Does the BIGGEST Discus in a Group Determine the size of the others in the group?

[CammieTime]

So I have a group of 6 happy healthy discus, and it contains one big 5" fish and the rest are smaller (2-3"). Since the BIG one eats the most and is the bully, will the other ones EVER get as BIG as him? (he's not THAT big and I want the other ones to grow to full size).

[rickztahone]

So I have a group of 6 happy healthy discus, and it contains one big 5" fish and the rest are smaller (2-3"). Since the BIG one eats the most and is the bully, will the other ones EVER get as BIG as him? (he's not THAT big and I want the other ones to grow to full size).

he/she might be bullying the rest TOO much. the dominant one usually keeps everyone else from getting their fill of food

[Scribbles]

Many things factor into a discus' size, genetics, health, stress, food and water quality. That being said, a bully can hog most of the food limiting what the others can eat.

Chris

[Peachtree Discus]

if they are not getting enough food (not eating right), they may not reach their their full potential. this is IMO, not necessarily based on any scientific data i have read.

try a separator during feeding time. or try more pieces at feeding...more but smaller pieces. IME, with more pieces for the fish to get...the bully will spend time chasing 1 fish off while others sneak in behind him.:fish::wasntme:

[Chad Hughes]

As mentioned mostly above, it's not the size of the fish that will dictate growth of the others. It's food distrobution.

When I first strated in the SD discus challenge, the group of 6 had some issues with bullying and sharing food. My rather simple fix to this was to feed at two points in the tank. One left, one right. If you can spread the food far enough apart, the bully will typially stick to his/her side and leave the others to their business. A line of sight break in the tank is helpful as well.

Now that the bully realizes that there's enough food to go around AND the bullied realize that the bully is just a punk, I don't have that problem anymore. They all go crazy for food and eat from both sides. In fact they share very well and seem to want to taste from every portion that I put in the tank. They act like little kids. LOL!

Hope that helps!

Best wishes!

[Eddie]

So I have a group of 6 happy healthy discus, and it contains one big 5" fish and the rest are smaller (2-3"). Since the BIG one eats the most and is the bully, will the other ones EVER get as BIG as him? (he's not THAT big and I want the other ones to grow to full size).

No, they will not get as big as him. They will if you remove him. ;)

Eddie

[Jhhnn]

I really have no experience with a tank of fish of such disparate sizes. OTOH, my experience with sub-adults indicates that the smaller fish can grow out to full size, if you're willing to feed enough and to change enough water to keep water parameters up to snuff.

One of my blue scorpions grew considerably faster than his siblings. He was first in the chow line, and would bully the others until he'd had his fill. Then he'd lay off. The answer, for me, was to make sure there was enough to go around, for the others to be satiated, too. I served enough so that they could basically eat for ~20-30 minutes with little or nothing left over. If I overfed, I'd siphon up the excess, which collects in one area of the bb tank- the canister filter return pushes it and the poop there... I also change half the water daily.

As the fish have matured, the largest fish's growth has slowed down and the others are catching up. In the end, he may not be the largest, at all. I do have 1 fish smaller than the rest- it apparently has some sort of vision or eye/mouth coordination problem, as it has trouble ingesting smaller food pieces. The fish tries to eat, but mis-judges the food's location... It's not stunted, just smaller... and may never be as large as the others.

I have a similar situation with my RSxAF, except that one fish is growing explosively, and may well become a very large discus. Try as he might, he just can't bully 7 others at the same time, so everybody ends up with fat bellies at feeding time...

I don't think this feeding strategy would work w/o lots of water changing... not well at all.

[tcyiu]

One more anecdote: My four discus vary in size. Turns out the number 2 in the pecking order is the largest. For a while, he was number 4 in the pecking order - all the while being the largest. The bully is the second largest. The absolute smallest (actually a runt) is number 3. All are roughly the same age.

In my case, personality had nothing to do with size.

Tim