Bully is hogging food

[Loosir]

Hi all,
I have one silver pigeon that eats most of the food when I'm not around. When I feed by hand, the five of the other six discus come and eat, the other two not so much. Here's my question. So the one eating all is growing a lot and the others just a bit, they are still young, I've only had them for two months and they were 2.5". Do you think the other seven are ok and I do nothing for now, or should I put the bully in quarantine for a month or so and try to even out the group.
Thanks,
Geoff

[John_Nicholson]

Well since they should be growing roughly 1 inh per month when you it sounds like they are not doing that great. How big were they when you got them? Have they added 1 1/2 to 2 inches since you got them? I spread the food out over the entire length of the tank so that everyone gets to eat. What are you feeding them, how much water are you changing, and is your tank bare bottom?

-john

[OC Discus]

What John said.

You have to feed enough so everyone gets all they want and change enough water so it stays clean. The alpha fish will settle down once he realizes there will be enough food for him to get all he wants.

[Loosir]

Thanks guy's I love how responsive you all are!
Its a bare bottom, and I change 50% daily. I feed flakes at 10am and 2pm via autofeeder, SF beefheart or 96% lean ground beef at 7pm and FDblackWs at 10pm. I have a small powerhead that circulates the water for O2 and it tends to draw the food to one side of the bottom of the tank after 5min or so, even if I spread the food all around. I got (8) 2.5"s and (2) 3"s from Hans 8 weeks ago. You've inspired me to measure a few of them. The bully, the silver Pigeon on the right is now 4.3" (was a 3") but the Pigeon behind it was a 2.5" and is actually now 4". The dark angel, the lowest one in the picture is 3.5" The cobalt, blue pegion and blue turk above it, I did not measure tonight but they are slightly smaller then the dark angel. I agree that they are not doing that great but my only thought was that the biggest who I've noticed will hover over the food once its at the bottom is keeping any on else from having seconds. I try to feed a lot and there's always extra but the others never really get to it.


http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e248/geoffloo/019_zps6662f85f.jpg (http://s40.photobucket.com/user/geoffloo/media/019_zps6662f85f.jpg.html)

[John_Nicholson]

They look good. How big were they when you got them?

-john

[Loosir]

Thanks, that means a lot!!!
Eight of them were 2.5" and two, the silver pigeon and the pigeon snakeskin just to the left in the picture were 3". The silver pigeon and the (orange) pigeon to the right seem to be doing all the growing. The red turk (sorry I wrote blue turk before) the cobalt and some of the others out of the picture are the ones that I'm worried about, they have only grown about .5" in eight weeks. I don't think the gang is picking on a single fish, but more like the Silver Pigeon and the pigeon are picking on everyone else which is why I though maybe pulling them or just the silver out would help the group grow more.

[rickztahone]

They look great to me from that picture. Floor looks nice and clean. You are feeding quite a bit, but if you keep up the maintenance, you will be fine. A good BH mix a couple times a day and some dry goods here and there should suffice, at least from my experience. Good luck. Keep us updated.

[Loosir]

Thank you both,
I'll stay the course and update if needed.
Thanks again