Aggression for a beginner

[ryanzsteelers]

Whats up everyone. Im sure it's been covered numerous times but im gonna ask anyway. So im stocking my 75 with discus, started with 2. A yellow malboro and blue leopard. Yellow malboro is dominant. Added a royal blue yesterday, and he is on the bottom of the pecking order. But something interesting is, the yellow malboro will not let the leopard mess with the royal. If the leopard.goes after him, the malboro chases him away. Is this normal in discus behaviour??.... I am adding more, and I know I should've added them at the same time. Im a rookie. And when I get the next few, im taking them all out and rearranging. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

[discuspaul]

The behavior involved in the establishment of pecking order superiority, priority, or dominance, and how it develops, has many facets, and can't be expected, foretold or pre-ordained. In your case in this instance, perhaps some level of compatibility arose between the yellow Marlboro and the royal, which could explain the new behavior.

But adding a few more discus to this mix could change things in a very different way. So anything is possible when the pecking order is being established.

The more important focus here should be on your doing a proper quarantine when you're adding more discus, even if you're getting all the fish from the same source, which can still contain a certain degree of risk.

Hope it all works out well for you.

[Filip]

Hi Ryan and welcome .
You need to keep at least 5-6 discus to minimize the aggression issues .
As Paul already posted , proper quarantine procedure is the most important part when introducing new fish and plants to your discus tank .

[ryanzsteelers]

Thanks guys