Aggressive Discus

[Vervo]

Hello,

We have 6 young discus in our tank,

And well, theres always at least one bully. If we remove one, another one will take the roll.

They seem to be getting extremely violent towards each other ripping fins etc...

Any ideas what might be causing it? our tank is well planted, 150L (we will be getting bigger tank as they get bigger)

Thanks

[phoenix44]

It's because you have 6 discus in a 150L tank.

They need a larger tank.

I have 3 in a 225L densely planted tank and that works out OK.

[Vervo]

So the fact that they are small doesnt matter?

[henward]

but 6 small fish produce a higher spike of waste than 3 big ones.

smaller fish have higher metabolism so waste gets produced quicker in a shorter amount of time

also, the tank is small, sometimes they can be ok

but discus is agro by nature, like all cichlid really

one will always take the slack

there is always one dominant

cure?

bigger tank, some plants.

OR double the amount of fish

b ut in that tank, its hard.

[Vervo]

In regards to the waste, we do a 25% water change every 2 days.

So the waste ammonia etc has never been a problem.

Could higher pH levels cause aggression? For some reason even with buffer, our tank sits at around 7.2pH

Cannot seem to get it down without Co2, but then it bounces between 6-7 every night its turned off :<

[henward]

i dont believe so

water change is nitrate removing.

amonia will be dependant on your filtration

but im sure its ok

its the tank size and the type of fish

put plants perhaps

but mainly, its jsut the nature of discus

[David R]

OR double the amount of fish

Best solution IMO, but as Henward also said, I find it hard to imagine a 150L comfortably housing a single full grown discus, let alone a group of them, hope you're planning on upgrading....

[Luke*]

we will be getting bigger tank as they get bigger

you could add a couple more of the same size for now..150L isn't exactly a small tank.

25% change daily is better for growth.. 50% daily even better...and so on.. bare bottom is better too if you want big show quality beefy ones at adulthood..

[Adrienne]

I have 4 discus in a 450 litre tank and the penang eruption spends its life constantly sparring with 2 of the discus.

[livingart]

the penang eruption

sounds quite painful

[fishplants]

Vervo,

I have two grow-out tanks at the moment, one has 100 litres of water (and 7 young discus) in it and the other has 120 litres (and 10 young discus). Both are bare bottomed, no plants. There is no worrying bullying in either tank. 40% water change on each tank every 2nd day.

Sometimes you find fish that are just mean/bossy - they may get over it, they may not.

The best thing I have found for curbing the aggressive nature of young discus is to add an adult - it has an amazing calming influence on the youngsters. But then you have tank size issues etc etc - you never win!