Discus Pair want a divorce??

[plymbloke]

Hi all,

I have a breeding pair of Browns and they have been quite happy together in their own 120ltr tank for the last 18months. They have been breeding every 4 weeks or so (although they ALWAYS eat the eggs by the 2nd day, but thats a different story).

Everything seemed to be going well...

that was until a few days ago when all of a sudden they decided to attack each other, pecking and biting each other really hard - mainly on the head. As these are my first breeding discus, Im really concerned about this and I'm not sure what to do - i dont want to split them up for too long just incase they dont breed again, and i dont want to stress them out by dividing their current tank. Help!

the tank is 120ltr, temp 28, ph 6, 10% water change each day. they have great colour and when they arent fighting they swim next to each other quite happily, as if nothing is wrong. They dont show any dark bars (which i believe can be a sign of stress), not even when fighting, and they feed really well. they fight for about 30 seconds every 5 minutes or so.

Any thoughts and ideas VERY gratefuly received!

many thanks

Chris

[Arjunpun]

lol divorce. that may be hardcore pair. lol

[plymbloke]

ha - i guess they may just like to treat each other rough, if you see what i mean! ;)

seriously though im really worried; they can be happily feeding or swimming around, and then BANG all hell breaks loose! they both are starting to get little scars on their foreheads too :(

thanks,
Chris

[Disgirl]

Can't help but notice that your pair sound like my daughter and her husband! Do you have plants and/or wood in the tank to break up their lines of sight? Maybe they each need a place to go to when the other is being difficult? Just an idea...
Barb

[ericatdallas]

Maybe one is angry that the other is eating all the eggs?

[Keith Perkins]

I just read in the last 24 hours that Stendker recommends dropping the tank temperature of a a fighting breeding pair by 2 degrees. I'd say it's worth a try.

[Second Hand Pat]

I just read in the last 24 hours that Stendker recommends dropping the tank temperature of a a fighting breeding pair by 2 degrees. I'd say it's worth a try.

Keith, in what you were reading was there a why to dropping the temp?..perhaps to encourage spawning...break the fighting mindset.

[Keith Perkins]

Keith, in what you were reading was there a why to dropping the temp?..perhaps to encourage spawning...break the fighting mindset.

Sorry, I should have explained more, and I think Pat might be asking a leading question. It is fairly common knowledge that pairs often spawn right after a WC with slightly cooler water. This is not to be confused with what I was suggesting. Stendker recommended for pairs that fought dropping the tank temperature 2 degrees might stop the fighting. I was reading a posting by one of his European distributors when I ran across this bit of advice.

[Second Hand Pat]

Sorry, I should have explained more, and I think Pat might be asking a leading question. It is fairly common knowledge that pairs often spawn right after a WC with slightly cooler water. This is not to be confused with what I was suggesting. Stendker recommended for pairs that fought dropping the tank temperature 2 degrees might stop the fighting. I was reading a posting by one of his European distributors when I ran across this bit of advice.

Thanks Keith for the clarification...here to learn. :)

[ericatdallas]

You know, that might have something to do with their metabolism. Since body temperature for cold-blooded animals is the ambient temperature... I know Oscars get more aggressive with high temps.

[yogi]

If they are starting to hurt each other I would seperate them. One could be mad at the other for always eating the eggs.

[mathao]

buy a tank divider and sperate them for a few days, to see what happens

[Ryan]

It's common in cichlids for pairs to sometimes turn on one another. Usually it's because A) they have a disagreement about eggs/fry, or B) one wants to spawn and the other doesn't, so the frustrated fish gets pushy and aggressive. I've had all sorts of cichlids turn on their mates after many successful spawns, including angels, severums, flag cichlids, festivums, etc.

I always like to give my pairs a break. Do you have another discus community tank with non-breeding fish? If so, move the pair to that tank and give them a break from breeding for a while. They get worn down easily when they spawn constantly. If not, I'd get some eggcrate and divide the tank before the aggression escalates.

With regards to temperature, increased temperature means increased metabolism, and it's often used to stimulate appetites in cichlids... however, it also makes them more active and aggressive. Any time I have an aggression issue in my big community tanks, I always bump the temp down a bit. I guess this would apply to discus as well. However, I'm more inclined to think the pair has had a disagreement and they'll probably continue to squabble, regardless of the temp.

[plymbloke]

wow - thanks so much for all the replies guys! :D much appreciated!

Im still on the look out for a suitable tank divider to try just in case it works. Absence makes the heart grow fonder after all! :) Also i will try lowering the temperature a degree or two, its got to be worth a try! There are just a couple of bunches of cabomba in the tank to break things up - i didnt want to put too much in there as it is meant to be a breeding tank and as far as i understand it the less there is in there, the easier it is to maintain?

Sincerely many thanks once again for your help and replies. I'll try out some of the suggestions and let you know hows things develop!

Thanks,

Chris

[yogi]

A good divider is egg crate also known as a light diffuser. You can buy it cheap at Home Depot and cut it to the size you need. You also need to buy some suction cups to put on both sides of it to keep it straight up in the tank.

[plymbloke]

A good divider is egg crate also known as a light diffuser. You can buy it cheap at Home Depot and cut it to the size you need. You also need to buy some suction cups to put on both sides of it to keep it straight up in the tank.

Hi, thanks, is there any chance that you could post a picture of one of these? I'm in the UK and we dont have a Home Depot - also our 'egg crates' are cardboard lol :D

Thank you for the advice though - much appreciated!

[yogi]

The egg crate is the plastic squares that is seperating this heckel from the rest of the tank

[nitingdedao]

Just let them work out themselves. Aggression are normal for discus

[plymbloke]

The egg crate is the plastic squares that is seperating this heckel from the rest of the tank

Thats great, thank you very much :)

There has been a slight improvement in their behaviour today - in so much as they fight every 10minutes rather than 5 and not for as long :D ha, but its still an improvement! thank you all for the advice.

nitingdedao - thanks for the advice :) at what point though would you say agression becomes too much? i.e. at what point would you recommend seperating them - when visible scarring is showing? or after the first 'attack'?

many thanks once again everyone - your help is much appreciated.

Chris