Well, you all hadme convinced it couldn't be my discus doing it to the cories. I was just down prepping all my shipping boxes for tomorrow so was watching the tank. The two largest discus were actively going after the cories during feeding time to get them away from the food. Not only that, but its 3 cories which are injured. One has a missing eye, one has a chunk out of its dorsal fin, and one had a gouge out of the top of his head (most likely from fleeing the discus). So any suggestions on what I should do now?
Discus Agression
- Thread starter msjinkzd
- Start date
I dunno Rach, I've had a discus or two stress the rest of the tank out trying to keep all the other discus in hiding while they tried to get all the food and gotten rid of those discus. They never actually hurt any of the others, but the whole tank was constantly stressed out. And I've kept a variety of small fish, including different types of cories, small tetras, rams, baby plecos with the discus and never had a discus go after any fish. I couldn't even get my discus to eat molly fry! You think the injuries are because of being chased into things rather than the discus actually hurting them?
Lots of discus keepers keep plecos and sterbai with the discus and I don't ever recall reading about this type of aggression. Maybe people just don't post about it.
Can you estimate the quantity of dry and FBW the tank gets per day? My 75G with the 19 sterbai and the growing plecos gets fed very heavily since the cories won't come out front and eat if I'm moving in the room.
Lots of discus keepers keep plecos and sterbai with the discus and I don't ever recall reading about this type of aggression. Maybe people just don't post about it.
Can you estimate the quantity of dry and FBW the tank gets per day? My 75G with the 19 sterbai and the growing plecos gets fed very heavily since the cories won't come out front and eat if I'm moving in the room.
That is my suspicion about the 2 that have exterior injuries. The one missing the eye, it looks like it was clean sucked out.
As for how much I am feeding, I may be underfeeding. Its the 5 discus and 20-25 sterbai. I feed 4-5 times a day. The NLS (2x a day) I give a palmful at a time twice a day, distributed in two main spots so the agression I see is split up a little. The FBW's are 3 cubes 2-3 times a day. I also try and drop a pinch of catfish pellets into the cories hiding spot every day as well. Do you think I need to increase the amount of food? I have been feeding this same amount for some time, though the discus have continued to grow. Perhaps I should increase teh quantity of food to reduce the competition/aggression?
It almost seems like they aren't getting full enough to suit them and that's a lot of cories to feed too. Cories aren't slouchers where food is concerned. With 3 cubes of bloodworms at a feeding, i would venture to say that the cories aren't getting much of the worms. I know the discus are ravenous when it comes to worms. I feed mine 6 cubes at a time for 11 discus but I don't have the bottom critters you do. I know my rummies and the 3 black tetras and my 2 juliis are getting some worms cause I throw the cubes in basically one behind the other. The discus can't get them all that fast. My cories always seem to stay out of the way of the discus so they get the worms that fall into the plants, same with flakes. You don't see them out in the open eating, just along the edges. It's natural for the smaller fish to not be totally comfortable with large fish. My suggestion would be to up your worms a bit. And pick up a pellet for the catfish that you can drop into the plants where they have cover. Feed the worms and the pellets at the same time. I use the shrimp pellets, and kens earthworm pellets and veggie pellets. Each feed I drop about 12-14 pellets along the front and sides of the tank to spread out the ground feeding. I do this twice a dayI've got hungry growing plecos both competing for the cories share of food and competing against each other. I think it will satisfy your cories better and keep them more out of the way of your discus since they'll have their own food.
I will increase the catfish pellets I am dropping in as well as the worms. The discus just BEG all the time for food no matter how much I feed them. they are bottomless pits!
Yeah, the young ones are like that always. I find they are not quite that ravenous after growing up, they don't need quite as much food. When you do give them their worm feedings, you should be able to see a nice full tummy on the young ones when they are finished.
They do get big fat bellies, which si why I thought I was feeding enough. They are getting pretty big now too, much larger than hand-sized. I guess its just a feeling out what the tank needs scenario.
That seems like a lot of cories for a 75 with 5 discus. I would have to say you are underfeeding so the discus are chasing off the cories. Discus also are bottom feeders so they may defend it if they love what your feeding them. However, I had a problem with my previous school of sterbai cories. One male cory was actually pecking out eyes and killing the others until he was the only one left. I researched it couple years ago and noticed others having the same problem with their cories. It is atypical behavior for them but apparently has to do with breeding.
I would just leave the tank alone and let them sort it out, but you could put the discus in another tank, would be easier than catching cories!
I would just leave the tank alone and let them sort it out, but you could put the discus in another tank, would be easier than catching cories!
I am just going to try and increase my feeding while targeting the cories better. I disagree that 20ish cories and 5 discus is too much for a 75g tank.
