Major Discus Bullying! Plz help!

[farzadkavari]

Hello, I recently lost 2 of my adult discus and a week or so after things settled down I noticed that one my larger 6 inch red fire discus is bullying another discus his own size! It gets really bad, he tries to go after the eye and chases him around constantly when the light is ON mostly. The other discus looks really stressed with one cloudy eye. I have 10 discus total in a 90 gallon tank. I moved the bully to a 10 gallon tank for 5 days but when I put him back after 5 days he went back at it and started to bully him again! Is this a pecking order or permanent bullying?? Please advise! Prior to the loss of the 2 discus he never really acted like this.

[John_Nicholson]

Discus are cichlids....this is what they do. If everything else is right( i.e. clean water, good, food, no preexisting disease) they will be fine. Taking a bully out anf then putting them back in is useless about 99% of the time. I know people suggest but it is because they really don't know. I always advocate just letting the fish work it out. Through the years I have only had one fish killed and I have owned way more discus than most people on here ever will.

-john

[farzadkavari]

Thanks for the response John, Yea I will give that a try. I'm not sure how long is the average Discus memory but after 5 days the bully remembered him very well. Almost instantly went after him.

[brewmaster15]

Hello, I recently lost 2 of my adult discus and a week or so after things settled down I noticed that one my larger 6 inch red fire discus is bullying another discus his own size! It gets really bad, he tries to go after the eye and chases him around constantly when the light is ON mostly. The other discus looks really stressed with one cloudy eye. I have 10 discus total in a 90 gallon tank. I moved the bully to a 10 gallon tank for 5 days but when I put him back after 5 days he went back at it and started to bully him again! Is this a pecking order or permanent bullying?? Please advise! Prior to the loss of the 2 discus he never really acted like this.

Have you had any pairing or spawning behavior in that tank? Its possible thats the cause of the sudden aggression. 10 discus in a 90 gal tank and some cichlid hormones and it get intense for a while.

-al

[farzadkavari]

Have you had any pairing or spawning behavior in that tank? Its possible thats the cause of the sudden aggression. 10 discus in a 90 gal tank and some cichlid hormones and it get intense for a while.

-al

Yes i have had some pairing behaviour but with 2 other discus not so much the bully. Its strange as almost it seems he has a grudge or whatever agains this poor guy, he keeps him in check at all times. The poor discus now likes to hide behind the filter pipe. The one bullied is almost 7 inches! I just wish he would fight back a lil! Lol

[Udeservit]

If everyone else is behaving maybe consider selling him? I had to do this with a cichlid tank I had and I was so happy I did. The bully was relentless and once removed things settled down and the tank was relatively peaceful again. Just a thought.

[aquadon2222]

It's natural and normal - they will work it out.

[farzadkavari]

Yep few weeks later and they are doing much better