Discus behaving badly???

[Blybo]

New to Discus so excuse my possibly dumb question.

I now have three juvenile Discus and added the last one (Leopard)a week ago. The two I bought a couple of weeks before hand are chasing the new guy. 1 in particular will chase a new guy if he gets any closer than 20 cms.

Is this just a natural who's the boss thing that will settle down? Is there anything I can do? Somebody who had a problem with an agressive angel told me that they take it out of the tank, rearrange things a little in the tank, and then put him back and he thinks he is the new guy.

[jim from sydney]

Blybo.....welcome to the best forum.......what you are experiencing is normal.....it is the pecking order.....establishing who is the boss......many factors can lead to this ......it will settle down, keep an eye on it if one is very aggressive you can separate them for a while but leave it alone for a week or 2 and keep in touch.....Jim

[jim from sydney]

Blybo....by the way.....NO question is ever too dumb...the more Q's the better......Jim

[Merrilyn]

Welcome to the forum Blybo, and some very good advice there from Jim.

Just give them a bit of time.

[Del]

I have been told that disucs in numbers four or more are better than two or three in a group...

DEL

[FishyGal]

I used to have 5 and they never stopped chasing each other and bickering. :banghead

Val

[dntx5b9]

Interested in knowing how your three discus are doing. I recently added 2 more to the lone guy I have in my 55G. Some chasing around, but not too bad. Don't know whether I should add more or I can get away with three. I also have been told that three is generally not a good number.

[jim from sydney]

Hi DNTX....
:lol:
6 discus of about the same age is better especially if they are still juvies...it allows them to naturally pair for breeding later.....discus love to be in groups and you will often find them cuddling together....save for a couple more you wont be sorry....good luck

[dntx5b9]

This is what I don't understand. Discus like to be in groups, yet they sometimes fight each other to death. I understand trying to establish dominance, but for fish that like company of others, they sure don't act like it.

[Merrilyn]

We have to remember that we are keeping them in an unnatural environment. They are cichlids, and will fight for dominance of a territory. Unfortunately in a tank, the territory is shared by everyone so there will always be some pushing and shoving.

I've never seen discus fight to the death, I think that's fairly unusual, but I guess it could happen.

They school together due to the 'safety in numbers' aspect, but there will still be a dominant fish in any group.

[jim from sydney]

......Just like people.....

.....if they could only talk.....

....and maybe they do, it is just that we don't understand