Pecking order

[redsono93]

Hey guys,
I have a question in the pecking order of Discus can they detect that the weak link is sick? I have a mother of pearl lost substantial amount of weight. I put him in seperate tank. I ask this question the Discus I lost to disease all started out as the grunt of the litter. I am just curious:)
Thanks,

[Gene]

I think that they were weaker and more susceptible to disease from being the runt in the first place. I'm sure the extra stress from being picked on only made it worse. This paired with getting less food kinda makes it the perfect storm.

[camuth8]

I think that it's because it is the smaller one and the one who doesn't look as good, they are chasing it around. I don't think that they can detect the sickness in another fish but they can see it and notice that they're the boss of it and that it would be "fun" to chase it around the tank. You would want to feed a lot of food in the main tank for everyone to get some, even the runt.