Dominant discus

[phonics69]

I recently purchased 4 discus about inches in size. They are all healthy and happy and will post pics soon, Just a question though. By watching them you can tell there is one of them who is most dominant and a bit of a bully but its only when feeding most of the time. He tries to chase other 3 away so they dont get food and seems to spend his whole time doin it. I know from reading this forum that there is normally one that is more dominant at feeding time, i was just wondering if there is anythin i should be doing or has anyone any tips.Thanks

Ps I try and scatter food all over tank so that other discus can feed in peace for a small amount of time at least

[crazy4discus]

i got the same problem as you do i dont know what to do either the tougher fish gets more food while the other ones get less if you know what to do let me know too cause i want all my fish to eat equally so they can grow at the same rate instead of one getting more and getting bigger then the rest

[Carol_Roberts]

Yep, that is exactly what happens. The more discus you have the less any one discus is harassed by the dominate discus.

Feeding in several places in the tank is about all you can do. IF it gets really bad you can put in a divider for a while.

[crazy4discus]

well carol i got them in groups of 7-9 and the biggist one is just roughing up all the other discus that comes near the food.... its like a big warzone in my tank every discus for themselves... they all fight each other i dont know what to do... cant they all just get along and live in peace geesh these guys

[angel12]

nope these are Chichlids thats what they do .. beat each other up and then after go on as though nothing has happened :P ... like Carol said either get them a divider or let them get on with it and feed in diff places of the tank . I have got my Discus to take food out of my fingers now so the One who is bottom of the pile knows that I will not take the food away from it until it has finished. by feeding them by fingers/hand I know they will all get food no matter who is the boss in the Tank .....

[crazy4discus]

ok im have to try that then feeding from fingers hope they do it lol

[lesley]

Hi guys,

I found that feeding by hand did help quite a bit - the dominant ones calmed a little and allowed the picked on one to eat at other times as well as during the hand feeding. Also the picked on ones get used to coming forward and getting something.

[phonics69]

Thanks for all the useful advice. I dont think i will be able to feed mine by hand just yet as they are still a bit shy. Im not having massive problems with the bullying though. If i find a cure crazy4discus i will let you know :)

[crazy4discus]

thanks