Discus behavior

[Gunn]

Ok so I've had my 6 discus in my 110g aquarium for over a week now, being my first plunge into discus, and they are all active and eating every bit of food I put in. My questions are regarding their behavior.

My blue turk and my German red turk(largest male @ 6.5") won't leave each other's side, my eruption leopard and albino red spotted green only separate during feeding, and my snakeskin and red eagle(smallest female @ 4") are the only ones constantly swimming around the tank.

My snakeskin is constantly going up to my blue turk and starts having what looks like a little seizure. This enrages my German red turk, who then pummels my snakeskin from the top right into the bb. My snakeskin doesn't even fight back, he just lays on the bottom until my German red turk backs off and then swims away and tries doing the same little seizure with my albino red spotted green.

Is this normal behavior? Is this just them establishing the ranks within the aquarium? Breeding behavior?

Appreciate any answers! Thanx in advance

[kris2341]

the shaking is usual cichlid mating behavior, since the red turq sounds like the biggest boss, seeing the shaking naturally causes him to charge to interrupt it.

Though, I do wonder how things will be since it looks like you went with several different sizes of discus. I hope they will all grow well and catch up in time.

[Gunn]

I'm going out today to price a 30g to put the 2 turks in and see what happens. Good to know it's naturally behavior. Thanx Kris!

[DISCUS STU]

Kris is right. Actually this is a good behavior and the one doing the pummeling may be vying for the attention of the Blue Turq also or just displaying dominance. This is basically mating behavior that occurs with healthy fish that are well adjusted.

Good luck with the 30 gal. They may continue and try to mate there or not, and may set up house immediately or take anywhere from a few hours, days. or even weeks so don't get discouraged. They're not as predictable as I would like them to be. You're certainly thorough in gathering information.

[Patrick84]

what if it's like some seizure movement, I dun think it's mating or anything near that.....I will try to capture and post it...

[strawberryblonde]

It is mating behavior. They shake and bow in order to get the attention of a mate. Since they are new to the tank, there is bound to be some bullying as they establish a pecking order, and also the natural mating behavior as they pair off.

It's best not to separate them at this point. Just let them work it out on their own unless one is being picked on by all the others and stops eating for more than a day or two. Usually they will make their adjustments within a few weeks and settle into a nice routine.

If the turks do decide to pair up, and if it is a male and female pairing (uh huh, sometimes you get 2 males or 2 females who pair up!) they will lay eggs somewhere in the main tank. At that point you can watch to see if wrigglers develop which will indicate that you have an actual male/female pair. After that, it's up to you whether you want to place them into a breeding tank to see if you can get successful fry from them.

Just remember that if you remove 2, you will be leaving only 4 in the tank by themselves and they are much more likely to fight in such a small grouping.

[ExtremeDiscus]

This is some nice info to know. Thanks.