RUNT prevention ?

[blaze]

PPL might hate me for what I an going to suggest, but pllz read

I noticed alot of posts recently regarding aggression/pecking order and its direct relation to 'RUNTS'. That is: the smallest fish will most likely be timid, picked on espically at feeding tiime, causing it to get less food,eventually becoming a RUNT in most cases. Every reply stated that:
*if you add a smaller discus, it will become the next victim :'(

or
if you remove ;
*the smallest one, the one next in size will become the new pecking victim. :'(
*the bully, the one next in size will most like become the new bully. :'(


& NO, we juct cant have one dicsus per tank.


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I was wonder...what if... [providing you have adequate filtration & tank space] .... you add a discus which is already a 'RUNT' [healthy in every way] or Smaller Less Desirable discus [probably one u 'forgot' to cull or just plain ugly]... It would become the new victim, replace your now 'victim fish by taking most of the aggression & also lessen the chances of anyone fish being picked on. Saving your sweet pretty small discus from becoming the RUNT, giving to a chance to grow to ist full size.

I know it may sound unethical to have desiginated victim, but if the fish already a runt or is less desirable {eg. to much peppering, ugly coloration, lost a eye in a accident, badly scared by heater etc...probably might even be free} it might seem so unethical. Law of Nature ' the strong will survive', so if u have a small more desirable{eg; looks, breeding potential, exotic coloration, hybrid strain etc..} fish being bullied, doesn't it seem fair to give it a chance not just survive but to thrive, by adding a smaller less desirable/runt/sutiable for culling discus.

I not being evil , I just want to know what ya'll think k.

[April]

sure..but if you have a new group of discus..you dont want to break quarantine by adding one right away.
but if you get bigger groups...you dont get that problem as much. id say from 8 up is good. i used to do 6 but if you can buy 8 or more..less likely to happen.
the worst numbers are 4, 3 or 2.

[mtwinn]

Your idea sounds good except that, in my experience, not all runts automatically will be at the bottom of the pecking order. What do I mean by this? A while ago, I had some babies from a Discus pair. I was too weak to cull any of them so I left them alone. Most grew fast and had full round bodies with nice small eyes. Then, there were the runts. These little guys would not grow as fast as the others and their shape, size, etc was not there, even though they hog the food. Some got picked on, but there were also some runts in the group that was the bully. By the way, your idea is not cruel. As I see it, it's the same as culling. It's necessary.

[Abercrombie6202]

before i had the disease strike my tank my runt was the highest ranked, dominant discus! But now he's dead

[Debbie]

I'm with mtwinn and Adam. The runt is not always the picked on. For your theory to work you would have to make sure you pick a runt that is timid too. May not work esp. if you put the fish in a tank with fish that are smaller, but would make for an interesting experiment.

[mtwinn]

The funny thing about fish and the pecking order is that it's anyone's guess as to which ranking the individual fish will fall under when coming into contact with other fish. My experience has taught me that a fish might be at the bottom of the ladder in one group of fish, but as soon as you put him in with another group, his status might go up or down. I am wondering if there's more at play here. How they determine their pecking order is still a mystery to me. The way I do it is I take the most timid fish in one group and put him in the tank with the new group and pray really hard that his ranking is dead last ;D. Of course it doesn't always work as plan so I have to keep trying. I guess not culling all my less than perfect discus does pay off. I have lots of runts and misfit to try out.

[blaze]

Sorry i was unable to reply sooner, my lil sister pc crashed & burned, she got some serious school projects to complete, so i had to lend her mine.
Hopefully i'll get it back soon.




The way I do it is I take the most timid fish in one group and put him in the tank with the new group and pray really hard that his ranking is dead last . Of course it doesn't always work as plan so I have to keep trying. I guess not culling all my less than perfect discus does pay off. I have lots of runts and misfit to try out.

but would make for an interesting experiment.

If only i had more discus to experiment with...
Well some of you do, so if any one is willing to try it out, pllz go ahead and let us know the outcome

[BlueBull]

I observed that some Runts can be rather aggresive. I used to have a Runt that goies after the bigger Discus in the group.