New discus not looking so hot - pale color, hiding, not eating

[dansally]

Hey all,

I added three discus to my 55g planted about 1 month ago from an LFS with a fairly good reputation around here - 2 turqs and one pigeon blood.

One of the turqs looked a little pale upon arrival, but I figured it was the stress of the trip home. He soon darkened up but his stress bars remained.

Since then, he's clearly been at the bottom of the pecking order. The pigeon blood has turned out to be the dominant one, chasing the other two into a heavily planted area.

Over the past week, the turq in question is unusually pale - almost white - and is hiding in the back of the tank looking at the wall. The other turq seems fine, albeit his stress bars are a bit more pronounced, so I'm beginning to think this is the result of bullying as opposed to illness.

I checked my water parameters and they're fine as well.

I'll try and post pictures later, but wanted to get others' opinions on this. Has anyone seen this before? Is this a case where three is a bad number and I should add more to even things out, or are there other things I should consider?

[Discus Origins]

As long as the one turq doesn't stay black, breath heavy or head/tail stand most likely it's due to stress being at the bottom of totem pole. I never keep discus in groups of less than 6, even with that number you'll still end up with a runt but at least the aggression is more spread out. My suggestion is to add 2-3 more discus and keep water quality high.

[dansally]

Thanks for the input. As unhappy as I am that my little guy is having trouble, I'm always happy when the answer is "more discus".

Right now I have a 55 G planted, and my three discus are accompanies by 9 harlequin rasboras, 4 cardinal tetras, and 2 honey gouramis.

Would 3 more discus be too much?

[Discus Origins]

If there is quality filtration and decent WCs being done there is no reason why you can't keep 6 adult discus in a 55. The tetras/rasboras won't be much of a bio-load, the gouramis seem out of place but as long as they don't bother the discus they should be fine.

[dansally]

Nah - the gouramis have been cool. Thanks again for the input.

[mmorris]

Remember to quarantine any new fish, and I highly recommend NOT adding any discus to the existing tank if you are concerned about health issues. You might want to isolate the turq in another tank and try to get him sorted before getting more.

[kendrid]

I have four in a tank about your size and while there is a pecking order they really aren't all that aggressive. I still plan on adding one or two more once I find stock I like.

I had a dwarf blue gourami in the tank and he challenged and harassed all of the discus, even the most dominate one. I end up setting up a 10g and moving him and some other community fish into it. The Discus tank is now discus, a bristlenose pleco, rubbernose pleco, and rummy nose tetras.