Discus scared of other discus (cowering in the corner)

[aidanbm]

Hello,

I recently purchased two discus, during the first month I noticed that one of them was bullying the other, and, the victim was getting quite skinny, I decided to put the discus that was being bullied into another tank that had no other fish in it, I let it gain weight and today decided to put it back in with the other discus, after about five minutes the discus began to get bullied (pecked) again, it is now cowering behind my filter, I am afraid it is going to get skinny again. Both discus are roughly the same size and there are other fish in the tank that do not get bullied. Any help is very much appreciated.

Thanks,

[discuspaul]

Discus get along best in larger social groups where the expected pecking order establishment doesn't usually result in any serious aggression issues, so keeping just 2, 3, or 4 discus generally results in harmful problems for one or more of a small group of these fish.

Don't know what size of tank you have but if it's large enough, say 60 gallons or more (with no other tank-mate livestock in it), suggest you consider getting at least 3 more discus, preferably 4, to dissipate the generally quite common and significant bullying you're experiencing by keeping just 2 of these fish.

It would help you too, I'm sure, if you did more homework on discus traits & behaviors, and how to keep them properly, in order to avoid further issues of this kind. Please spend some time reviewing the stickies in the Discus Basics section.

[Ryan]

The first rule of discus is acknowledging the pecking order. You need to fewer than 4 but preferably 6 or more. One of your fish is going to get bullied to death.

[Filip]

Aidan you should either keep 5-6 discus in a min. 50 gallon tank , or give this two discus away or exchange them in your local fish store for some other fish .

[Heartbreaker]

Sorry if I'm hijacking the thread but I'm having a similar issue. The difference is I have 8 discus in a 116 gal tank. 2 of them are getting bullied pretty badly, so I separated them from the rest. They are very skinny. Waifs even. So now that they are separated they are a bit more social. However, their appetites are only a little better, they are still skinny, and it's been 3 weeks and they look no different. Discus B hides behind a piece of driftwood when I approach the tank (unlike any of the other 7) and he bullies Discus A a bit more. However, Discus A pecks back at Discus B, especially when there's food.

My question is what can I do to fatten them up? Could there be something wrong with them?

[Filip]

Sorry if I'm hijacking the thread but I'm having a similar issue. The difference is I have 8 discus in a 116 gal tank. 2 of them are getting bullied pretty badly, so I separated them from the rest. They are very skinny. Waifs even. So now that they are separated they are a bit more social. However, their appetites are only a little better, they are still skinny, and it's been 3 weeks and they look no different. Discus B hides behind a piece of driftwood when I approach the tank (unlike any of the other 7) and he bullies Discus A a bit more. However, Discus A pecks back at Discus B, especially when there's food.

My question is what can I do to fatten them up? Could there be something wrong with them?


There might have been something wrong with their health and thats why they got bullied so much at the first place .
I would give them some time alone in a Qt tank, at least a month maybe with a best care , and see if they can improve their health and get back their strenght before i put them back with the rest .

[JBurgo]

I've kept African Cichlids for longer than I've kept Discus, the behaviour is worse with them, but the same sort of thing (although I don't know how much worse you can get than killing each other). You can isolate the top dog if he's real mean. Let the others establish a new pecking order, and then reintroduce him a week or so later and he will become the noob in the tank for a bit, sometimes that works. Sometimes you just get a real mean fish and that won't work. You get mean people too. Sometimes you get the new top dog actually being meaner than the one you removed! Sometimes isolating a fish to let it get back in shape is needed, but the problem is it will go back into the tank as the noob again.

At the moment I have one such fish, he's absolutely stunning in colouration, bright blue Turk. Meanest fish ever. For a while I kept him with much larger Discus than himself and that worked somewhat, I'm sure they were annoyed by him. Now that I have some wilds I can't risk him in that tank, so I moved him in with a breeding pair of angelfish (notoriously aggressive and territorial). Surprisingly they get along well, each respects the other's space, and he's happy as a pig in mud, he's only happy when he's with tougher fish (he actually holds his own with them).

Changing the décor structure up in the aquarium works great for dissipating `pecking order`aggression too, they change to setting up and exploring a new territory (this works especially well with African Cichlids because they're diggers). Move the logs around twice a day, give them something else to think about.

They all have different personalities, some you just can't fix. Most will just sort themselves out with time.

Discus always become aggressive when you introduce food, that's normal because they eat slower. The African Cichlids don't get time to be aggressive when you introduce food, they have to quickly get as much food in their mouth as they can or miss out!

[Heartbreaker]

There might have been something wrong with their health and thats why they got bullied so much at the first place .
I would give them some time alone in a Qt tank, at least a month maybe with a best care , and see if they can improve their health and get back their strenght before i put them back with the rest .

Would you think it'd be ok to quarantine the entire tank? There's only driftwood and sand. I ask this also because I have them divided ... thoughts?

[Filip]

Would you think it'd be ok to quarantine the entire tank? There's only driftwood and sand. I ask this also because I have them divided ... thoughts?

If they eat good this way with a divider in your main tank , just keep them going like that . Feed them more oftenly than thee other group to get them back in the track and change water more oftenly so that they can regain their strenght.