How many to reduce aggressive fighting.

[ceiji]

Hello.. I am planning to setup a 165g discus tank with driftwood only. The tank is 6ft x 2ft x ~2ft. I was thinking of 5 discus, but someone told me that its too few and could lead to real aggressive behavior once they pair off.

Since am not looking to breed them, what number is a good number to reduce fighting? Also, is there any way to prevent them from pairing up?

Thank you and I really appreciate your help.

[discuspaul]

A 165 gal. tank is large enough to hold a good number of discus, especially if it's not planted and only holds driftwood.

Keeping just 5 or 6 discus is not normally a problem, but the more you have, the less likelihood of any serious aggressive behavior taking place when a group is establishing a pecking order. You might want to consider keeping 10-12 discus, or even more.

Bottom line though is, whether you keep just 5 discus, or 15, and nature being what it is, you won't be able to avoid one or more twosomes pairing up to spawn, and all you really can do, or need to do (if you don't want to raise any young) is to let nature take it's course.

There will likely be some aggression displayed as and when other discus approach too closely - a spawning pair will want to protect the eggs or young by keeping others away - but that does not usually result in any too serious behavior that causes any real harm.
Suggest you just 'go with the flow', as they say.

[ceiji]

Thank you Paul for the info. I'll go with 10 discus for my tank and let nature take its course on the pairing and eggs/frys.

[geo57]

Sometimes you just can't do anything about the fighting especially when they start to mate. I prefer mostly females with one or two males tops if you can work that, it's hard to tell females from males. I've had males kill each other or get wounded so badly they die over breeding rights, and once their pecking order is established the dominant male can't handle being over thrown by any new comers. I used to move my fish around from tank to tank trying to get mating pairs and discovered that a dominant male getting over thrown usually leads to his death, as he will refuse to eat and sulk in a corner of the tank til he dies. Right now I have seven discus and the dominant fish is a large female, she is very peaceful and my tank is very peaceful. My brother in law asked me if I wanted any more discus and i told him NO..I love my tank just as it is right now lol.

[OCC Aquarium]

This is great info that I did not know...

I have just two discus in my tank right now and am looking to get more but one little juvenile is extremely agressive. If I remove it from the tank and reintroduce it at the same time as restocking the tank will that reduce its aggresssion?

[discuspaul]

This is great info that I did not know...

I have just two discus in my tank right now and am looking to get more but one little juvenile is extremely agressive. If I remove it from the tank and reintroduce it at the same time as restocking the tank will that reduce its aggresssion?

It may, but perhaps only temporarily, and keep in mind that with any newly introduced discus group arrangement, the pecking order will need to be established (or re-established) - however, keeping a group of 5 or more is the way to go to minimize aggressive behavior of the more dominant toward the lesser, 'gentler' personality types - lol

More importantly though, is to do a proper quarantine when you get the 3 or more discus to form up a group of 5 or more.

[fotonikt]

hello so i have a question to add, ive bought some discus a few weeks back, and the store owner didnt warn me about this so i only bought 4 ive read up on the problem and realised i simply dont have enough discus, but for now my tank is too small to add any new ones, but im buying alarger aquarium for this reason only issue is that i wont be getting it till next month (early juli) the dominant one is very aggressive against 2 others the 4th one doesnt seem too affected, will they be fine till early juli or is there something i need to do now urgently

[peewee1]

hello so i have a question to add, ive bought some discus a few weeks back, and the store owner didnt warn me about this so i only bought 4 ive read up on the problem and realised i simply dont have enough discus, but for now my tank is too small to add any new ones, but im buying alarger aquarium for this reason only issue is that i wont be getting it till next month (early juli) the dominant one is very aggressive against 2 others the 4th one doesnt seem too affected, will they be fine till early juli or is there something i need to do now urgently

how many gallons is the tank?

[fotonikt]

now i have a 30 gallon with 4 juveniles but im upgrading to a 80 gallon next month will they be fine till then ?

[peewee1]

Six juveniles is okay for a 30 gallon with water change. What is your goal for the 80 gallon thank?

[fotonikt]

the eighty gallon is going to house an initial 6 but over time i might buy 4 to 6 additional ones, im new to discus keeping so i dont wanna go overboard

[pastry]

Ceiji, to add onto Paul's and George's feedback... the dissemination of agression through numbers helps and I think you've got it right with 10. And like they said, let nature take it's course.

[peewee1]

Ceiji, to add onto Paul's and George's feedback... the dissemination of agression through numbers helps and I think you've got it right with 10. And like they said, let nature take it's course.

Elliott is the voice of experience. Easy 10 fish in the 80, like he says. I added a wave maker to my tank yesterday and moved 2 fish to a 20 breeder set up. With regard to the aggressive fish the 2 in the 20 are fine because they are a pair. The remaining 3 in the 30 gallon quite fighting with one another when 2 were removed and the wave maker added. In fact one shy fish who spent all of its time swimming in one place near a branch is now all over the tank. Goes anywhere and everywhere visiting with its tank mates and eating food. I am going to order 2 or 3 more this month from Kenny because I want to get to the 5 or 6 again and to see if I can pair up another 2.

[Vinni Smith]

Elliott is the voice of experience. Easy 10 fish in the 80, like he says. I added a wave maker to my tank yesterday and moved 2 fish to a 20 breeder set up. With regard to the aggressive fish the 2 in the 20 are fine because they are a pair. The remaining 3 in the 30 gallon quite fighting with one another when 2 were removed and the wave maker added. In fact one shy fish who spent all of its time swimming in one place near a branch is now all over the tank. Goes anywhere and everywhere visiting with its tank mates and eating food. I am going to order 2 or 3 more this month from Kenny because I want to get to the 5 or 6 again and to see if I can pair up another 2.

Hey Peewee,
What is the reasons behind the wave maker?
Is it to make the poop all end up in one place?
If so, how do you adjust it to do this?

Right now, with my set up, a lot of it collects in the right front part of the tank.
Makes cleaning easy, but there is still some stuff in other places too.

I don't mind changing water every day, however I really don't like vacuuming out the bottom every day.

Is the wave maker my answer for this?

[peewee1]

The wave maker is adjustable. Either up or down. Is up then the water jet will ripple the surface which adds more area to the surface much like an aerator does. Down will stir up the bottom which gives the filter a better chance at catching that which had settled on the bottom. The wave maker makes a current much like the fish are living a a river. This keeps them somewhat occupied and distracted from fighting and it gives them exercise so they burn more calories. Willie may spot this thread. He uses them in his tanks but I don't know his reasons.

[Vinni Smith]

The wave maker is adjustable. Either up or down. Is up then the water jet will ripple the surface which adds more area to the surface much like an aerator does. Down will stir up the bottom which gives the filter a better chance at catching that which had settled on the bottom. The wave maker makes a current much like the fish are living a a river. This keeps them somewhat occupied and distracted from fighting and it gives them exercise so they burn more calories. Willie may spot this thread. He uses them in his tanks but I don't know his reasons.

OK. Good answer. I appreciate that.
SO, would you say the wave maker is all around better for the Discus and recommended?
Do a lot of folks here on the forum use them?

V

[peewee1]

OK. Good answer. I appreciate that.
SO, would you say the wave maker is all around better for the Discus and recommended?
Do a lot of folks here on the forum use them?

V

Willie may have since changed his mind but he did comment once, maybe 4 years ago, "I find large discus do better in a 75/90 gal tank when there's strong current. I often add a powerhead, by itself or on top of a double stack sponge filter, to these tanks. While beginner books say that most of oxygen diffusion occurs at the surface, I question this statement. Discus in the powerhead tank clearly swim more and eat more vigorously. A friend who only keeps large Africans notice the same in his tank.

We keep large fish in a relatively small tank and extra water movement is usually appreciated. "

[Willie]

This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xq7_HaSFHM)of discus in the Amazon shows just how strong the current is in their natural environment and, by extension, how well oxygenated the water must be. Wavemakers or powerheads are appreciated in my adult discus tanks.

Willie

[peewee1]

This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xq7_HaSFHM)of discus in the Amazon shows just how strong the current is in their natural environment and, by extension, how well oxygenated the water must be. Wavemakers or powerheads are appreciated in my adult discus tanks.

Willie

There is an excellent HD of a large school of discus navigating rapids much like a school of salmon heading for spawning. The discus body shape and muscle strength is designed for fiver swimming.

[pablos]

There is an excellent HD of a large school of discus navigating rapids much like a school of salmon heading for spawning. The discus body shape and muscle strength is designed for fiver swimming.

I barely see a fish in this greenish muddy water. You should also add some kind of dust generator to emulate the same environment conditions ;-).

[peewee1]

I have seen those low visibility videos and wondered how the fish see anything yet they do manage. The environments that we provide for our discus are pristine compared to their natural habitats many times. But the one thing that we can provide for them is the constant fresh water that the river affords by doing the ritual water changes. For my aquarium I only run the wave maker during the day which allows the fish a night to rest in still water. The breeding tank does not have a wave maker.