bully discus

[FishyMatty]

I know its common for discus to play odd may out when you have three, but I only have two. One is about 3.5" and one about 3". For a while they spent all their time together like they were friends, now most of the time the big one chases the other one around the tank. There is no marks or tattered fins on the smaller one but he seems sad. Is this normal? How do I fix this problem?

 

[jagwire]

discus

2 discus unless a pair are giong to fight, 3 is better, really the minimum should be 6 though (ok at least 5). having more together alows everybody a chance to get picked on and everybody a chance to relax. i would at least try to have three discus together and maybe add more up until 6 if needed until all are diong well. at some piont u will most likley get a pair out of the six and then you can remove the others and you will be back to your original idea of having just two discus but there wont be any problems.

 

[180gz71]

I agree with JAG. Having had many different discus i can tell u from my experience that they will always beat up each other. Now i have 6 and have no problems with singled out bullying, just normal pecking order.

 

[FishyMatty]

I thought three discus would bully one in an odd man out sort of thing?

 

[Star_Rider]

having more discus tends to distribute the aggression..keep in mind they are cichlids and being such may exhibit 'cichlid' traits.
the minimum is 4 but 6 is better..the more the merrier with these fish.

 

[1boatnut]

I have a similar (but dirrerent)story. I purchased 2 Discus and they seemed to be the most docile fish I ever had. I do believe one was sick/or stressed to the extreme. After about 2 weeks I returned the fish stressed fish and came home with another. The Discus I had orginally in the tank became very active when I removed the stressed one. After about 3hrs of acclimating I released the new fish. They seemed Ok together,but then I noticed the original fish bullying the new guy,even though the new guy is much larger.

In hopes of remeding this bullying behavior,I went and purchased a 3rd Discus. After acclimation only time will tell.
Unfortunately I think 4 is out of the question,at least for the moment!