very aggressive discus, HELP!!

[BootDink]

i recently started up an 80 gallon all discus tank, i purchased 1 green turq,one blue, one red, one red leopard, and 2 red marlboro juveniles, about 2.5"s each.My problem is that one of the red marlboros is EXTREMELY aggressive towards everyone else. The tank is filled almost top to bottom with driftwood(went for the root system look) and he owns it all.He forces any and all of his tankmates into the top corners of the tank as soon as any of them come within 5-6" of the wood.Im concerned about this because out of the 6,2 of them barely get to eat or move.The other 3 can swim about a little but are then forced back into a corner. Ive tried upping my feedings,adding more driftwood etc and nothing will calm the one red marlboro down enough to leave everyone alone.Does anyone know how i can fix this? or if ill have to take him out and leave solitary?

any help is much much appreciated as i do not want anyone to get so stressed to the point they get sick.

Thanks to all!

[moik]

I can feel your pain. I have one very nice discus like this,but I put him in his own tank for now. Will try to reintroduce him into a tank with all bigger fish. See what he does will determine if he lives or dies. It is up to him. I do not have the tolerance for this kind of BS in any tank .He is a very nice fish and that is all that is keeping him alive for now. One fish like this can screw a whole tank up, plus stress all the other fish out. Not worth the chance of the other fish getting sick or being harassed constantly.

[dishpanhands]

sometimes you can take the mean one out put it in small tank for a couple days then put it back and everything can change...HTH

[BootDink]

i took him out for about 20 mins and then the second red marlboro started doing the exact same thing to everyone as if he took control, would their be a very big change in aggression towards each other if they were all diff sizes?its like there all super aggressive

[Eyecandy]

Hi there.. You say they are just recently put in the tank.. so they need to setup a pecking order then things might settle down..
If the others really can't eat and taking him out hasn't worked.. You can try taking them all out and changing the decor. That way they think they are all in a new tank and will start trying to form a pecking order that might be different.. Or you might try removing the ones that can't eat and putting them in a qt tank or other tank if you have one just so they can grow a bit and then be put back in the tank when they are bigger. Or you can also try putting a divider in the tank and see if that helps until they all get used to each other and everyone's had a chance to eat and get used to the tank. Remember they are cichlids and there will always be a dominant one and someone who is low man on the totem pole.. If it turns out there is just one hellraiser that is really causing harm then you might have to trying rehoming him to someone else's tank.. I had to do that once.. They all have personalities but everyone needs to eat.. So just watch closely and try the above and good luck.. HTH Sue

[Mr Wild]

Just a warning this happened to me and I lost 2 juvies. Best to get them out, rearrange driftwood see what happens, it might help but it will need to be more than 20mins I know that much.:)

[DiscussDiscus]

I find moving the "furniture" around the tank can help, along with big water changes to calm the fish down a bit.

If you need to sometimes an early bedtime will help on particularly bad days.

One other thing regarding the fish who aren't eating frequently, try setting up multiple feeding sites. I have one of my discus who is a bit slow to react to food dropping in the tank because he is so low on the pecking order and the natural runt.

I feed in one end of the tank and then once the alphas in the pack have set into the food, i place some extra food in the other end of the tank near the runts. I figure its my little way of helping them play catch-up.

Just make sure to net out the excess food so it doesn't rot.

Regards,
Lee

[Roxanne]

i... would their be a very big change in aggression towards each other if they were all diff sizes?...

IMO, yes. NOTHING stopped my BD's over the top aggression until he came up against Calypso, my HUGE discus. Problem with your situation is if you go buy a bigger fish, it will need to be QT'd before you can add it to your tank, so you will have to live with the aggression anyway,....if it was a fish I wanted to keep, I'd give him his own tank and maybe in the future a little female companion or another aggro headed fish. Moik said it well I thought (BS:D) Anyway, you didn't seriously start this hobby thinking you'd only ever have 1 tank did you? You know how it goes around here....one tank becomes 20 tanks real quick!!:D

You can always expect a little aggression because that's what they are like, but like eyecandy said, they all got to eat! The others might settle down and at least let each other eat.

Let us know what you decide

Rox

[BootDink]

oh no lol i have 46 tanks in my fish room, this is just my fist discus tank..i have reef setups,piranhas, all kinds of various cichlids(minus discus) and everything else you can think of..i live in canada and these 6 discus just cost me 500 bux so thats why im more concerned about their aggression lol

thanks to all!!

[moik]

I just hope you spent your money with a reputable breeder or a sponsor here on Simply. Starting with quality stock helps out alot in the long run.