Discus Politics

Thanks to everyone who helped me. I put an airstone in the tank and they are no longer sucking at the surface.

My next problem is with politics among the fish. I have 5 discus and it looks like there is one dominant fish that has been in the tank the longest with a smaller one. I introduced 3 more and now the smaller one does not eat and the 3 new ones are dark in colour and in hiding.

I have isolated the dominant fish into "breeding net" in the tank. Is this the correct thing to do? I don’t want to loose any fish due to the high expense. Before I introduced the 3 new ones. I introduce a smaller one and the other small one murdered it by not letting it eat and chasing it away.

I don’t have a spare tank to put any fish in I only have a single 5ft tank

Help

psx2doctor,

discus (you may already know) are a schooling fish, depending on how recently you added the fish they may be trying to organise the hierachal order, if they are really really new i hope you saw them for a while (not having a spare tank to quarantine them in) and sussed out their suitability as their darkness maybe some disease issue...don't want to scare you, discus can go dark shortly after a move or two until they settle in their new surrounds and with established fish may be trying to just be submissive in their behaviour until they are comfortable.

brenton

Yeah skipping QT is a big NO NO, and maybe you will find out the hard way why.

QT'ing is not only for the big breeders, and it is repeated over most sites for a reason, it is veru important.

Now i would put them all together (well there is not another opion with no other tanks.)

See what pans out, you might find that once they have the hiraki set , they will still be able too live together.

Just make sure that all fish are being feed properly, also make sure no fish is being picked on 24-7, a fish that is stressed because it is always being chased or picked on, will not grow too it full potential.

5 discus in a 5ft tank is plenty of room so set up a divider in the middle, make sure you put the weaker or smaller ones on one side.

They might also start too set order between them in there new groups but again aslong as they all get a feed and are not picked on all the time.

HTH

partitaning is the way to go,

keep very very close eye on the fish due to the fact you could not QT

if the dominate fish still trys to freak out your other inmates it might be time for another tank, or a non see through partitan.

remember your fish go dark under stress, this can be bullying, deiase or for example to much traffic near the tank. I would up the temp by a degree or two (this will speed up thier metabolizme) partitan the baddys from the goodies, and make sure they have some spots to hide so they feel secure, and regular little feedings.

thier colour will return, they will hunt you down for food and all will be sweet

you can try to reintrodue the big bad meanie but if it continues, of to the LFS for your second tank