New Turquoise Discus Addition

[MarktheShark3]

Hello everyone,

I'm relatively new here and I am looking for some advice regarding some issues relating to how 2 of my Discus are reacting to each other.

My aquarium initially had 1 15cm length male Pigeon Blood Discus within it for about 8 months and in the last week I added a female Turquoise Discus with a length of approximately 12cm. On introduction of the latter Discus the male discus seemed to swim after the female and they then started "wagging" their respective caudal fins in each other's faces. Now the behaviour has turned very sour in that the female discus is chasing and nipping the male discus quite viciously. He is cowering behind a piece of bog wood presently due to this. I've witnessed the female discus swim very quickly towards him from the opposite side of the aquarium and viciously nip him on contact.

I'm unsure on how to resolve this issue. I have considered putting the male into a floating breeding net cube that would segregate him. I've done this before with fish that are being attacked and on re-introduction from the net cube they are miraculously accepted by the aggressor but this particular female discus as "seen red" so to speak and I'm not sure if this tactic would work. One thing I should add in here is that the female had a visible breeding tube on the date of purchase (but no visible fry or eggs) so could her aggression be a symptom of her thinking she needs to guard eggs/fry even though they are not present?

Any advice/assistance with this issue would be most appreciated.

Thank you.

[HarryDk]

so you only have 2 discus in the tank?
I would add a few more to spread the aggression or let them settle. 5plus is what you need for a happy manageable discus tank imo

[MarktheShark3]

so you only have 2 discus in the tank?
I would add a few more to spread the aggression or let them settle. 5plus is what you need for a happy manageable discus tank imo

Ok - I will consider adding a few more if I can't resolve this issue by other means. I currently have several Vallis plants in quarantine so may try to build some kind of segregation wall with those

[sanjay21]

Ok - I will consider adding a few more if I can't resolve this issue by other means. I currently have several Vallis plants in quarantine so may try to build some kind of segregation wall with those

Add atleast 3-4 more of the same size and buy all of them together, to avoid separate quarantine on multiple purchases. Discus do well in groups, everyone in this group will suggest you to do the same. 2 Discus can never do well in a tank, unless they are a pair.