Bullying, does the pecking order change

[Chris-C]

Hi guys and gals,
I am fairly new to simply. I have been reading the posts for a couple of months and its been a tremendous help. I guess the boards going thru Cary withdrawl so I thought I post some pics of the fish I got from GLD about a 7wks ago.
When I got the fish the Blue heavens were the biggest (3 inches) while the Malboro reds and gold diamonds were smaller (2.5) They all eat well but the MR's have outgrown everyone. The funny thing is that they are still on the bottom of the pecking order and are sometimes even bullied by the smaller gold diamonds. Just wondering if ya'll had the same experience

Chris

[Chris-C]

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[paulmat]

Good looking fish Chris :thumbsup:
Good looking pics too :thumbsup:

Bigger dos'nt allways meen aggresive,you never know ???

Paul :guitarist:

[RandalB]

As I've been told, Size does not matter. ::)

Some strains are more agressive than others and some individuals are more agressive. You don't say but is it the Blue Heavens being more agressive? I have one of Cary's (Nice Fish!) Blue Heavens and it kicks the crap out of most of the others even though it's smaller.


RandalB

[Ryan]

Those are beautiful fish, I love the golds. I bet you smile everytime you look at the tank :)

I had a mixed group of young red turquoise discus at the beginning of the year. Some were about 2.5", while others were tiny, maybe 1.5" at most. The smallest one was the worst... he picked on everyone, and harassed the biggest of the group to no end. I eventually had to divide him from the group until the other fish settled in. So, it's not always according to size...

Ryan

[DarkDiscus]

And the pecking order DOES change. My original bully was my Marlboro Red. Then one of the Super Red Royal Blues, then another SRRB. There is now a sort of equilibrium with all 3 SRRBs on top, then the MR and the bigger RSG. The little RSG is the runt and brunt of all the others aggression.

John

[mas]

yeh ive seen that a few times.. once i had a breeding pair which i took out for a while to try and get to breed, in the mean time one of the males in the group got considerably larger than the male in the pair, when they were reunited the smaller male was the king of the tank again (and still is).

ive also noticed that with my babies while eating, if one of them gets alot of food compared to the others regardless of size it goes and chases all the others around.

totally guessing here, but it might also have something to do with how close to wild they are.. selectively bred fish are definitely aggressive, in the times ive seen them go up closer to fish claiming to have any wild blood, the "wilder ones" seem to have the upper hand. not sure about this though, just from what ive seen.

The pecking order can change with something as simply as rearranging the objects in the tank. Moving a single piece of wood can upset the whole system and they'll start all over again. It's something you can try if you have a bully. In my tank i've watched the pecking order change again and again. I think they don't change near as much, if ever, when they become adults.

[Chris-C]

Size does not matter!!!! SmileySmileySmileySmiley

Its a wierd pecking order. The bllu 1and 2 pick on blu 3. Blu 3 takes all his aggression out on the MRs and GD