cerebus Posted October 18, 2004 Report Share Posted October 18, 2004 I have had a Discus in my 48 gallon community tank for about 4 months now, and yesterday I added a second one that I purchased at the ACE auction. The original discus has gotten very territorial with the new guy, and is chasing him relentlessly. I have another tank I can move the new discus to if the pair are completely incompatable, but I'd like to give this a good try to see if they can get along. I don't want the new guy to get too stressed, however, so I'm just looking for some input from others who keep discus on how long I should expect this aggression to last? And is it possible that the two just won't get along? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyL Posted October 18, 2004 Report Share Posted October 18, 2004 The aggression will last until the new fish dies... This is why it's recommended you keep 1 discus alone, a mated pair or groups of 6 or greater. Your best bet is to remove the established discus from the tank, do a major overhaul, move everything around. then reintroduce both discus simultaneously... If you're lucky you wont loose the new guy... You could also try a divider (lighting eggcrate etc) but they don't tend to solve the underlying problem. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted October 18, 2004 Report Share Posted October 18, 2004 I would do what andy said or go out and buy 3 more :smokey: what a great excuse. lol. Just remember that discus are cichlids and like most if not all chichlids they are territorial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerebus Posted October 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2004 (edited) That truly sucks, but I was kind of afraid of that given the reputation of this fish. The deal on the discus yesterday was too good to pass up, but I was hoping to get at least one more to spread the aggression around a bit. Given my space limitations, adding more than one more discus (total of 3) is not really a great option. I'll have to think about how best to handle this one. Thanks guys. Edited October 18, 2004 by cerebus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 cerebus_ The older discus has become the "Alpha" discus. Retraining him will be a challenage. Is there a big size / age difference between the Alpha discus and the newbie {?}. If so, the problem will be more intense. Andy's suggestion - proberly the best method to try. Once you have re-landscaped the tank, and introduced the discus, watch carefully their behaviors. Adding some "tall" bushy plants [real or fake] at either ends of the tank may help by providing hiding/territory boundries. A small open center will provide a "social" area. Low lightng, lots of food, w/c's; may also help. The discus will have to sort out a new "PECKING-ORDER". Ahhhh__ the challenage of cichlids. Keep us updated - on the situation, what you deceide to do. Smokey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerebus Posted October 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 (edited) The larger discus is about a third bigger than the new one. As for age, I'm not too sure. The older fish is about 8 months. I'd guess the new one is about 4-6 months. I pulled both discus out of the tank last night and reorganized everything as Andy suggested. When I reintroduced the fish, the first thing the older discus did was swim up to the younger one and peck it again. Sigh. However, things seemed to improve a bit after that. They were behaving better this morning, and the smaller discus is eating pretty well so at least it's not too stressed out by this ordeal. The one thing I find mystifying in all of this is that no matter how often the bigger one still pecks at it, but the smaller one won't take the hint and still keeps hanging around. I haven't been able to sort out the gender of these fish (and any tips on exactly how to do that would be appreciated) but there may be more going on here than just aggression. That's my hope, anyway. Edited October 19, 2004 by cerebus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 cerebus_ Young discus are all but impossible to sex. Even as adults it may be difficult. It may not be aggression__it is all about territory, food. AND the pecking order. [ kids will be kids]. The 4 month old discus is just a baby; whereas the 8 mo. discus is more of a 11 year old kid. strutting and testing his power. mpe. The yound discus probely came from a tank with same age discus and he still wants the protection of a school. He is alone for the first time! looking for security. Did you supply more vertical coverage./ tank end territory's. Pull the older discus for 24 - 48 hours; let the younger establish his home. just some more suggestions. :smokey: Smokey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 What strain are the discus. What size - inches / [ tail do not count]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerebus Posted October 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 Smokey: the older discus was sold to me privately as a "red spotted green discus", but I'm pretty sure he's a turquoise. See attached. He's about 3.5" now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerebus Posted October 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 (edited) The newer discus is maybe 2 to 2.25". He's also a turquoise, but with different coloration than the older one. Anyway, they seem to be behaving today. I'm going to let things be for now, but if the older discus keeps it up I'll take your advise and throw him in my 20 gallon for a couple of days. Edited October 21, 2004 by cerebus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garhan Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 I have followed this for a moment. Smokey is correct in his advice to you, if you need to go to that extent. Discus do have a pecking order. And the fish that was common to the tank will be dominat. They will likely sort out there differences in time. If it gets to bad and the new fish becomes damaged or shows signs of stress. Collapsed fins, not eatting, becomes very dark in colour (black) move one or the other. In the past with some fish, groups of discus I have moved the whole lot to a new tank, bare bottom, with heater and filter only. I do this just to mess up the pecking order. this of course is if you are not intending to pair up or spawn exsisting fish in the primary tank anytime soon. If not put them all into another tank with just a few spawnning type mopps floating from cork. Mopps need to hang to the bottom of the tank. they work for hiding places. Make at least 6-10 of these mopps from polyester wool. Just like killifish spawning mops, only larger. They are easy to clean, maintain,reuseable, easy to store, dont need ferts, light and make good hiding places. (If you do this use 50% of your water from the primary tank. Top up both tanks with fresh water change. That is heated to the exsisting water temp in your tanks. Prestage some water in a very large container with a heater in it. These fish are both stressed enough as is. Make sure all things are equall between these 2 tanks. temp, water properties are the main issues. Dont do anything to 1 tank, water wise that you wouldnt do to the other for the next week 1 to 2 weeks.) Then rearrange your primary tank that you intend to keep your discus in and in about 2 weeks move them all back. That photo you posted. Is the smaller one the new discus? If so that used to be my fish. Cheers, Garhan :ml: Cheers, Garhan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Garhan: ok, so your responsable! :smokey: Can you give us/cerebus a totally correct species/name for the little fellow [ pic #2]. and age. No. 1 - sure looks like a RSG. Smokey Discus owners are very particular about their fish. WE HAVE CROSSED THE LINE. :smokey: :smokey: A pair of my J.W. Golden Dragons just started to spawn on the heater...a Red Diamond came up and tried to push the female away. Jealous??? or Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garhan Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 It is a Red Turquoise-Striated colour morph. and he held his own in atank with fish twice his size. This is an accimilation issue without a doubt. He was kept in water at Ph of 6.8 and 50% RO/tap. The fish is 1 year old maybe 14 months at the most. Originally purchased from Family Pet in Sherwood Park. fed dailey on Mysis and Vita-Boost Flake from Ken's Fishroom a online site for food purchases. This fish out of 9 at the time did not pair up. I susbect it is a male though...can't tell for sure. :eh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Hey smokey how about posting some picture of your fish. I know u said your tank is cloudy and all but u cant tell me they never come to the front. After all i cant come there because i dont want to make your fish sick. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerebus Posted October 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Garhan: yes, the smaller fish is the new one. Did you sell him in the ACE auction over the weekend? I'm surprised he's a year old already, I assumed he was younger than that and still had some growing to do. The two are getting along a lot better since the tank reorganization. They get a little competitive at feeding time, but the larger one generally just nudges the smaller one rather than biting him. The smaller one is eating like a pig and his color is fine, so no signs of stress at this point. I think this might work out after all. :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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