A strange bullying situation

[River]

I have a 450l tank with 12 discus, 10 juveniles ranging from 8-12cm and 2 18-20cm adults (male and female, but not paired). Up until three days ago we haven't noticed any bullying. Our two adults apparently paired up at some point and she laid eggs three days ago, but they were eaten after about 24 hours. Since then our largest juvenile has really taken to aggressively bullying the larger female.

This behavior has come from out of nowhere and we're not quite sure how to proceed. We're in the process of setting up a second 240l tank, but it's still cycling at the moment and probably can't be used until the earliest tomorrow. Should we remove the bully? Should we remove the pair and let them try again? What could be causing this behavior?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

[zimmjeff]

Don't move the bully someone will just take their place. If you want to breed the other 2 put them in their own tank. Jeff

[River]

Don't move the bully someone will just take their place. If you want to breed the other 2 put them in their own tank. Jeff

Up until now we hadn't considered breeding the two, but I guess we might give it a shot. I'm concerned because this bullying is out of nowhere and is targeted on just this one fish, but only after she laid eggs. Are the two incidents related or just coincidence?

[camuth8]

How long have you had the fish? It may be the cause because there may have not been an alpha, the boss, in the tank yet. Kinda like my discus. One of mine never had bothered other fish and then he starts bullying one that's 1.5" bigger than him.

[Allwin]

My 2 cents, possibly ur largest juvenile can be a another female.Trying to catch up ur male..


I have a 450l tank with 12 discus, 10 juveniles ranging from 8-12cm and 2 18-20cm adults (male and female, but not paired). Up until three days ago we haven't noticed any bullying. Our two adults apparently paired up at some point and she laid eggs three days ago, but they were eaten after about 24 hours. Since then our largest juvenile has really taken to aggressively bullying the larger female.

This behavior has come from out of nowhere and we're not quite sure how to proceed. We're in the process of setting up a second 240l tank, but it's still cycling at the moment and probably can't be used until the earliest tomorrow. Should we remove the bully? Should we remove the pair and let them try again? What could be causing this behavior?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

[River]

My 2 cents, possibly ur largest juvenile can be a another female.Trying to catch up ur male..

This was my first thought, but wasn't sure it was a "thing". We ended up removing the juvenile for a bit, just until we can decide what to do and things went back to normal in the main tank. Big female is dancing again and reunited with big male after spending the last three days mostly in the corner. Strangely enough we found a stray wriggler today during a water change, looks like all the eggs weren't eaten and one somehow hatched. I think we'll move the pair to their own tank and see what happens.

[Trubble]

Congratulations on the wiggler. Good luck with the pair.

[Keith Perkins]

My 2 cents, possibly ur largest juvenile can be a another female.Trying to catch up ur male..

I would tend to agree. Congrats on confirming your pair.

[River]

Thanks! Pair have been moved to their own tank and hopefully will try again soon.