New to discus - normal behaviour?

[enigmatic]

Hi,

OK, apologies first off as I was trying to hold of buying Discus until my trip to Xtreme. Went into the LFS on Fri and they had new stock I could afford and I just couldn't say no.

I bought 2 small Discus, about 4-5 cm in size. I'm not 100% but I think one may be a snakeskin and the other is a red & blue turq.

Neither Discus is eating, the subject of another post. What I'd like to check is the behavior.

Both Discus swim closely and hang out together a lot and look very happy together most of the time. In saying that, the snakeskin will turn and chase the other Discus around the tank. It is at the point where the red & blue turq appears to be in hiding most of the time.

Should I try and separate the 2 fish or is this normal? Both are new to the tank at the same time and share the tank with 20 neons and a flying fox. The tank is 5x2x2 so there is plenty of space to share.

The red & blue changes colour quite a bit which I take to mean it is stressed.

What is the norm with new Discus to a tank? I was hoping to get more juvenile discus when I go to Xtreme this Fri but now I am not so sure.

Please advise...

[scott bowler]

hi enigmatic
it is still a good idea to get some more discus they will calm down as you said the tank is big and some time you will find that just having two the will not allways get a long. how ever if you have 6 or so you will find they will feel safer and not so much aggro it is recomended to have 6or so two help they are a schooling fish ,so i hope that helps a little

[Merrilyn]

This behaviour is very normal with just two juvenile fish in the tank.

At that age, they are a schooling fish, and as scott said, they will feel more secure in a larger group. It's a funny thing with discus, but the more you have in the tank, the less agression.