Bully Discus

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plebian

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Discus have a social hierarchy that is normally sorted out when they are juveniles. As adults, there is generally much less squabbling for position. There are exceptions, however. As most fish keepers are well aware, fish do have personalities. Link to video below.

When the video starts you will notice a large Cobalt Discus on the right side of the aquarium. This is a young adult female. You will see a fight break out about one minute into the video. Two other Discus will come after the first. The fighting you observe occurred pretty much every hour of every day over a period of 3 months. I finally had to remove the large female to bring peace to the aquarium. I would have done so sooner, but she was the largest and most perfectly colored of all my Cobalts and I hoped she would eventually give up. She did not.

While it's impossible to get into the head of a fish, my best guess is that the larger female was trying to displace the smaller female who had already bonded with a large male. Normally, it was the large female who started things off, attacking the smaller. In this instance, the bonded pair are going on the offensive.

Fighting Cobalts
 

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