Top fish chasing only bottom fish?

[Lionheart]

Hey all,

I just recently started keeping discus and know some about their behaviors but just curious about what I am seeing and if it is normal.

Here is the setup:

7 discus ranging size from 4.5"-4", all about 5-6 months old
Standard 55 gallon long
Bare bottom - bottom painted white, blue background sheet, no decorations at
2 AC 70s, 83-84 degrees, API test kit reads 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites and 5 Nitrates pretty consistently
4-5x week WC of 50-100%, feed 2-3 day with beefheart, fdbw, biogold, bloodworms occasionally

There is plenty of chasing and establishing the pecking order, which I assume would happen. But I have a red turq and chases a red leopard around most of the time. The turq pretty much only chases the leopard, like 90% of the time he is chasing someone, it is the leopard. I feel like the turq is at the top since I have never seen anyone chase him. Others chase the leopard around as well. The leopard is pretty timid and has gone through periods of hanging out in a corner for a long time, but he is coming around and swims around more now and does not always retreat to his corner.

So, here is the order I think I see in the tank:

1. red turq
2. yellow marlboro
3. snow white
4-6 still being established
7. red leopard

So, the question is: with the turq and the top and leopard at the bottom, is it normal for the turq to pretty much spend all his time chasing the leopard around and none of the others? Does the top fish pretty much only pick on the lowest fish? Or is something else going on here (bullying, prelude to mating, etc)

[danotaylor]

I had a very similar experience with 8 adult discus. Number 8 was consistently chased by number 1 and the other 6 also harassed number 8 fairly regularly as well. Number 8 never stood up for itself and I feel that was part of the reason why the others picked on it all the time. Sadly when I had a pair lay eggs and have wigglers they killed number 8. The balance in my tank now with the 7 remaining discus is completely okay. Number 7 does get picked on but stands up to the aggressors and in doing so has found his place in the group and no harm has come to him.

[peewee1]

What you have seems normal. Similar to my tank.

Red-White chases only smaller Blue Scorpion and Leopard Snakeskin. The LS and the BS hang together at the right of tank.

Red-White and Albino Millennium Gold spend most of their time together on the left. The AMG will chase both the BS and the LS if they venture from the right to the left but the BS will go head to head in battle with the AMG. Of all fish in tank these two are the only ones that fight like Siamese Fighting Fish (betas).

The Striped Alenqure...no one bothers it and it bothers no one. Occasionally it will chase both the BS and the LS but never the RW or the AMG.

The order would seem to be 1. Alenqure, 2. Red/White, 3. Albino Mill. Gold, 4. Scorpion, and 5. Leopard. I think the Leopard is a runt because although it is the best eater it has not grown in 5 months while the others don't eat as much but seem to be growing at a fast rate.