Tackling discus Bullies and Avoiding it.

[yusufm52]

Guys I have 3 fishes and am facing a problem of bulling.

One fish was so badly bullied that it had nipped fins and got a bacterial infection.
I know that you should not keep 3, but in a larger group but as I had 7 initially out of which these three are left and don't want to get more untill I am satisfy that I am able to keep these guys.

Any help would be great.. :-)
Thanks.

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[John_Nicholson]

You can't stop nature. What you are seeing perfectly normal. Your only hope is that 2 of them pair up. That way after the kill the oddball you will still have the pair.

-john

[laupao]

yusufm52,

Sorry to hear about the situation... I too experience this bullying problem and seek many help from SD members and the old forum threads. It's the pecking ordering that you are seeing and if you remove the badly bullied one, the other one will get bullied..it's just nature. If it was me, I would purchase a few more just to help spread the aggression.... feed quality food and keep up the WC changes.. that will maximize their chance of a healthy environment for your fishes. hth

[Trier20]

yusufm52,

Sorry to hear about the situation... I too experience this bullying problem and seek many help from SD members and the old forum threads. It's the pecking ordering that you are seeing and if you remove the badly bullied one, the other one will get bullied..it's just nature. If it was me, I would purchase a few more just to help spread the aggression.... feed quality food and keep up the WC changes.. that will maximize their chance of a healthy environment for your fishes. hth

+1 yup if you can spot the cash to get a couple more do so.

[DiscusDrew]

Pack um in my friend... That is your solution, large numbers of fish simply don't see this problem. Right now you're fighting a losing battle. If you want to have success, this is your solution based on the fact i'm almost positive they are not breeding size.

[yusufm52]

John I really doubt that their is going to be a pair, as the bully has grown to around 4" and the other two are about just 3" or may be less, so can they really pair up? Right now I just put in an acrylic divider, that way the smaller one get aittle breathing time, treated the the bullied one with some med as he was showing some bacterial infection as I mentioned earlier. Will try to get some but I don't to lose more fishes by adding more I already have lost a lot and am currently a little tired up at work, but am trying to keep up.the WC.

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[Poco]

Yusuf, as most of the reply have already mentioned that you need more fish in there, three fish is not enough. There will always be an alpha in the tank which will pick on others but if you have a bigger group, let's say 7, then bullying will be spread out and there wont be anyone singled out. As you have only three one weaker one is getting the worst of it.

Good luck!

[DiscusDrew]

No they will not pair up, you need to figure out getting more or selling those until you are ready in my opinion because your problem won't disappear in the setup you have. The divider will buy you some time but that's most likely about it. I'm my experience three juvies is the worst. There simply needs to be more fish, daily water changes, preferably no substrate, and if you are getting quality stock then you should stop losing fish. Its kind of illogical to try to avoid loss of fish by not buying more, the reality is that buying more may be the only way for you to not lose your existing fish. Hope everything works out my friend.

[yusufm52]

Well I kinda had this thought at the back of my mind that the divider is a bandage on a surgical wound. Well anyways will try and scout for some quality stock in my area, and let see what happens, thank you all for your Advice.

One Quarantine question what do you guys do for QT when you get new fish?

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[DiscusDrew]

I only trust four sources... and as such I do not do a proactive QT (as in I do not medicate without reason to, and with these vendors I never do). So I put them in a tank that will be comfortable for the size of the fish for about 6 weeks, 4 weeks they are in isolation by themselves, then if they are going into a tank with other discus I will remove a discus from that tank and add it to the QT tank, if all is well in two weeks I move the whole bunch to wherever I need them. Its Kenny's QT method basically. I know some that de-worm and de-flaggelate upon arrival after a few days but this is not my preference. I have found that the most critical part is trusting your sources, and if you buy from solid sources there hopefully should never be a reason to medicate if the fish are well kept. I also seperate my german stock from my asian stock, equipment is shared unless their is a problem within each set (asian or german). What I mean is my german discus have all their own equipment, and my asian discus have all their own equipment, but within each catagory I do not bother to isolate each tank entirely. Its just too difficult otherwise with the amount of tanks in the fish room. Anywho, feel free to ask any questions.

[yusufm52]

Well I guess I have to find a good source, which I guess is going to be a real pain in the A**, as its not easy locating a good LFS, let alone a good discus source. How did you guys come to know whether the source is good or not, cause when I got my 7 they all seemed healthy. But I still lost more than half my stock.

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[Elliots]

I have a theoretical question on this topic. If you have 6-8 Discus and one is a bully if you partition him off in the tank for maybe a week will that help things when you remove the partition? What about if you put him in a quarrantine tank for a week? My guess is neither will help but that is only a guess. Is there anyone on SD who has tried this?

[Poco]

It will help if you put him in QT. firstly it will give bullied fish time to recover and the bully to calm down. When you add the bully back in after a week or so it will take time for him to readjust in the tank and hierarchy. It is worth a try, I don't see any harm in trying it. I had a similar situation and things got better afterwards.

[laupao]

I've tried the quarantine method as it has worked. i feel like it gives a chance for the bullied one to nurse back to heath.... hopefully when he adds it back into the tank he will have a few more fishes instead of just 2.

[DiscusDrew]

Well I guess I have to find a good source, which I guess is going to be a real pain in the A**, as its not easy locating a good LFS, let alone a good discus source. How did you guys come to know whether the source is good or not, cause when I got my 7 they all seemed healthy. But I still lost more than half my stock.

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You can pretty much assume than any local fish store won't have anything worth buying in this world. Shipping is the price we pay for quality... Hans, Kenny, Johnnathan, and Mike Beals.... I've disclosed my greatest secrets...lol

[DiscusDrew]

There are others but I personally have tried some of them with inferior results, and others I simply haven't tried (either haven't had the strains I need or fish in the size I need).

[Poco]

You can pretty much assume than any local fish store won't have anything worth buying in this world. Shipping is the price we pay for quality... Hans, Kenny, Johnnathan, and Mike Beals.... I've disclosed my greatest secrets...lol

I think yusufm52 is in india. Might be good idea to get from forrest directly or check if there are any distributors there.

[DiscusDrew]

Well THAT explains the complication lol. OK well I hope you can figure something out my friend. I aggree then that getting in touch with Kenny and Forrest is your best bet, I know they are one of the few whos fish exist world wide. Or at least that have accessible fish world wide. You may have more of a premium to get quality fish Yusufm (meaning shipping cost) but trust me if you desire success unlike what you've had in this hobby this is the way to go my friend.

[yusufm52]

Well I asked Kenny before AMD Hans too but that was like a year, year and a half back, at time it wasn't possible. And the premium was too high, as in I needed to order a large quantity to make it feasible but I don't have the means for that, till then will search for a breeder maybe in Mumbai or Pune there has to be someone with a good stock. Let's see it will probably also give me more info..
Thanks guys will keep you update.

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[ashtricks]

Well I asked Kenny before AMD Hans too but that was like a year, year and a half back, at time it wasn't possible. And the premium was too high, as in I needed to order a large quantity to make it feasible but I don't have the means for that, till then will search for a breeder maybe in Mumbai or Pune there has to be someone with a good stock. Let's see it will probably also give me more info..
Thanks guys will keep you update.

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Hey yusuf.. check out Shiva Nair in Thane. http://www.shivadiscus.com/ (Don't know if the pic he uses on the site has copyright issues.)

This is his youtube channel:http://www.youtube.com/user/ShivadiscusINDIA?feature=g-u-u
He has got a pretty good stock. He even breeds them.

[yusufm52]

Thanks ashtrick, will surely check him out, from the way the pictures look he has good stock, but I wouldn't belive without seeing them in person.

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[xxbenjamminxx]

Want to revive this thread and ask a question on the subject.

In my 75g I have a total of 9 discus. There is a pair or BDs and a Pair of Atlum Floras as well. Seems the Altum Floras only harass the BDs and it can be relentless at times. But after hours of watching they only attack the BDs, and none of the other 5 fish. Any ideas on what else to do when "Packing them in" doesnt seem to work?

Is there sometimes where fish just hold a grudge against other fish and it can not be solved? Thinking about pulling the altums for now and reintroducing them to see if that helps but not sure.

[strawberryblonde]

Want to revive this thread and ask a question on the subject.

In my 75g I have a total of 9 discus. There is a pair or BDs and a Pair of Atlum Floras as well. Seems the Altum Floras only harass the BDs and it can be relentless at times. But after hours of watching they only attack the BDs, and none of the other 5 fish. Any ideas on what else to do when "Packing them in" doesnt seem to work?

Is there sometimes where fish just hold a grudge against other fish and it can not be solved? Thinking about pulling the altums for now and reintroducing them to see if that helps but not sure.

Hi Ben,

How large are they now? I had 5 in a 55g to grow them out and they ran out of space, and patience with each other when they got to be around 5 - 6". If yours are still under 4" then there's not much you can do about the fighting, but if they're over 4" they need to go into a larger tank. Pulling the altums won't really solve the problem, they'll just start right in again when you reintroduce them.