Bullying, how much is too much

[flukes]

Recently, I re-arranged some plants/decor in my tank, and since then the scorpion snakskin has been bullying the blue diamond. Its not constant, mainly around feeding time. When the fish where first put in there they travelled as a group but now the pigeon blood is sick of deciding who to follow because they are fighting. By the looks of things (using the fin lines technique) the scorpion looks like a male and the blue diamond looks like a female. My mate said his pair fought alot before spawning and it was quiet natural but iam starting to feel sorry forthe blue diamond because she just seems to flee every time the scopion trys to bully her.
Do you think i should seperate or do you think it they will be ok??

[discusdude]

You could always add 3 more discus. In a group of 6 bullying will be minamised, if not eradicated all together.

Alistair

[flukes]

yeah might need to breed some tanks first. Dont know if iam going to get some more discus r try to brred some pepp/bn's and orange spotted bn's.

Decisions..

[kevkoi]

2-3 is a BAD number for Discus..... 2 fish, and one will bully the other, 3 fish and there's a chance 2 will bully one or one will get harrassed very badly. The bigger the group, the more the aggression is spread. 6 is an ideal number for young discus.... but anything more than 3 fish is better mate!

Oh well, if they're fighting, at least we know they're healthy.. :lol:

kev

[flukes]

Dont worry kev iam out of my crazy impulse solving of problems that dont exist!! lol the fish are great but they are only in a 3ft planted tank and i think adding more might be cutting it too close. I ll have to get a bigger tank running and stock it up with discus.

[flukes]

Well its now out of control, my blue diamond had flesh wounds, i couldn't see how a discus could harm another but there are about 4 little marks where he has abrasions. Its funny though the blue diamond picks on the pigeon and the SSS picks on the blue diamond for picking on the pigeon.
Its a love hate family!

[Annie]

You have to remember that even though they are Discus which are more docile of a fish, they are still from the Cichlid Family and can be a bit agressive and love to have a pecking order. And yes, they can damage another tank mate just like any other cichlid. I would take the injured Discus out and QT him for the healing process. But yet when you reintroduce him back into the tank again, you will have that agression once again, mainly because he will be the "new " one.
Another option you have is to take out the bully and put him into another tank for a couple of days, and let him (the bully) just chill and then when you put him back intothe tank, he will be the new intro into the tank.

Just my 2 cents. :wink:

[DiscusMan]

Annie i think your advice is good and would have help me when i started out.

I orignally had only 2 discus. A blue diamond and a turq. The blue bullied very badly on the turq. About 2 months later i joined the ADA. Then i had 12 discus not long after. The Blue still wanted to be the boss as he thought it was his tank. He never fully got over the fact that he went form the top to the bottom after the 10 new fish where all much bigger than he was :P

So i would say it is better try to stop excessive bullying as quick as you can. I would also say that not everyone may have room or time for a tank of 6 discus so it may be a bit more difficult than just saying go spend more money on fish. You may not have another tank to seperate them either. So I would say that as long as they are both getting some food and that they are not physically hurting one another then all should be well. Try feeding at both ends of the tank for example to try to get them to seperate when eating would be one thing. If all else fails and you have no room for new tanks or more fish. Perhaps you could try swapping the agressive one with someone for another fish?

Are both the fish about the same size and were they the same size when you put them in originally.

Good luck with it and happy keeping.

DiscusMan

[flukes]

All these fish came at the same time and yes i dont have another tank ATM, until i get these 3 4fts running and iam also waiting on a 6ft to be made. They are all eating thats the main thing, but the blue diamond is picking on the pigeon and its like the SSS is only picking on the blue diamond becuase he is picking on the pigeon. Its just when the SSS fights he seems to cause damage. Ill see how it goes because normally they go through periods, if it gets too bad i ll move the blue diamond to my mates 6ft where he will be the smallest fish.

Cheers
Scott