AGRESSIVE DISCUS

[flyer1988]

I happen to have a very aggressive discus which keeps on picking on the rest of the five discus's I have. This aggression only happens when feeding time. I noticed that it is not only him but other will also display this aggressiveness towards the other but very lightly. I am really concerned about this cause he does this pretty much all throught feeding time not giving the rest the opportunity to feed. Any tips would be greatly appreciated I have posted up a video on you-tube about this so that you all may judge for yourself his agressiveness. At the moment their in a quaranteen tank that I have as my the discus tank is at the moment cycling through its first week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6miytnGGi8

go ahead any copy and paste the link to your explorer to view it.

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[flyer1988]

oops after the video i have a bunch on weired not meaning anything words so just desrigard them thank you all godbless.

[DerekFF]

Its always normal to have fighting among fish at feeding time. Dont worry to much about it. Just make sure food scatters everywhere and theyll eat. Discus are a cichlid so aggression is going to happen. You can try the method of taking him out, sticking him in a bucket of tank water for 5-10minutes to throw his macho-ness off. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Ive had a 50/50 with it.

[flyer1988]

I was honestly thinking about something like that. yet since I just recieved these guys last week I dont really want them to stress out too much. thank you though for your tip I will seriously think it over if I keep seeing this often.

[peterhql]

if your main tank is larger than your qt tank, that will help a lot. in the past ive removed the dominant fish often. Sometimes for a day sometimes for a week. When I put him back in hes still the top dog.

[snowflake311]

That's not aggressive that just a bully. He is not hurting the others he is not out to kill just is a bully and wants it all for himself. Are the other fish eatting? Looks like one is staying in the corner? If the bully is causeing others to not eat you have an issue. My sa cichlid tank goes into a full on frenzy but everyone gets food even if the uaru aka mafia try and bully the others and they do.

Things should get better once in the big tank. Or try the time out method it can work.

[DerekFF]

Peter-yeah its kinda 50/50 on trying to dismount the top dog.
Snowflake-I agree its not really that bad actually. Its normal pecking order behavior. Youll know when its bad when they start losing scales or having massive peck fights.

[flyer1988]

thank you all for your comments. Yeah you all are rite its just a bully. but since Im not used to seeing this it just looked to agressive for me. but I suppose that you all are rite it is common in the chichilid family. In addition guys yes my new tank is alot larger than the quaranteen tank. So hopefully that will help lessen the bullying. In addition guys do you all have any idea what might be going on to the discus hidding in the back, I dout he's ill since over at Houston Aquarium were I purchased them they seem to quaranteen all fishes before sale. Im leaning more towards the idea that maybe he hasnt yet adjusted to the tank. Any ideas guys. thank you all godbless.

[snowflake311]

The one that hides is the lowest in the pecking order I would watch to make sure he eats well and is not too stressed by the others. You might need to put him in QT and help him get a little stronger with out the stress of other fish around.

[flyer1988]

Im actually looking towards your idea snowflake are there any chances that since he is really weak my not make it from one tank to another. I do have another barebottom tank available and it is cycled and running for about 2 months already. You think I should go ahead and move him, my concern is that I only have one week with them and dont want them to get stress out since first of all it was a 6hr trip from houston to home and in addition well he just went throught the adaptation of one tank and now another. If you think he'll be ok I will defenitly go for it as my priority is his health more than anything.

[snowflake311]

I just want to say I'm not discus expert but have been keeping many types of SA cichlids for years now. Does he eat? If all others are and he is not you better move him A quick move to another tank will not be that stressfull getting picked on and not getting any food is way more stressful.

Good luck watch to see if he gets food if not do what you have to do.

[flyer1988]

thank you snowflake. I will do just that.

[toulorcorps]

Awesome looking discus. I might be able to help you out, but everything is a learning experience and the more you observe and dig for more info you"ll find what is best for your discus. Every discus owner will go through having a bully in the group or I call that the pack leader or more dominant one. He will always be the first for everything during feeding time and pairing up. You might even see your most dominant discus tried to bully the other discus through out the day. I saw your youtube video and you might want to look into getting a larger tank (Suggestion look for longer tank the height and width looks good). When your discus starts to attack the others. What is also going to help is make sure you provide them hiding places (Large arched drift wood) or plants to run around. When your discus is getting chase around that's going to help them have a get away escape. You want to make sure to get plants that is going to grow tall to help the one that's getting chase to lose the bully when he's swimming away at any level of your tank (bottom, mid, or top). Plants suggestion, Amazon Sword, Aponogetons longiplumulosus, Vals, Jungle you get the idea. Make sure to have some floating plants discus likea to be under shades. Not only that it is important to make sure you provide the discus its natural environment. I also have almond leaves in my tank to create black water. I think that almond leave provide many good resources. Other then that they should be find most of the time its a natural nature thing.

Tou

[silent_thunder]

[QUOTE=flyer1988;676489]I happen to have a very aggressive discus which keeps on picking on the rest of the five discus's I have. This aggression only happens when feeding time. I noticed that it is not only him but other will also display this aggressiveness towards the other but very lightly. I am really concerned about this cause he does this pretty much all throught feeding time not giving the rest the opportunity to feed. Any tips would be greatly appreciated I have posted up a video on you-tube about this so that you all may judge for yourself his agressiveness. At the moment their in a quaranteen tank that I have as my the discus tank is at the moment cycling through its first week.

__________________________________________________ ______________

I have a tank where every discus is aggressive -L- I like watching them fight!

A couple are blue diamonds and they reallyyyyyyy like to get with it

[Skip]

do you think maybe giving them alittle bit more hiding space would help..

long pieces of driftwood or much taller plants.. that way, they can have their own little spaces.. just wondering..

ooooh.. i just finished reading the more of your posts.. i too bought some of the PB that Dustin had.. and the one bought was a big time bully for about a week or so... then i put in some plants for a little bit more cover.. he would still chase them, just not as much.. but its seems to have settled down.. now that the order has been established.. but what was on the video was about the same i saw.. but IMHO if you want to give them a little bit less stressful environment.. maybe more hiding places.. "out of sight, out of mind, may equal less bully"..

[joey8483]

how many fish do you have in the tank and how big is the tank. i had this problem until the fish started to pair off then the less dominant fish put the bully in line. the more discus you have in the tank to a point the better.this creates more confusion for the bully and he cant pick out a single fish to pick on