Bully Discus

[melissa1977]

A question for the discus pros out there...

I currently have 2 discus in a 40 gallons tank. One I got about a week ago (a 3 inch blood pigeon) and a snake skin (about 3-4 inch) that I got yesterday.

The blood piegon is picking on the newbie.

I am planning on getting 2 or 3 more discus eventually but since they are so expensive I am getting them one at the time...

Is it dangerous for my new guy to get bullied like that or is it just a natural phenomenom ? I mean... could the guy die as an outcome of this... ??

 

[macman7010]

Discus are cichlids and cichlids are aggressive, especially to each other. It is not uncommon for Dicus to "bully" each other around. That is why most people keep several - "4 or more" Discus together in a tank to kind of diffuse this aggression.

The pigeon may stop some of his picking once he proves who is boss, although adding some more Discus would help also.

 

[macman7010]

also melissa i read you tank specs and line up in your signature. sounds like a nice set-up, any pics?

 

[melissa1977]

No no pics yet... I'll try to get some soon.




My BF just called me, im at work, to let me know the the blood pigeon is still bulling the new guy. I am really worry...

Should I run to the LFS and get an other discus or should I just let it be...

 

[macman7010]

Melissa,

It depends on what the bullying constitutes. If it is the occasional little chase or nip then no it should be fine. My Discus chase and nip at each other on and off all of the time. Although having more fish allows the aggresion to get diffused down the ranks. If it is really that bad and the pigeon is chasing the snakeskin non stop and not allowing it to eat you could try adding more fish or putting in a tank divider until you get a nice little shoal of Discus.

 

[melissa1977]

Thank you

I might get another one tonight....

 

[aquakev]

To combat the aggression I would ad one or two more discus. The only thing is that 40g is not really that big! and you already have the rams.- I know its troublesome when people say that but you are not going to be able to enjoy that many discus in that tank. I say enjoy because they are not as cool when they are all cramped up and have no where to swim, this also lead to the aggression.

If I were you, I would add only one two more discus mabey give one ore two of the rams the ax and hope that none of the discus pair off, as this will lead to aggression down the road.

I would also definitely read the article in the september issue of tropical fish hobbiest, about discus in planted tanks.-It gives the most liberal advice about caring for discus.

 

[melissa1977]

mabey give one ore two of the rams the ax

What do you mean by that ?

 

[greenmaji]

this is from the pecking order.. you dont have enough discus to make a shoal (6 make a good shoal) so the weaker fish is getting picked on.. If you had 4 more fish the strongest fish would have just been the head of the pecking order and there would be much less picking on a single fish.

 

[macman7010]

melissa, I also recommend the article in TFH this month, its very good. Id go with the divider or more fish.

 

[melissa1977]

I added one more discus yesterday, a red spot (same size then the other ones). Right away the blood pigeon started to pick on him. I ve put a divider in the tank to separate the aggressive guy from the other ones. But for some weird reason, they (the red spot and the snakeskin)keep on going right beside the divider trying to reach for my blood pigeon. It seems that they like him. It's like they like to be bullied or something... I really don't get it. Any explanation to this behavior ?

And they don't eat. They look dark... The blood pigeon is all good eating like a pig... Should I go on with the divider or is the aggressive guy going to calm down some day...?


When you say divider, you mean permanently ?
Or until the new guys feels better ?

Oh and BTW I ll try to get the TFH magazine macman !

 

[macman7010]

hey melissa,

sounds like keeping Discus isnt treating you real good. I am sorry to hear that since these are marvelous fish but Ill try to help you out. The divider is a temporary solution, I used to use dividers when I added new African Cichlids to my old cichlid tank since right away everyone would start picking on the new guy. Normally after a few weeks things would settle down and the picking would stop.

If your Discus are dark that means that something is not right with either the fish's health or your water quality. They may have an internal parasite or worm infection, bacterial infection or just may be stressed because of water quality. If you could post your water parameters

ph
nitrite
nitrate
hardness
and tempature

it might root out some other causes. As far as your fish not eating, that is totally normal for newly added discus. My new arrivals have gone 1-2 even 3 weeks before grabbing food at feeding times. In addition to that the dark coloration you see could be stress that will pass as the fish become used to thier surrondings. I would give it a few days, maybe a week or so and lift the divider. Try PM'ing BrianNY on here, he is a great expert to consult on Discus keeping.

 

[BrianNY]

Well thanks for tagline macman but I don't consider myself a discus expert. I'm still learning too. I do however have quite a bit of discus eperience.

Melissa, it isn't unusual for discus to go on a hunger strike or turn dark. This is especially true when their environment changes. Simply adding another fish is changing their environment.

I'm not really concerned about the other species of fish in your tank because they're all relatively placid. What does concern me is the bioload. One of the things that you can't measure are DOCs. These are potentially very harmful to discus as a build up will be a breeding ground for bacteria. To keep the DOCs to a minimum you need to be changing water daily. I would change no less than a third. You also need to wipe down the glass and clean your filters weekly.

Greenmagi mentioned the pecking order. IME I've found that the more discus, the less any one discus is picked on. I don't know why but 5 discus seem to be the number that reduces the aggressiveness of the bully. A discus that is continually picked on is very likely to succumb to the stress. JMO

Again, the first thing you should do is a pwc. Try leaving the lights off for 2 or 3 days. This will help the discus adjust to their new environment.

 

[melissa1977]

Wow!

Thank you guys for all theses useful information. I ll go on with the daily water change starting tonight. I will put my crazy blood pigeon separated with a tank divider and i ll keep you guys updated.

And again thank you



BTW BrianNY what is exactly DOC's ?

 

[BrianNY]

Disolved Organic Compounds. The fish waste will break down and become part of the water column. The only real way to control this is by changing the water.

 

[melissa1977]

I forgot to let you know my water parameter :

ph around 7
nitrite 0
nitrate 0 (I have quite a lot of plants)
hardness about 8 General hardness
and temperature around 28 degree celsius.

Thank you again

 

[BrianNY]

Your temp is much too cool for discus. Minimum of 84 F (30 C).

 

[melissa1977]

What about my other fishes ??

 

[BrianNY]

They will be fine. You MUST provide the right environment for those discus if you want to keep them. The correct temperature is A MUST. Discus are prone to many diseases if kept in too cool a water for too long.

 

[melissa1977]

Ok
I ll take care of that now