help with my discus

[clinton _gtr]

hi everyone im new to this site and relativly new to discus. ive bein breeding angles for the past 2 years and with great sucses so i decided to give discus a try.

i have a 260 odd ltr tank in my room with a few small corys and 3 clown loach. ive had my blue diamond discuss for about 2-3 months, i brought them as juviniles and there were 7, recently had a death. The bigger of the discus (looks like a male) bosses everyone around alot and has them intimidated and hogs all the food, its at the point now were evan if the bullied discuss has food rite in front of him/her wont eat it because there scared of the alpha who is eating at the other end of the tank. The larger male has a slightly smaller mate following him around and they seem to get along. My quetion is should i remove these two fish into there own tank. i have a spare tank setup. just want some advise on what to do

temp is around 29 to 30 and ph is acidic, the tank is also planted with some driftwood.

[Nathan]

id remove them for a month or so, may give him time to settle down a bit, then after a month if there not spawning id move them bak to see hes still a bully.

anyway welcome to the forum an hope all goes well

[clinton _gtr]

okay woke up this morning and found all six discus hiding behind a display rock in the tank. i removed the rock then they started to swim around the tank as usuall. but now there all biffing eachother. i want to take the larger male looking fish out but i also want to take another out so he is not by himself, but i want to try pick a female , are there any certain things to look for that will tell me the sex of the fish

[DR.V]

I would suggest put the rock back. This will provide fish a place to hide. They will feel safer that way.

Its very hard to sex discus when they're still young. The only way you can be certain is when they're breeding.

Can you also check your ammonia, nitrate, and phosphate, make sure they're at safe level.

Good luck.

[mcloughlin2]

You can't be sure that your bully is a male ... Yes it most likely is but until you watch it spawn you can't be 100% sure ... :wink:

He is a thread about discus breeding, that has a small section about sexing discus ...

Discus Breeding (http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4426://url)

In my opinion, seperating the bully and another discus into a tank of their own spells disaster ... :( .. You could potenially put 2 males together, one which is a known bully :shock:

I would seperate the discus in a tank and place a few tetras in with him for a few weeks .. Do this to give the other discus time to establish their own hierachy and teritories ...

[clinton _gtr]

ok all is alot better know, i changed the tank around a bit and while doing so noticed phosphate was quite high, took my carbon out so i now have phosgaurd and purigen to replace it, have bein doing every day water changes. Also removed all fish bar the 6 discus and 3 juli corys (and spiney eal but he is constantly under gravel so he is a bugger to catch)

There was a bit of a prob that i didnt post up, there were 2 of the discus that were darting around the tank franticly and injuring themselves. They are all fine know thow and happiest ive ever seen them.