[Joey85]

Hey guys,
Quick question,
Had 1 discus for a couple months and have purchased 6 over the weekend.. so 7 in total..
the one I originally had has started chasing the others around, now I figured it was just asserting dominance etc.
but will he eventually stop this?

 

[james1983]

Maybe. How big is the tank? Usually a fish thats alone for awhile see the whole tank as theirs and will try to run ant newcomers out. It may be necessary to move out the original and let the others get comfortable for awhile, the add it back. Rearranging the tank decor may also help.

 

[ken31cay]

What james1983 said. Also, are they all around the same size? 7 is a decent number for Discus, more is better if you have the tank space at least 10gal/Discus. People don't think Discus are aggressive but they can be brutal to other Discus. In my 180gal all-Discus tank, any time I got new Discus I'd have to deal with the aggression. Salt (Kosher or non-iodized) in the water, 1 tablespoon per 5gal, can be calming and help the new fish settle down, also keep the lights off for a day and don't feed. You can also drop the temperature to 80F (don't go lower) for a few days to a week, then put it back up to 84F. This will also have a calming affect on the tank.

 

[Joey85]

It's a 180g tank, the discus that was in there is bigger then the ones added.. I don't have another tank in which to transfer him otherwise I would of done that.. I have one of those floating hatchery things I was thinking of putting him in for now..

 

[ken31cay]

Once the new ones settle down then the big ones aggression should lessen. But there will always be some aggression. I would put another 5-6 Discus in there myself, to further spread the aggression. Do you have any decor, substrate in the tank? It's hard to keep substrate clean enough in a Discus tank. Tall plants can help break sightlines to manage aggression.

As you may know Discus won't thrive, and may die, unless you do regular water changes & tank maintenance (wiping tank walls, keeping filter media clean). When I kept Discus for 18 months I did 50% daily water changes and tank/filter maintence. At the beginning when I slacked the fish suffered/didn't thrive, some died.

I recommend you go to www.simplydiscus.com and read the stickies in the Discus Basics for Beginners section of the forums, if you haven't already.