Question for the Old Timers, experienced not necessarily Old. (Innocent grin)

[brewmaster15]

If you have an overly aggressive Discus and a weaker one in a tank and theres no where to run.. the bully can easily cause the death of the weaker one over time by cornering it, beating on it and openning it to infection, starving it by intimidation. Depending on the age and health of the fish thats bullied.. the weaker fish can decline very fast. In a sense ...all dominant discus in the tank have the potential to be killers over time.In the wild theres the ability to flee in a tank it can be non stop aggression. Its pretty much a cichlid norm.. but there are some discus in the population that are more aggressive than others.

I might add that in my current killers case when he is with a female he tolerates he is an excellent father.

al

[jeep]

Yes, there are killers. They pick on smaller fish
kill their mate and fry. I give these Discus away. Some breeders say the results of aggressive gene.

Cliff

I've never had a aggression issue to this level in a community tank, but I once had a male LSS that killed his mates after fry hatched. He killed 2 of them before I realized he was actually doing this and then I retired him...

[CliffsDiscus]

Yes, there are killers. They pick on smaller fish
kill their mate and fry. I give these Discus away. Some breeders say the results of aggressive gene.

Cliff

I don't know if it contains to any particular strain or
Discus crosses , but there was an article published before 1990 by one of the fish magazines TFH, FAMA or maybe DSG. Of course this was back before
the internet.

Cliff

[AquaWoman]

I don't know if it contains to any particular strain or
Discus crosses , but there was an article published before 1990 by one of the fish magazines TFH, FAMA or maybe DSG. Of course this was back before
the internet.

Cliff

Wish I could read that!

Everyone Thanks!
This has been a real eye opener. Liz, my most dominant Discus in the tank is a Female but she only pushes the others around and they submit easily. The most dominant Male is aggressive enough to to cause periodic damage to the other male. This has been going on for 4 years now and while the Bully keeps the smaller male cornered a lot he’s still thriving in spite of it.

Al, with your experience I trust your input. I do wonder now, if this is behavior exclusive to domestic fish.
They certainly seem much more docile in the wild but as was mentioned, “tank Discus have no where to run to”.

It would be interesting to find out if this abborant behavior is triggered mainly by breeding Males or if Breeding Females are as equally likely to kill. Has this behavior been seen in juveniles or only Adults. More questions.....

If I had my way I’d set up a Proper Fish room, breed Discus and study this. (in my dreams)
Overall, I think there is a serious lack of information available on Discus behavior. This Forum probably has more info on it than anywhere else but it’s rather hard to aggregate it. Somebody should write a book!