarathon]

Rickztahone, I just looked up "feeding station". I always called them feeding rings. I have 4 of them but I don't really use them anymore. I had them when I had an overflow for my reef but no longer. They do a great job of keeping the floating flakes from reaching the overflow. In a freshwater set-up, they merely concentrate the food in one area whilst the flakes still need to soak up water and slowly sink. I disperse the food across the aquarium which definitely mitigates aggression (my experience) during feeding. The adjustment I am making is making the flake food sink immediately to saturate the attention of the alpha 1 with falling flakes. It has worked this am and will try again tonight. I'm afraid using feeding rings/stations only concentrate the feed to a few geographic regions of the tank, leaving more interaction/aggression during feeding for my discus.

[rickztahone]

Rickztahone, I just looked up "feeding station". I always called them feeding rings. I have 4 of them but I don't really use them anymore. I had them when I had an overflow for my reef but no longer. They do a great job of keeping the floating flakes from reaching the overflow. In a freshwater set-up, they merely concentrate the food in one area whilst the flakes still need to soak up water and slowly sink. I disperse the food across the aquarium which definitely mitigates aggression (my experience) during feeding. The adjustment I am making is making the flake food sink immediately to saturate the attention of the alpha 1 with falling flakes. It has worked this am and will try again tonight. I'm afraid using feeding rings/stations only concentrate the feed to a few geographic regions of the tank, leaving more interaction/aggression during feeding for my discus.

You can do the same thing, pinch the flakes within the feeding station so that the ones that float up, float up in to the ring and use 2 or 3 of them so that they have to spread out. Either way, try what you tried earlier today, and if you are successful, then problem solved :)

[SeattleMarathon]

Thanks so much for your insights! I am crossing my fingers! Everyone is so very helpful! :-)