Discus bullying

[ecrew]

Hi everyone!

We have a BD, PB and a Turq. All adults. We recently purchased an adult SS (Stendker). Ever since we put him in the tank (about a month ago), the BD has bullied him really bad!!!! The SS has dark stress bars and black eyes. He was beautiful when we got him! The BD aggravates him more during feeding time. Other times, he just chases him around the tank bumping into him. Now, the SS has white poop. I assume it's because of the stress. He's also not eating very well. I've been doing massive w/c and dosing with salt. I just dosed with Metro last night. I have a thread started already on this issue in the disease section.

My main question here is what do I do about the bullying if it continues? The SS was beautiful when we bought him!!! Now, he's not so pretty! I'm not able to tell the difference between a male and a female. The reason I'm bringing that up is because the PB gets involved in the bullying some by taking up for the SS. The PB will run the BD off. So maybe i've got 2 males and a female thing going on here.

What do you all think?

[ronrca]

Get a couple more adults. This will help distribute the aggression. Or if possible, trade the bully for another adult.

[ecrew]

We've had the BD for 8 months now. He wasn't a bully until the SS came along. I'd hate to get rid of him. He's so beautiful! We have the 4 adults in a 75 gal with 1 juv. I would think adding 2 more adults would make things too crowded. What do you think?

[ronrca]

What else do you have in the tank? Generally, rule of thumb is 10G/fish therefore around 7 adults in a 75G. Depending on your fileration and wc rountine, you can 'bend' the rule of thumb.

[ecrew]

I have 5 cory cats (very small) and 1 rope fish. I have a Fluval 404 canister filter and the 350 Marineland Pengiun. I know I don't do enough w/c. I try for 2-3 per week, but most of the time end up with only 2/week. My water
parameters are great even though I don't change the water as often as I should.

[Greg Richardson]

I have 7 discus in a 55 with all different ages.
Almost daily wc's.
No problem at all with these staying healthy.
The 1 fish per 10 gallon rule is good but if you are doing your wc's and cleaning you be just fine with more.
I see to many people get caught up in rules instead of looking at it with common sense.

Another option for you if ypou don't want to get more fish at this time is to set up a divider. I've heard this will work sometimes.

[ecrew]

Greg,

I know more frequent w/c is better, but I've been having a hard time keeping up. We had a 55 gal with 7 discus in addition to the 75 gal. I just couldn't keep up with the maintenance so we sold the 7 in the 55 gal to our guy at our lfs that buys discus from Hans. So now i'm down to just the one tank. I'm trying to get on a schedule with the w/c, but it isn't easy, especially when you work full-time and have 2 kids and a husband.

[ronrca]

You can setup the wc's so it only takes max 10mins every morning or night. If you go to Walmart and buy a 30-40G rubbermaid container to age your water (unless you have already this setup) and a water pump. By using a hose, you can drain your tank and then fill up the tank again all with the same pump. The size of the pump needed is around 500gph which will pump 40G in 5mins and is relatively inexpensive. I do my wc's before going to bed every night.

HTH

[ecrew]

I have a gravel vac and I do have two tanks setup just for aging water. My problem is that it takes so long to vacuum the gravel. If I wait more than 3 days between w/c, then it takes longer. Sometimes I overfeed which is part of the problem.

[flofish05]

can your husband help to do waterchange, atleast 2 times a week.

[ronrca]

Ic! Personally that is why I like bb tanks. Much easier to maintain. Adult discus in a community tank do not require daily wc's. Keep an eye on your nitrates. I only do wc's on my adults 3x a week. If you dont overfeed, Id only vacuum gravel once a week.

[ecrew]

I'm sure my husband can help. All I got to do is ask. :o I guess I should.

Ronca,
Thanks! I'm trying to shoot for 3x a week. I'm also trying not to overfeed.
I get a little carried away sometimes. :o

[ronrca]

:D
How many times do you feed your adults btw?

[Greg Richardson]

You might want to get rid of gravel. Put plants in a few pots to save time.

I have two 6" pots with amazon swords in my living room tank.
They grow out big to help looks of tank. Save me time clean wise.

So what about a divider for the bully?

Or putting the stressed out one alone for a bit to get him his fair share of food and destress a bit?

[Carol_Roberts]

Yes, you may have two males or two females battling it out. You can try a divider or remove the SS to another tank

[ecrew]

Thanks to everyone! I was thinking of moving the SS. I may still do that especially if he doesn't get better after the metro treatment.

Ronca, I usually feed twice a day. Sometimes I'll feed them again before I go to bed. I have a tendency to overfeed with flakes.

I know what everyone says about the gravel. I'm sure one of these days, i'll get rid of it too. :o

[candyl70]

Ecrew,
I just recently got rid of my gravel. My fish were sick and didn't seem to be getting any better. So i put them in a bucket and took out all the water and then scooped out all of the gravel. My fish were almost back to normal in two days. I think that there is alot of bacteria etc. in the rocks that might make them feel worse when they are sick. Just an idea http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_1_107v.gif I hope your fish start to recover soon. Update and let us know.


Candy

[Cosmo]

Liz,

I held out and kept gravel in my show tank until about a year ago... can't begin to explain how much easier life is with a BB. Everyone who's visited and seen both the "before and after" thinks the BB even looks better too :)

Jim

[satty]

even i had the problem of bullying in my tank,but what i did was something very different, funny- some people may even call.Every time i put feed into the tank i saw to it that the dominant was kept at one end of the tank and the others at the other end and the bully one tried to move to the other end and tried to scare my other discus,but every time i used to put a forceps near its path and tried to make it realize it was wrong(i think discus has got some kindoff cognitive brain function:D ),i did this for more than a week,standing and teaching my dominant one,what a surprise now it less bullying tho not stopped completely and at feeding time iam kindoff comfortable when i see my other sweet hearts eating their share.And now i know why i like this hobby even more with my heart and mind:)