Discus being aggressive to tankmates.

[keegee1012]

Firstly, My discus isn't spawning to get it clear.

One of my discus is being very mean to his tankmates, hating on all the other fish (Except the smaller Tetras/Rams). He particularly dislikes the Angels and his Fellow discus fish. Is this normal? Is he/she sexually mature?

[Skip]

Its normal.. It pecking order stuff

[k7prz]

I have the same problem. Two red turks about a year old spawned about 3 times---eggs gone after
a week. Then the male (I think) just started banging around the female. Dark stripes on her.
I removed her and put her in another tank for a couple days. Put her back and it started immediately.
Wondering if I should just let them hammer it out or put them both in a 55 gal to give them more room?
Or keep them separated longer? Or maybe I have two females? Or just give them more time alone?

Any thoughts?

I know there's a pecking order---but I'm not into survival of the fittest to end up losing one.

Dave

[strawberryblonde]

I'm a big believer in not separating discus into pairs until they've proven that they really are a pair. That means keeping them in your main display tank until they've produced wrigglers and, for me, not until they've done it more than once.

My first pair was a BT and a Red Scrib. They laid eggs 5 times and I was sure they were ready for a breeding tank and then suddenly the female rejected the scrib and paired up with my flachenSS! They remained a couple for nearly a month till the BT went back to the Red Scrib. She is now happily producing wrigglers and occasionally some fry with the Red Scrib and has been doing that for several months now.

If your female is getting beaten up and hasn't gotten any eggs to the wriggler stage yet, you don't have any proof that they are actually a pair. Leaving them together if they aren't a pair is just going to end up with more fighting. (heck, even mated pairs have spats now and then...much worse for unmated ones!)

[2sybs]

I'm thinking that you might try removing the aggressor for a while. instead of the abused fish. Removing the abused one and putting it back wouldn't help as they tend to pick on the newby to begin with. Let them establish a new pecking order and then bring back the aggressive fish and it will become the newby, at least for a while.

[Skip]

discus don't die from pecking order stuff..

but there is always a low man..

how large & how long have you had them?