severe discus aggression

[simmo2302]

I have an aggression problem with my discus atm.

obviously as they are getting better they are getting territorial for a spawning site, or somthing else maybe.

I have seen one of the reds appearing to be cleaning the internal power filter. cleaning any crap off for a spawn perhaps?

the 2 fish in question is 1 red(dont know the breed) discus, and 1 turk discus.

the red will peck the blue turk alot, and eventually the turk will have enough and face the red and they will both shimmy/vibrate then attack each other pecking furiously at each other until the turk runs away, and if he is lucky the red will let him go.

i often have to go near the tank, and place my hand against the tank (no tapping) to break them up.

the 2 reds are a mated pair, and so are the 2 turks. (or so i was told when i rescued them, so the mated may or may not b tru, but they are definitely married as they r definitely couples lol)

are there any reasons for this almost constant aggression?
what can i do to stop it?

i have tried to track down some egg crate grille. but it is not easy to find anymore, bunnings and mitre10 do not stock it up here and lighting specialist shops want $150 for a 500mm x 500mm peice.

[simmo2302]

video of one of the reds. picking on the turk.

was hopeing to get a vid of them facing each other off, but by this time the turk had, had enough and just wanted to get away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn-N72ltCBc

[Mr Wild]

Hello

Well to me it looks more like fighting. When my discus pair up I see more swimming side by side, touching, bowing that kind of thing, more gentle looking.

If he/she is at the other one all day like that I would separate. The victum will only get stressed and then could fall to some disease.
JIMO. HTH

[simmo2302]

yea, the 2 reds r a pair, and the 2 turks r another.

after further watching it seems that the red that chases the turk doesnt like that turk being down "its" side of the tank.

maybe the reds have staked out a territory? and chase the turks away from it?

but i thought that only happened when spawning, and i have had a good look and cant see any eggs.

[xrboy_85]

Morning all

question alot of my discus behave like this on a regular basis??? not always to the point of chasing from one side of the tank to the other, but they peck at each other and intermitantley chase,

It's more so around feeding time but it still happens when they in between feeds.

at times i have seen stand offs where they face off and go at it like dogs.

the last four days my pidgeon blood hasn't been eating much and has been hiding down the back behind my val wall my marlboro goes down and checks out the scene then swimms as normall,

marlboro is still eating fine and i have picked the marl to be female and the pidgeon to be male.

[nicholas76]

Gday simmo2302

aggression like this is typical im afraid especially with adults that are in breeding mode or settng up territory.

Easiest solution would be to obviously remove the aggresor.

or

Try changing the tank environment( remove all the fish first ). Probably wont work however the new environment may keep them guessing for a little while on who runs this new place.

[simmo2302]

i was hopeing to get some egg crate grille, but its too hard to get hold of (well money wise anyway) i have even been down to the local reuse centre at the tip, but notihing.

so i have come uo with the idea of getting a bit of plastic sheeting from bunnings, and driling holes everywhere in it to allow water flow, but still keep them seperated.

[Mr Wild]

Sounds like a plan simmo!
They sell similar things at the lfs but it is way over priced and if you are handy like that its win/win. Use heater stickes to hold the plastic in place, not a perfect fit but it will do. HTH

[simmo2302]

well i found the reason behind the sudden aggression.

EGGS !! everywhere ! lol

they wernt there last night. this morning when i turned the light on, there were heaps of eggs all up the filter. and another lot up the heater (heater has black casing over it so it wont burn any fishes)

the reds are staying over by the eggs at the heater and the turks are staying by the eggs at the filter.

i doubt any would survive i'd expect the eggs on the heater to die cos of the heater and i m still treating the tank with metro trying to get the fish better.

[Mr Wild]

Fantastic! Do you have another tank? You could trying moving one pair with the heater / filter outlet.

[simmo2302]

unfortunately, the male red ate all the eggs from the heater. the female red is quite pissed off at him, she charged him and wont let him near her, she is still sitting near where the eggs were and wont leave. i guess she is moping.

the eggs on the filter lasted longer, the female turk stayed near them, fanned them and blew on them, but they eventually turned all white, *the male turk is quite sick still and obviosuly wasnt up to the job.

i had noticed that about 3/4 of the eggs turned white, i left the room, came back in a few hrs and they were gone to, so she ate them, or let the red male come and eat them to.

[simmo2302]

oh, and i realise what got the two pairs to spawn at the same time,

i did a 80-90% water change the day b4 as i shook out the 2 plants (which r in terracotta pots so the tank is BB) and alot of crap came out of them dirtying the water.

and the new water i put in was the same PH but slightly cooler. so i guess the slightly cooler water and the big WC made them spawn.

also i guess we r moving out of winter down here in Aus and it is getting quie warm very quickly here in QLD.

[Mr Wild]

Oh ok yes the cooler wc are said to help start spawning, perhaps try then on their own or divide the tank? Its so much fun this part!