normal discus behavior?

dereks

dereks

AC Members
Mar 7, 2006
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This is the first time I've ever owned discus so I'm not sure what to expect out of them.

The larger of the school keep chasing the smaller ones. The water quality is tip top and the tank is not over crowded. There are not other fish in there to stress them out. There is not a huge difference in size, half an inch at most. They were all added at the same time and came from the same aquarium. Plenty of hiding spots.

Is this normal for discus? Would taking the smaller ones out help or would it stress them out since they like to be in schools?
 
Probably establishing a pecking order, or they feel crowded.

What size tank and how many discus?
 
Can be considered Normal as more aggression toward similarly sized ones & less aggressions toward ones that are much smaller, as with some other cichlids, IME.

Perhaps add more (3 or 4) or add other fish which can break up the aggressions and/or Add more plants/deco.

Hope all goes well!
 
Add target fish. Actually...that may be a bad term. Dithers more likely. Congo tetras I think work or some other slower moving but heftier fish.
 
Hi Dereks,
I have kept Discus for over 30 years and the behavior you are describing is not unusual. It rarely causes any problems so long as the shoal group (minimum 6) is at least 6 in number and there is not any active breeding or courtship behavior occurring by a pair in the tank.
 
Very normal behavior for discus - particularly with only 4.
Add 4 more - the aggressiveness will almost surely diminish and dissipate to playful pushing & shoving - with little or no harm done.
 
emile said:
Very normal behavior for discus - particularly with only 4.
Add 4 more - the aggressiveness will almost surely diminish and dissipate to playful pushing & shoving - with little or no harm done.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%
 
Yeah, normal pecking order behavior. Adding a few more to the group may alleviate some aggression, but in every group one will rise to alpha position. Sometimes you can have one which takes this behavior to an extreme. I've had to move such bullies because they were actually causing others in the group to not get enough to eat. Adding dither fish won't affect pecking order establishment.

Mark
 
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