Red Turquoise is a terror... what to do?

[Kev]

All last summer I researched and read about the discus hobby, hoping to someday get into it. Unfortunatley, my aquaria budget has always been eaten up by my two saltwater tanks. In september my girlfriend thought it would be nice to buy me my first discus so I could get started. She bought me a juv. red turquiose that has now grown to about 3.5 inches. The fish was kept in a 20 gallon tank, alone, for 2 months until I bought another 55 with the intention of getting more discus. I moved her in and added a school of tetras, but once again put more discus on teh back burner when I discovered the beauty of the planted tank, and quickly broke the bank on lights and other assorted plant equipment. I then had my first disasterous algae outbreak, and more discus were once again back burnered as I told myself I would not get any more until I got the algae under control. To make a long story short, I recently got the algae under control, and on a trip to seattle about 2 weeks ago I picked up a 3.5 inch pigeon blood and a 2.5 inch blue diamond. They're GORGEOUS, but the red turqouise, which has been alone for 5 months, has lost her manners. She's a terror to the other two. I've tried adding a divider to the tank and removing it after a 4 day period of acclimation only to find that she goes right back to chasing the other two all over the tank with such desperation that I'm sure she's going to kill herself and the other two out of pure exhaustion. So I put the divider back in and waited longer, only to find that after three attempts to reintroduce them to each other, it's not working. I'm SO frustrated I'm considering selling off the fish and taking the tank down all together. Does anyone have any suggestions? I've put so much time and thought into this... GRRRRRR...!!!

edit - before someone tells me i need 6, I KNOW. it's just a slow aquisition process on a college student budget.

[Ryan]

This is one of the reasons it is suggested to buy your first juvenile discus in groups of 6 or more. There is a pecking order among discus. I would guess that what happened is your fish got used to being alone and established the entire tank as its territory.

The first problem is that with 3 discus, you may be asking for trouble. Sometimes 2 of the fish will gang up on the weaker individual, stressing them to the point of illness or death. Or sometimes, as in your case, the dominant fish harasses the other 2, making them uncomfortable and stressed.

The only suggestion I have is to buy a small group of fish, 6 at least, and quarantine them. Then introduce those 6 fish and your red turquoise into a tank together. You may want to move decorations, filters, heaters, etc. around a bit to give the fish the impression that it's a different tank, then they're not as quick to claim it as "their" territory. This redecoration method works for many cichlids.

This is all, of course, JMO.

Ryan

edit - See, you read my mind ;D You knew about the 6 fish "rule." I hope my post doesn't sound condescending as it wasn't meant to, but when I was 13 and new to the hobby I did the same thing, and paid for it dearly (lost a beautiful discus after it was ganged up on by its two tankmates).

[SLY]

ya what ryan said is true..buy slowly if the bully get overboard remove the odd one out.

[Aquarius]

For the time being, you can rearange your tank.. if you move enough stuff around, the red turk might cool off a bit and let the two new ones get a chance to move around the tank. Do it right before the lights go off and keep them off for a bit.

-steve

[slicksta]

the rearranging of the tank trick has worked for me with Africans.....I would give it a shot....If you have the $ to get more fish then do it at the same time......this will really confuse the bully, and that's what you need to do. I would add some driftwood to the tank as well....this helps the weaker fish with a place to rest
there is no telling if it will work, it depends on the temperament of that fish......good luck

John

[Kev]

i rearranged the plants/rocks/driftwood and put the lights out a bit early. keeping my fingers crossed.

[slicksta]

Kev
When I got this trick to work for me.....I left the lights off for 24hrs....

good luck, John

[Debbie]

If you still have the 20 gallon empty then you could put the red turq. in the 20 and put the others in the 50, for now. Give it a week or so then add the red turq. back to the 50. More juvies would certainly be the way to go. Spreads the aggression around so no one discus gets picked on too much.

[Kev]

slicksta - thanks for the tip, unfortunatley it didn't work. the turq was chasing the p. blood around even in the dark.

debbie - i had the same thought when i woke up this morning, so i'm giving that a shot right now. if worse comes to worse i suppose i could find a way to trade the turquoise for another juv. discus.


sigh... now the pigeon blood is kind of being a jerk to the blue diamond. looks like i may have to take everyones advice and rack up the credit card bill a bit this weekend. my only complaint is that the only discus that i know of are about an hour and a half away, and i'm not at all impressed with them. (culls?) nor am i with the price. (40 bucks) grumble grumble...

[Carol_Roberts]

Where are you from Kev? Maybe there is a breeder or hobbiest closer ?

[Kev]

moscow idaho. about an hour and a half south of spokane.

i'm going to make some calls around and see what i can do this weekend. do you guys really think that adding more fish has a chance at solving my problem (note i did not say WILL)? I'll give it a shot if that's the consensus.

[Aquarius]

Yes, it will help. Are all 3 discus close to the same size? I would also say that by adding them, you won't be able to Quarantine them. Normal, you'd want to have any new fish in a different tank for 30 days.

But to make it a short answer, Yes again, adding more discus will help, even now, with the PB going after the other one, the Picking Order has started, just not enough fish to pick on ::)

-steve

[DarkDiscus]

Kev,

If the divider plan failed, getting more fish would be the best way to go. I also like Debbie's idea to move the bully out and re-introduce him.

HOWEVER, his time alone may have just made him one of those few antisocial fish that lost the ability to interact with others. It happens. Then you should see about trading him in or leaving him isolated in the 20.

Good luck!

John

[BLUEKNIGHT]

HI Kev
The best thing for you to do is get more discus. The divider is not really gonna do the trick. The fish are still gonna go at each other. You need to spread out the aggression amongst them.

[Kev]

alrighty... i picked up four more this afternoon. i guess we'll see what happens.

[Debbie]

Hope it works out.