Discus Behavior

[Blademan]

Hi
Originally I had six discus in a 50 gallon tank along with a few other small fish, in here they used to swim around together not all the time but a lot of it.

However now they have been re housed for about four to five weeks into my their new 80 gallon tank along with four new discus, so ten in tota; they all apprear fine, and healthy, they eat really well, but no longer swim together only at feeding time when they are all at the surface waiting !!, I have noticed two red discus claimed some tank space which they defend constantly, another two yellow discus seem to follow each other, the same as my two blue ones, just seems strange to me, that they no longer swim together, they are far to small to be pairing up for mating betwen 3.5 to 4.5 inch, is this normal behaviour ?

[alron2]

How old are they?
Ron

[discuspaul]

Well, your 6 original discus have recently been placed into a much larger tank, along with 4 new discus, so they've been exposed to some fairly major changes, which could take a long while to become accustomed to, and become comfortable with - so don't be overly concerned, be patient, and allow some time for their group behavior to resume taking on some semblance of normality.
As for the 2 Reds defending some space, they may be pairing up as mates, even though they're smaller than you might have expected to be showing adult mating behavior. You don't know how old they are, and perhaps their growth, size-wise, has been set back, or delayed somewhat, for whatever reasons, but they've already reached adulthood.
In any event, so long as they're all eating well, don't worry about it - just let things settle in & see what develops.

[Blademan]

How old are they?
Ron

Ron not really sure could only be 5 months maybe a little more, but that is pure guess work

[Blademan]

Well, your 6 original discus have recently been placed into a much larger tank, along with 4 new discus, so they've been exposed to some fairly major changes, which could take a long while to become accustomed to, and become comfortable with - so don't be overly concerned, be patient, and allow some time for their group behavior to resume taking on some semblance of normality.
As for the 2 Reds defending some space, they may be pairing up as mates, even though they're smaller than you might have expected to be showing adult mating behavior. You don't know how old they are, and perhaps their growth, size-wise, has been set back, or delayed somewhat, for whatever reasons, but they've already reached adulthood.
In any event, so long as they're all eating well, don't worry about it - just let things settle in & see what develops.

Thanks Paul, I think the two reds are proberly stunted before I bought them, and the body shape is not as good as the others, to be honest my least two favorite fish, the space they claim is were the water flows back into the tank lots of bubbles, and when I did a water change last night, the moved to the opposite side of the tank where the water was flowing back in, again lots of bubbles, I think they have a thing for bubbles.
But I will just give them more time, there is no serious aggression in the tank, or a clear leader, seems fairly evenly spread out, just the usual nipping and nudging at feed times, then they all settle back down, and go about their buisness, so to speak.
85899

[brewmaster15]

Hi
Originally I had six discus in a 50 gallon tank along with a few other small fish, in here they used to swim around together not all the time but a lot of it.


Discus swim together when they are stressed, nervous, feel threatened etc. As young discus that behavior is very common most of the time..Safety in numbers. You Discus behavior now is a sign that they are comfortable and do not feel threatened in the new tank..Congrats, you have happy Discus!:)

As for the pairing behavior, size doesn't matter, once they get about 5-6 months old they can start going thru the motions. New tank..bigger tank, more opportunity for territories to form. Its all natural behavior,


hth,
al

[jmf3460]

I say throw some dither fish in there with the discus. Sometimes it helps for the discus to see other tiny fish swimming around carelessly and that gives them the encouragement that nothing bad will happen and they swim even more freely. If you do put some tetras in there make sure to quarantine them. Perhaps a small school of rummy nosed tetras, or cardinals??? I have black neons in my tank, I wanted to stay with the black/brown/wild theme but they are fine with the discus, rather fat for tetras but they do fine.

[Blademan]

Discus swim together when they are stressed, nervous, feel threatened etc. As young discus that behavior is very common most of the time..Safety in numbers. You Discus behavior now is a sign that they are comfortable and do not feel threatened in the new tank..Congrats, you have happy Discus!:)

As for the pairing behavior, size doesn't matter, once they get about 5-6 months old they can start going thru the motions. New tank..bigger tank, more opportunity for territories to form. Its all natural behavior,


hth,
al

Thanks Al, i will stop worrying and just leave them to it :)