Discus bugging other discus

[Kfactor]

Hi all I have had my discus now for about 6 months there growing good but one is a bit small yet and the 2 big guys are picking on him . The back fins are getting very torn up should I put him in my Quarantine tank by him self till he gets better ?

[brewmaster15]

How many are in the Tank?

al

[Kfactor]

There are 6 in the tank it’s a 75 g tank

[brewmaster15]

You can try separating him and letting him recover a bit, but odds are either another one will take his place or as soon as you put him back the bullies will start again. Cichlids are like this. Even the more docile ones like discus establish tank hierarchy. You might have better luck adding more structures to the tank to space out the territory, driftwood, potted plants etc. Sometimes, the Bully being removed will change the hierarchy sufficently and when its added back it will spar with the new tank top dog instead of the weakling.

hth,
al

[Gabriel13]

Try not to place any large tank items such as driftwood or rocks directly center of the tank. You can move things around a little until you find a setting in your tank that works. Sometimes with other type of cichlids I have had to watch them closely then remove the item that they have claimed as territory. Or, as Al stated, add more structures to your scape.