bought new discus!!!

fishkid951

AC Members
Jan 7, 2007
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hi all
i went to lfs the other day and bouht 2 red/blue turq discus to put in with my discus i already hav(also red turq). i hav noticed that the discus i hav had for a while is agro(chasing and scaring the new ones off) with the new arrivals...i changed the tank around and will change it commpletely in a few weeks time. he/she has had discus with him b4 but they died so i am tryin to get a few morew for him/her now.
is this aggression or is he just sortin out the pecking order? the oldest one is about 13cm and trhe new ones are about 10cm so not too much difference. if this is the pecking order...how long will this last?

also the oldest discus i hav loves tetra colour bits and the new ones hav only eaten bloodworms since i got em. how can i get the colour bits into there diet with out not feeding them for a few days? the food somtimes comes right past their face but they do not eat it.

thanx all in advance
 
Your discus that has been established in the tank will naturally think of new arrivals as intruders.;) Be patient with your new acquisitions. They'll eventually eat the fishfood.
 
they will need to find theor place in the pecking oder.
as long as you have places for the new fish to hide you should be fine.

did you QT the new fish?
 
They should settle down in a few days once the pecking order is established. Most times 3 is not a good number of discus to keep, they're happier in a little bit larger groups than that. It's just highly likely that 2 of them will pick on the one that ends of at the bottom of the pecking order. And this will continue until the picked on one gets so stressed he stops eating and growing, and you never seem to be able to turn them around after that. So just keep an eye on that. They're in a new environment, don't worry about changing them over to tetra bits right away. Give them a few weeks to really settle in and eat well on the food they are used to. And then try to get them to eat the bits. Sometimes you have to soak the bits in the bloodworm fluids, sometimes you have to starve them thru a few missed meals in order that they are hungry enough to love to eat bits! And then......there are those like mine who refuse to eat bits no matter what I threaten them with:D
 
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