Discus Fighting!!

[itrpower]

Hi all,

i have 2 med size discus that is constanly fighting each other, also i recently bought 2 baby discus and one of them is bullying the other small one. They all in a 4ft tank 48"x14"x20" (55g??).
Ph 6.7, 29C, 20% w/c daily

How can stop them from fighting each other ??

Some ppl suggested to me that i should get more discus !!

Ok should i get more small ones or large ones ??

[RyanH]

Welcome to Simply!

The best/ideal way to start with Discus is with a group of 6-8 fish of the same size that are all introduced to a tank at the same time. As Discus are Cichlids, they are prone to forming heirarchies amongst themselves. By having a small group of fish of differing sizes that were introduced at different times, you are going to have problems... as you are now realizing.

Getting more fish may help but the problem now is that by adding new fish you are bypassing important quarantining precedures. Which I cannot recommend. You may want to go ahead and purchase some new fish and get them into a quarantine tank. Buy or make some dividers for you 55 and separate the fish that are fighting until your new fish pass quarantine. This should take at least 6 weeks. Then rearrange your tank completely. Move everything around. Filters, decorations, heaters, anything in the tank that can be moved around. Then put all of your fish back in at the same time.

hth!
Ryan