Fighting Discus

[Narny]

Hi,

I've got three discus :

1 Red tiger

1 Red Marlboro

1 Blue Diamond

The tiger is about 2 inches, and the other two are about 3 inches.

I've just added a 2.5 inch pigeon blood. And war has broken out. The Marlboro has allways been the dominant fish, she broods about and does'nt like anyone else at feeding times. The diamond is big enough to ward her off, no problems.. The tiger is too fast for her and looses her with ease. But i'm worried about the pigeon. She's now been backed into a corner and has not come out from her plant for a whole day now. She keeps peeking out, and occasionally does swim out , but is quickly chased back in by the Marlboro, who pecks at her untill she's sure she's not coming back for a while.

Is this normal for disus, i know they can be aggressive being cichlids. But the marlboro does seem a little obsessive in being "Big fish",

Short of that is there anything else i can do?? I allways make sure any food is evenly distributed, to avoid conflict. But again this does'nt have much effect.

Or will they eventually sort things out???


Cheers,

Ade

 

[Cian McLiam]

Yes, this is quite normal for Discus, the only practical solution is to add more discus. Adding another two discus will mean the dominant fish will have less time to chase an individual fish, so the stress on the smaller fish decreases.

Its a good idea to keep young Discus in groups of similar sized fish, small ones will always get picked on by the rest.

Other than that, the only other thing you could try would be to re-arrange the tank so territories have to be re-established. The young Discus will allways lose out in the end though.

Hopefully you have enough room and cash to get some more Discus, if not you may have to move the smallest to a safe tank for a while if it gets too bad. The chanfces are the dominant will then start to pick on the second smallest fish.

Ken

 

[Narny]

Problemo solved.

Yeah thanks for the advice, this is exactly what my local discus stockist told me.
Change tank, and see if dominance is changed. We finally agree'd that he would swap my red marlboro for one of his. They are both in excellent condition, so a trade was done..... Happy days !!! All fish are now happy, the bue diamond is now the biggest fish in the tank, and knows he's boss, this does'nt trouble me as he's a timid fish really, and for all his bluster is only interested in shoving fish about occasionally, where as the old marlboro had taken to gill and eye nipping. Hence the quick change needed.

So, everything is well in the world again.

Cheers again for the reply.

 

[ramesses]

good news.I am happy 4u

 

[G_Sharky]

Same thing happened to me as I bought one 3" Discus this weekend and It was chase around by my dominant redturq (which was about 4") the moment I put him in the tank,but the fighting has stop now and my newly acquired discus has settled in, however my other redturq would chase him once in a while if he gets in his way especially during feeding time....It's normal for them to fight if you introduce a new inmate as they have to establish their pecking order.....I don't think they'll fight to the point where serious injuries would occur....Anyways I'm happy that everything workout for me and for you....