Determining discus dominance

[thekarens]

How is dominance determined with discus? I have 9 checkerboard turq juvies growing out in my 90g. They are fed approximately 6 times a day with 50% water change daily. From the beginning one discus was bullying around the others, but he/she was not the largest. Interestingly he/she was also the only discus that would lose their facial strip. Since then there has a second one who loses the facial strip and will bully the other fish. These two have gotten bigger than the other fish.

The other thing I wonder about is whether or how the littlest of the discus can or will grow. Since they aren't as aggressive they haven't gotten as much to each and haven't grown as much. Is that how it's supposed to be? I should clarify that they all get sufficient amounts to eat, but some are piggies and get more than their fair share.

[Jhhnn]

Dominance just IS, it's a basic quality or characteristic like gender, eye color, whatever. And, yeh, the dominant members of the school, the pack, the troop get more food, so dominant juveniles grow faster.

People use various strategies to compensate, like feeding at opposite ends of the aquarium simultaneously. Sometimes it's necessary to separate the fish into separate tanks or use a divider of some kind if the smaller, less dominant individuals are to keep up. That's particularly true if it turns into generalized bullying, rather than just bullying at feeding time...