Discus are very strange creatures sometimes...

[pinkertd]

I've had 2 beautiful blue cobalts for almost 3 years now. Got them when they were juvies, two sisters. They have always stuck together in the tank, like glue, just inseparable. I always thought it was cute that they had such a bond. I recently noticed one of the cobalts over in the corner of the discus tank every night when I'd come home. I examined her to see if there was any illness going on, and see nothing. I figured out what was going wrong when feeding time came. For some reason, her sister hates her now. Won't let her move in the tank anymore. And I'm just mystified by this, why the change? Why the sudden aggression? It makes me really sad because you can already see that the cobalt has lost a little bit of girth from being kept away from feedings. Nothings going on with any of the other discus. All the other discus are older, between 4 and 5 years old. I know if the aggression doesn't stop, the cobalt will waste away over time. They kinda shut down after being picked on for a while. I could move this cobalt to another tank, although my other tanks aren't kept quite so warm. But it would still be very unhappy to be the lone discus in another tank. I've never had one bit of trouble between any of these discus, even when spawning was going on in there. Every time I look in that tank I feel so sad and helpless for that beautiful cobalt. :(

[nc0gnet0]

Rather than move the cobalt that is getting picked on you could move the aggressor. Have you noticed any pairing behaviour between the aggresive cobalt and another tank mate?

But your right, they can be odd creatures....currently I have 28 4-7" discus and another 30+ 2 month old juvies from a Ogon yellow/white x Albino red spotted green cross. It can be a constant battle watching for low man on the totem pole and moving them, luckily I have 8 tanks dedicated to discus.

[fishorama]

Can you rearrange the tank a bit? You know the old visual barriers thing might cool Ms Crabby, at least for a while.

[pinkertd]

I rearranged things a bit, did a fall cleaning in the tank this weekend. Saw the picked on cobalt go right back at her sister face to face, but then she still winds up in the corner. Saw my male white butterfly chase her back to the corner once too. So maybe sis is getting ready to spawn soon. Poor fish though, she's so hungry that she's actually sucking in flakes and those two cobalts never eat flakes or pellets. They hold out for worms always. I do see a tiny, tiny tube on the sister, and a tube down on another female. There's only one male in the tank though. We'll see what happens.

[pinkertd]

Forgot to update this....it was all due to the one blue female getting ready to spawn. All is well in the tank again and they are buds. I see some weight loss from being chased away into the corner....but am happy to say that after all this time of refusing and never eating a flake.....this blue cobalt was so hungry that she grabbed flakes while in the corner!! Never thought I'd see the day! The other blue still doesn't touch flakes.

[excuzzzeme]

Glad to hear you solved it. BTW - I think us humans are more strange than fish are. . . .

[fishorama]

I'm happy to hear your little girl is doing better & all getting along

[shaynablizard]

I'm glad to hear it worked out and she's doing ok! I recently did my first discus tank after wanting them for so long (great tankmates for my santarem plecos!). I got the new young discus together and they immediately started chasing each other around. Two were hiding and I was glued to the tank hoping I didn't have to pull any out. I guess they were just establishing the pecking order, because they're doing fine now. I know how stressful it is when you see that bullying happening!!

[platytudes]

LOL...so basically, she was just PMSing ;) Nature's way, I guess!

[pinkertd]

LOL...so basically, she was just PMSing ;) Nature's way, I guess!


:lol: You are right!