Discus dilemma. Would gouramis prevent confict?

[Vyache]

Well I hoped it wouldn't happen but sure enough it did. I only bought two discus fish because I was afraid they would all die and I would be out major cash. Anyway, one is picking on the other one. The dominant one looks really good and is growing but the other one hides and swims with its fins clamped. I've got three dwarf gouramis in another tank that are about the same size and color as the discus. I was wondering if it would help if I put them in the discus tank. I could either do that or put one of the discus into the tank that the gouramis are in right now. What are your recomemdations? Will one discus do ok in a tank by itself or with other fish?

 

[Backdraft Bagel]

Re: Discus dilemma. Would gouramis prevent confict

yayy the same problem i had. i burned through 7 discus trying to make a good combination. now i have none. (sold the last two back to the LFS)

weak

 

[Vyache]

Re: Discus dilemma. Would gouramis prevent confict

Its kind of funny, the LfS owner, Tim, from Timz Tropicals and Bait and Tackle, (town is small stores have to diversify, he actually lives in the back of the store with his wife, who breeds betta, and at least two kids), got my number off his caller ID record and called me to ask how my discus fish were doing. I told him one was picking on the other one and he said that he ahd the same problem in the store. Three dominant fish had another four hiding in the corner. The gourami experiment seems to be helping a little bit. The smaller discus hides under my swahala root wood much less often, and seems to get more to eat. I put tubifex worms in a feeder ring and the gouramis shake some loose so they fall down to the discus if nothing else. The discus are showing less of their dark bars as well.

 

[Avalon]

Re: Discus dilemma. Would gouramis prevent confict

Discus should be kept in at least groups of 6. More is better. One discus would be fine, but if you wish to keep more than one, you should at least have 6. This distributes their agression (they are cichlids, or did you forget that?). The same happens with Angelfish, bala sharks, SAE's, etc, etc.

 

[Vyache]

Re: Discus dilemma. Would gouramis prevent confict

I bought one more discus fish bring the total to three. There are also two dwarf gouramis in the tank and things seem to be going pretty well. They are all coming to the front glass when they see me coming to give them worms. The biggest does pick on the other two a little but mostly just chases them a few inches and then leaves then alone. I had a third dwarf gourami in there but it got dropsy. My first experience with a fish disease besides the ubiquous ich. LFS guy said its usually fatal, I could try antibiotics but he doubts they would work and they cost three times as much as the fish did. I'vr got it in a seperate bowl now, hope it gets better, but I doubt it will.

 

[Vyache]

An update for anyone interested:

The three discus fish are doing well. All three come to the front of the tank when I walk by wanting to be feed. They are growing fast, being fed live tubifex worms about four times a day. One of the dwarf gouramis I put in there died of dropsy the other day. Don't know why he got it but non of the other fish in the tank seem to be having problems.

 

[wayne]

I'd try to find something other than tubifex to feed them myself - they're always pretty dirty, and prone ot giving the fish infections.
This discus story seems pretty common, and similar to my first discus experience - bought 5, largest slowly bullied 3 to death, then ignored last one (99% of time). Having other fish around helped.
I don't know how big discus shoals in the wild are, and what else they shoal with (uaru, anostomus?), but I'd like to try a real big shoal if I could ver get a big enough tank

 

[-Joe-]

Aiight, here's how it goes. You buy some discus, they bully eachother. The smallest one gets bullied. What I used to do was keep at least 6 fish in the tank. There is always at least some bullying going on, but when you spread it over 6 fish its not near as bad over 2 or 3. The bullying is bound to happen, and no matter what you do it will continue. I'd either buy more, and keep them all together or just tough it out. DO NOT SEPARATE THEM. No matter what you do. They're actually better off staying together - Discus should be the 'king' of your aquarium and once they are alone they no longer have the ability to do so - they are natural shoaling fish and should not be kept alone. As for tubifex - don't feed live tubifex - the conditions which those worms are raised in are horrific. The worms are raised in sewage and thats the quickest way to dead fish. I'd reccomend the freeze dried version by Hikari. All parasites removed and its cheap. A product called 'clout' worked well for my discus ailments and its actually pretty cheap too.