Discus Trio?

I have a 55 gallon planted tank with a school of 15 neon tetras, 7 cory cats, and two female discus. Ever since getting my discus, one has been picking on the other. My peaceful girl (and my favorite) has turned a much darker shade, and she seems to be afraid of the more aggressive discus. This morning I found the aggressive discus eating the neons. I've had the neons with them for two months without issue, and I recently added some more. I've had the discus for about a year, and they haven't had any health issues and overall seem to be doing well. Lately I've been noticing some scrapes on my peaceful discus, and I've seen a lot more aggression overall.

I think I need to sell the more aggressive discus- after all this aggression I'm far too resentful of her to keep her. I'm debating keeping the peaceful one alone now. My other option is to add a breeding pair from my area. Would a trio work? Would I need to have an equal ratio of females to males? Can I keep my remaining discus by herself?

I know a shoal of 5-6 is recommended, and within the next year I'm planning to move and get a 75 or 90 gallon and keep a larger group. In the interim, what will be best for my remaining discus?

My experience comes from keeping Angels as my discus have always been in groups of 6 or more so I haven't experienced a dominant, discus bully in the tank...yet. Angels, which are also cichlids like Discus, can show aggression towards one another and I'd suggest not going with a trio (though I have seen it in discus breeding tanks in videos). What I saw with my angels, the two more dominant angels will kill off the least dominant and then those two will continue to fight for territory until one wins or they settle on their own sides of the tank.

With a 55 gallon, you could possibly add 3-4 more to make it a group of 5-6 unless you have larger adults as they likely would need that 75 or 90 gallon tank at that size. I'd suggest getting the same size as your current two discus if they are smaller to ensure it's a level playing field and they can establish a pecking order. If you have a QT you could throw the aggressive one in there for a timeout until the new arrivals can be put into QT for 4-6 weeks. Also, you could use some egg crate from a Home Depot to create a barrier in the tank until you finish the QT on the newly added fish. If you continue to have aggression issues, it just may be the fish's behavior and re-homing may be what you have to do. This is what I did with my angels and the aggression settled quite a bit now that the weaker one had some time to grow without being harassed.

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Originally Posted by teaguenation

I have a 55 gallon planted tank with a school of 15 neon tetras, 7 cory cats, and two female discus. Ever since getting my discus, one has been picking on the other. My peaceful girl (and my favorite) has turned a much darker shade, and she seems to be afraid of the more aggressive discus. This morning I found the aggressive discus eating the neons. I've had the neons with them for two months without issue, and I recently added some more. I've had the discus for about a year, and they haven't had any health issues and overall seem to be doing well. Lately I've been noticing some scrapes on my peaceful discus, and I've seen a lot more aggression overall.

I think I need to sell the more aggressive discus- after all this aggression I'm far too resentful of her to keep her. I'm debating keeping the peaceful one alone now. My other option is to add a breeding pair from my area. Would a trio work? Would I need to have an equal ratio of females to males? Can I keep my remaining discus by herself?

I know a shoal of 5-6 is recommended, and within the next year I'm planning to move and get a 75 or 90 gallon and keep a larger group. In the interim, what will be best for my remaining discus?

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You can Keep your one discus by itself , it will be okay as its been in that tank a year. Its got some dither fish for company, it should be ok. The only problem will be when you try and introduce discus in a year to her, she may be aggressive towards the new ones.

Another option is buy several juveniles (2.5-3"), now, She may chase them a bit but it will settle down in most cases. They then can grow and should be ready for your move in a year..

al

My current discus are 5 in and 6 in. I'd be adding a 6 in male. I could add 3 more large discus, or several small ones, but I'm concerned there would be space issues.

If you add 3 large discus thats 5 in a 55 gal which is doable but not by much.If you end up adding 1 male or 1 of the three added turns out to be a male. Your tank will become a war zone when they breed. Thats why I suggested going with the young discus or no other discus.

One other note.. Discus can and will eat neons. They arent a good tank mate.Discushave even been known to eat cardinals but they are a better choice. Rummy noses are better as well.

hth,
Al