Still problems with runt

[sleepers]

Hi all-

So as you may remember I'm still a bit of a plebe when it comes to discus. So, I had that one discus who was really runty, not even so small, just sort way down the heirarchy and kind of hung out by himself... well, he died. I replaced him with two bigger new guys, and now the community gets along fine... except for the new smallest, now acting the same way.

I wouldn't worry except my last "bottom of the totem pole" discus died. I can't have my discus dying on me like that!!!

ANy advice?

[Merrilyn]

Hi sleepers, what is the size difference between those fish.

[sleepers]

Ok, so there are now 5 discus. All of them seem to be within about a year of one another in age, but the largest is probably a good 4 1/2-5" while the smallest is in the ballpark of about 2 1/2, maybe 3"

The small guy looks a little thin, though not sickly (yet!)

I'm just worried because this is exactly the behavior his buddy exhibited, and to make matters worse I think they're probably litter mates (or whatever you call it), so they probably have similar characteristics.

I'll try and snag some pics later with the dig camera I borrowed...

[Merrilyn]

It's probably better to try to keep all the fish in the tank at about the same size, if possible. There will always be one fish on the bottom of the pecking order.

If you actually remove that fish, and put it in another tank of smaller fish, it will become the dominant fish in the tank and another fish will become the 'underdog'.

Keepers of more aggressive fish practice a form of controlled overcrowding.

By keeping a large number of fish in a tank, then the aggression is spread over a larger number of fish, and one single fish rarely becomes the underdog.

[sleepers]

Thanks, Ladyred...