Discus bossing others around...HELP!

[FishCraz]

I've recently got a new male discus. I bought him away from his partner, they were a pair. Finally put him in my 75 gallon tanks with the rest of my discus. 2 big females around his size and the other 5 are a bit smaller. He's bossing the **** out of all my discus. Wont let any of them eat!!! Its been 3 days now! its getting worst by the day!!! He's starting to piss me off. :mad: He has taken over one whole half of the tank, the bare bottom half that I feed the food to. And he hardly eat the food! :mad: Like, what should I do? :confused:

[randy@itfiredup.com]

I had a similar issue. I lowered the ph 6.5 and bossing stopped.

[FishCraz]

I had a similar issue. I lowered the ph 6.5 and bossing stopped.

Ok...i'll try that... thanks a lot!!! :D

[machine77]

Pull that fish out and spank him! lol

[DerekFF]

Pull that fish out and spank him! lol

Shock collar IMO

[matthewh2]

I have heard of people chasing the bullies around with a wooden spoon, so the think they are being bullied, never done it myself but apparently has worked for some breeders i know Lol

[Discus_1]

lol!

[joanr]

Threaten him with the fishnet, works everytime.

[Discus master]

Threaten him with the fishnet, works everytime.

This is a good one I have the same issue so I have the one in a qt tank alone I dont know what to do I dont want him to keep this up in my other tank stressing out my other discus not letting em eat or be in peace could make them stressd and eventually sick theres gotta be away to get this to stop

[machine77]

Ive found, if you only have a few discus in your tank, there seem to always be that one that will pick on the others. I had only 6, one was always messing with the others. I received my order of 4 more fish and the fighting stopped! Just my 2 cents.

Nolan

[joanr]

This is a good one I have the same issue so I have the one in a qt tank alone I dont know what to do I dont want him to keep this up in my other tank stressing out my other discus not letting em eat or be in peace could make them stressd and eventually sick theres gotta be away to get this to stop

There really is no certain way to stop this. Most adults will get along just fine in a group of six or more especially if they have been raised together. They establish their pecking order at an early age and everyone respects their place in that order. When you add another fish to the group it may take some time for the group to accept the newcomer. The new fish will bully the others, it's a defense mechanism. The only thing I can think to do would be to put in a tank divider and isolate the bully alone for awhile until they all get used to the fact that there is an addition, and sometimes even that won't help. I've had to destroy an overly aggressive fish on occasion, the welfare of the others was more important than one single crazed out fish. Hated to do it, but keeping another tank for just one fish was out of the question and had no one to give the fish to. Sometimes it's just the only way, depends on your resources and your patience. Try a divider first.

[Discus master]

There really is no certain way to stop this. Most adults will get along just fine in a group of six or more especially if they have been raised together. They establish their pecking order at an early age and everyone respects their place in that order. When you add another fish to the group it may take some time for the group to accept the newcomer. The new fish will bully the others, it's a defense mechanism. The only thing I can think to do would be to put in a tank divider and isolate the bully alone for awhile until they all get used to the fact that there is an addition, and sometimes even that won't help. I've had to destroy an overly aggressive fish on occasion, the welfare of the others was more important than one single crazed out fish. Hated to do it, but keeping another tank for just one fish was out of the question and had no one to give the fish to. Sometimes it's just the only way, depends on your resources and your patience. Try a divider first.

Yeah I will have to try that, my question now is how long do you let this continue? in other words how long does it normaly take for the group to accept a newcommer and vice versa how long does it take for the new guy to settel down? I am talking in general here you know after the new one has been in the tank for a while and the peking order should have been established? I would think 2 or 3 days would be long enough but I really do not know. Also at what point do you say enough is enough you have to go? how much can the other fish handle before they become weak and sick from constantly being harrased? I left one in a tank with 4 new ones and the one I added by him self was constantly harrasing the new ones after the second day I decide to put him in a seperate qt tank because I did not one him to cause harm to my four new ones. I would like to intro duce him back to the group to see how it goes now sense he will be entering their enviroment and not the other way around. I also have two others in a sepaerat qt tank that are about ready to go in. I can not have all these tanks I would like them all to go into the one tank if I can do that. The 2 in qt were sick but now they are what I would think to be 100% but I do not know how long to keep them in qt for I do not want them to infect the 4 new ones I got. They have been in qt now for 3 weeks and this was after being treated in the main tank for two weeks they are eating normal rushing the glass and taking food from my hand once again. thanks for any advice you can give

[joanr]

Usually you can tell after 4 days or so if the fish is gonna settle down, and fit in with the group. If not, it goes behind a divider for a week or so. Then I'll let it loose and see what happens. You can't let it go on for a long period because yes, the other fish will stress too much. At what point? It just all depends on how bad the bully is. Some fish are more aggresive than others but do not really harm the others. A few fish are just totally crazed out and can not get along with others at all. You have to be the judge of the situation. Like I said, try isolating it in the same tank behind a divider for a week or so and then see what happens. Sometimes this will work. You surely don't want the fish harrasing the others to the point of illness.