Successfully re-integrated formerly misbehaving fish!

[SlimmSnake]

Just wanted to share with y'all that I am pretty happy - I successfully re-integrated one discus back into the group in our main display tank, and now have one less QT tank to clean, yee haw. I had purchased 5 discus around the 1st of November; however, one of them was extremely aggressive. Not merely alpha-dominant, but downright terrorizing the other discus, relentless constant non-stop chasing, they couldn't even sleep at night. So after watching this for about 2 days, I pulled the aggressive one out and put him in his own 20 gallon QT (isolation/detention) tank. So for the last 7 weeks or so, the bully has been by himself, and the other four settled into a normal peaceful hierarchy. Last week, I decided enough time had passed, and the 4 discus had well established their territory and routine in the main tank. When I introduced the bully-discus back into the big tank, he was now the intruder/new-comer, and the other four let him know in no uncertain terms that they would tolerate no attitude from him! They nipped and chased him off and on and put him in his place - and he's since been minding his manners. All five have re-established a peaceful hierarchy now... they've all been together for about a week now, and are getting along well. What a relief! Glad that worked!

[rickztahone]

Keep an eye on them because they will go through the pecking order again to reestablish the pecking order. You can also change things around in the tank, like driftwood and this sometimes makes the discus go through the pecking order shuffle. Good luck with the whole group :)

[DJW]

Cichlids. I bet if you had a tank that was 50 feet long they would still find a way to fight all day.

[Kyla]

awesome news! i tried this a while ago with my bully cobalt but it didn't work out :( i gave up and he now lives in a 65 gal with his girlfriend. sometimes i wish i just had a single content pair. tired of all the discus drama!!!

[Akili]

When an individual fish is added the hierarchy may change, time to rearrange the aquarium. Many a times it has not worked for me.

[Filip]

i have try this bully -isolation trick in the past , but it didnt work out for me . In a couple of days bully went a bully again.
Lets hope it works out good for you.

[Jenny]

A question on this topic, I have 3 juvenile discus that have been in my tank for aprox 2 or 3 weeks, there is deff a hierarchy... The turquoise is at the top, then my pigeon blood, then my little snakeskin. The snake skin is the newest, and only a teeny bit smaller than the other 2. If the turquoise is not messing with the pigeon, then the pigeon is messing with the snakeskin. I do not plan on only have 3 total, however I am in the process of getting a new tank ready for them, they are currently in a 30 gallon and the new tank is a 55... But it will be at least a few weeks before I have the 55 up and running, and I'm in the process of taking a few plastic plants and cups of gravel out of the 30 gallon to transfer it into a bare-bottom. If I try rearranging the tank, could this help to make him less aggressive? I'm not sure if it is a normal level of aggression either... I mean it is not non-stop, but it does happen often, and the snakeskin and pigeon are hiding when they are not being chased. The snakeskin is also kind of laying on his side, not completely, but leaning while he is hiding. I try to put the food during feedings right in front of the snakeskin and one of the other almost always beats him to it. He does eat off the bottom after the others have went away, but I am concerned about him eating enough, and also the weird leaning.

[SlimmSnake]

Yeah, I've read that it can be kind of a crap shoot when trying to introduce one fish into a group, so I am really excited that it seems to have worked well in my case. The former-bully fish has been in with the group for 8 days now, and all is well. In the hierarchy of the established 4 discus: the top two remained the top two, and the bottom two remained the bottom two, and the newly-introduced fish has settled into third place. So he makes himself feel good by occasionally chasing the bottom two, but then gets put in his place by the top two. It seems to have settled into a stable structure for them, and the overall daily aggression is really minimal. I'm so relieved!

I think a lot of it is luck, though, that the discus I ended up with are healthy and have good personalities - not overly aggressive, but not overly shy and skittish. When I first started getting discus this summer, I went through several unfortunate months where a couple fish suddenly died, and several small/shy/timid fish got bullied to death. My group got whittled down to only the last five strongest and healthiest surviving, and then I had this last "issue" of the one bully-fish to contend with. But now (fingers crossed) it seems I may have a healthy long-term group FINALLY.

Jenny - I personally did not ever find that re-arranging the tank decorations made much difference. It would throw them off and distract them from their fighting for maybe a couple of hours at the most, but then the hierarchy and the chasing would return. I am not very experienced with discus at all, but if I were in your shoes, I would put plexiglass sheets in your existing tank to separate the three each into their own compartments; that way they can see each other, but not chase and prevent each other from eating. From what you describe, I don't believe you can keep 3 juvy's alive long enough to get your larger tank going - they'll bully each other to death if they're kept together.

[DISCUS STU]

This has worked for me also. Sometimes this is all it takes, other times I need to remove the "problem child" to another tank and bring one in from that tank to balance it out.

It ain't easy being an Ichthyological fish behaviorist! Why can't they all just get along! :)

[Skip]

did you buy Juvies?!