MUST REMOVE!!!

[alxjss]

Ok, here goes. I have my little girl, she is a timid lady. She is in the main tank. Ever since i can remember, she got bullied. She did stand up for herself 90% of the time, that is why she is big and beautiful. Her name is.... i can't remember at the moment, will get back to that. Anyway....she is getting bullied real bad now. I mean not to the extent where she is getting injured, but i think its amatter of time before it is gonna get to her. She is very healty, no worries there, but its way too much. They all at once start pecking at her. They stop for a while then start again. When its feeding time, the poor little thing can't even think about eating, one of the fish will stop her!:mad: She has to dive to get her food, and she pays for it when she does. I'm talking all of them start pecking. She has a bad look in her eyes when this happens.:(
MY PLAN..... I don't have any other tanks avail to put her in. I do have a 5gal. beta. Can move him easy enough. How long do u think i could keep her in a 5 gal tank? She stays in front of the tank most of the time anyway. She doesn't swim much because, well, u no...:o

What do u think? All comments welcome:confused:

[alxjss]

Here she is. Doesn't she look sad:(:(:(

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s294/alxjss/Picture023.jpg

[KJoFan]

Hi Eileen,

I understand you want to stop the bullying, but I'm not sure removing her is the best thing to do. Sounds like she's already on the bottom of the pecking order, she would only be there once again once reintroduced I would think. The rest will have their order firmly established by then and she'll come back into the tank at some point and have to fight them all again. I suppose the order could turn out differently but it doesn't seem too wise to remove her completely either. Maybe there is some way you can divide her from the rest within the tank, give her a little recoop time? Just a thought. :)

[alxjss]

Yes Karen, thats a better option...less work:o I will go get something to divide the tank on Wed. I don't no if hd is open tomorrow:confused:

[White Worm]

Re-arrange what ever is in the tank and remove the most dominant one for a few days if anything. If you have nothing in the tank, try putting something in like a potted plant. Something that they can swim around (out of sight, out of mind). You may never be able to stop the aggression. :o
Feed at different ends of the tank so everyone has a chance to eat. Once the dominant ones are distracted with food, feed at the other end. A seperator in the tank may be your last option.

[brewmaster15]

Eileen,
1/2" vinyl coated hardware cloth works excellent as a divider..and is flexible and easy to bend...

something like this...
http://www.acehardware.com/sm-handy-roll-hardware-cloth--pi-1340612.html


I use this stuff for everything from dividers to egg screens.

hth,
al

[alxjss]

Re-arrange what ever is in the tank and remove the most dominant one for a few days if anything. If you have nothing in the tank, try putting something in like a potted plant. Something that they can swim around (out of sight, out of mind). You may never be able to stop the aggression. :o
Feed at different ends of the tank so everyone has a chance to eat. Once the dominant ones are distracted with food, feed at the other end. A seperator in the tank may be your last option.Well, there aren't too many things to arrange. Nothing in the tank.

Eileen,
1/2" vinyl coated hardware cloth works excellent as a divider..and is flexible and easy to bend...

something like this...
http://www.acehardware.com/sm-handy-roll-hardware-cloth--pi-1340612.html


I use this stuff for everything from dividers to egg screens.

hth,
al

Cool, i have been looking. I don't like the egg create, it broke the first time i tried it. Will check this out Al, thanks...

[BSW]

Oh, that's sad Eileen :sad:
I feel sorry for her, how many other fish ar with her ? In what size tank ? Poor girl, I hope somthing works out for her, she's a pretty thing !
B

[alxjss]

Oh, that's sad Eileen :sad:
I feel sorry for her, how many other fish ar with her ? In what size tank ? Poor girl, I hope somthing works out for her, she's a pretty thing !
B
Hi B. Thanks for being sympathetic. She is very timid. Hardly fights back at all. Very rarely. There r 4 others w/her in a 75 gal. Been together since i got them. I want to put more in there, but they r all in qt right now. I am not gonna put my challange fish in there, but the ones i got from Dan. But thats not a definate right now either. I want those to grow out more before they go in there also. So u see i am in a dilema right now. Guess i could section her off for a while and get her more beefed up than she is. But.... there r territories in there and i don't no which end of the tank to put her in. The infeed i could move over and section off that part. ughhhhhh, :confused:

[BSW]

Ya got plenty of room to section her off until you can get a bigger crowd in there. I hope the next in line doesn't become low man on the totem pole in the mean time.
It's a tough decision, shuffling Discus.
I haven't had to cross that line yet, but if I keep getting more fish, it will happen to me sooner or later, I know it !
B

[deanne]

Hi Eileen,

I'm a beginner (I've had my two tanks since June) but I've been interested in the pecking order thing and can offer a few observations.

One is that the pecking order can change. I have had bully fish become subordinate, and vice versa, when new discus were introduced. You have plenty of room- I'll wager that when you do bring home more discus that girl will rise up in the hierarchy. I had the most timid one decide to kick butt when I added new fish. It seems to me that adding several discus to a new community might help throw the balance in the new fish's favor a bit, but I haven't seen too much of this yet.

Another is that a second tank is really nice to have. I set up my old 29 gallon hex, scratched as it was, specifically to separate a pair that was disrupting my 55 gallon tank community. The smallest fish in the tank had been defending his or her "mate" by chasing everybody away from territory and food. At first I put them together alone in the 29, but I ended up wanting to mix things up a bit when one discus was really getting battered in the 55. After a few trials I have ended up with two fairly aggression-free groups. When the pair was separated the aggressive one became submissive, and is now co-existing nicely with two others in the 29. Maybe when they get big enough to breed I'll try them together again.

So I recommend experimenting with different groupings, and a second tank is wonderful for this. It is also great to have for quarantining when you do go get that new batch.

Best of luck!
Deanne

[alxjss]

Thanks for the advice Deanne. I do have 6 others i want to add but i am gonna wait till i get my 150gal. Sounds like a plan:D