discus agression?

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danzx23

Gambusia
MFK Member
Apr 20, 2008
140
0
16
st. louis
i have a breeding pair of discus that i put about a 4 inchs discus in with and the male startrd being agressive twords the female and wont even let her eat even the smaller 4 inc discus bullys her and wont let her eat the pair about 7 to 6 inchs i seperated the pir and my male was still bullying the female what do you recomend i do ?

also how long do discus live? ive read alota diffrent answers online
 
I'm having the same problem actually. I had to remove the largest male of a pack of 4. He won't let any of them eat. He even won't let the next largest come out of hiding. I started to see damaged fins and scales so I pulled him out and put him in a separate tank.
This is my plan. I've added a large school of dithers in with him. Kept him alone with the dithers for a week. I fed him very well hoping to teach him that food is very abundant.
The others I've been feeding frozen blood worms, flake food, sinking pellets. Things that float or sink very slowly and would be very hard to hog or stop others from getting to. I made some small changes to the tank by adding new plants removing some of the old ones I didn't like. Just to change the scenery. I added the bully and the dithers back last night and plan to continue feeding food that is hard to hog and protect for a few more weeks or as long as it takes. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Ohh ya. The dithers I just added to be a distraction during feeding and aggressive chasing.
 
I hate it when that happens. I have about 10 discus in the same tank and there is always going to be one getting picked on. My best advice would to be add more plants, rocks and, wood to make more hiding spots. Dithers (clown loaches, neon tetras) could help too.
 
Loaches? Depends on the size of the tank. Most loaches have a tendency to harass slow moving tankmates forcing them to starve themselves for a long time due to stress. Tetras work best as dithers but be careful with what you pick. Most tetras are nippy or intolerant of high temperatures. Cardinals and rummies are your best bets.
 
yea i already tryed that i had a pack of ten cardinals after 2 weeks theres 3 leaft im thinking about adding more discus to the tank now what do you think?
 
sounds good i let me know

Fallen;2206695; said:
I'm having the same problem actually. I had to remove the largest male of a pack of 4. He won't let any of them eat. He even won't let the next largest come out of hiding. I started to see damaged fins and scales so I pulled him out and put him in a separate tank.
This is my plan. I've added a large school of dithers in with him. Kept him alone with the dithers for a week. I fed him very well hoping to teach him that food is very abundant.
The others I've been feeding frozen blood worms, flake food, sinking pellets. Things that float or sink very slowly and would be very hard to hog or stop others from getting to. I made some small changes to the tank by adding new plants removing some of the old ones I didn't like. Just to change the scenery. I added the bully and the dithers back last night and plan to continue feeding food that is hard to hog and protect for a few more weeks or as long as it takes. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Ohh ya. The dithers I just added to be a distraction during feeding and aggressive chasing.
Click to expand...
 
sounds good i let me know
Click to expand...

So far so good. It seems while he was out of the tank a new pecking order was established. He's no longer top dog. He still goes after the same victim but now the new boss of the tank intervines to protect the victim.
The dithers have been great to stop long chases across the whole tank. They always get in the way. They've also been good at feeding time. The Discus are now only concerned about getting some of the food before the quick little guys snatch it all up.

Hopefully it will last....
 
If you have the option I've adding more Discus I think this would definitely help. I've read with 3 they will always play odd man out. 5 or more will spread out the aggression. I only have 4 and would prefer to try and find a way to make this work.
 
i just bought there more discus lastnighit and added them to the tank they all seem to get along but one who i put on his own side of the tank with a divider i read in a book that feeding your discus 5 times a day small feedings is ideal and can lower agresion ive been feeding mine blood worms 2 wice a day in the morning and evening and am going to try mixen pellets it with the worms till there use to it then il get a auto feeder to feed them twice a day while im at work im hopen this will solve the problem
 
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