Discus aggression question

[beeritself]

Today I introduced a 2nd discus to my tank, thinking my solo discus wanted a buddy. The new discus a larger, but is getting bullied it appears. The little one that has been in the tank for. Little over a month will not leave the new one alone. He chases him and pecks him. Is this something I need to be concerned about?

 

[Andy Sager]

That's because Discus live in a hierarchal society so there needs to be a dominant fish then subordinents. What your original fish is trying to do is show it's dominance to the new fish. Size is not always a factor. At some point, the fish will establish a ranking then go about their business. HOWEVER, since having only 2 Discus means one will always be beating on the other until the ranks are determined, you may actually lose one of the fish as a result. Discus are always best kept in multiples of 3 or more to spread out the aggression, which helps avoid this outcome.
Hope this helps

 

[beeritself]

That's what I was thinking. I will have to go out and pick up some more discus. Hopefully it will ease up in the meantime. I'll go look at some more discus tomorrow morning.