Dominant Discus

I have 2 discus in my 30 gallon tank. Just recently I have noticed one is dominant. The less dominant fish is still managing to get lots of food, although the other tries to prevent that. I feed them 2 very small sprinkles of food per day. I use to wait till they finished one, then added another. Today I tried adding both sprinkles @ once on different sides of the tank. There wasn't much difference.

They are both turquoise. The dominant one is georgeous. The dorsal fin extends from the body & the colors are vibrant.

The weaker one has color, but not like the other. It often has its dorsal fin clamped to its body. ( not always )

Does anyone have any idea how I can stop the friction between the 2 ?

 

There will always be some kind of domination, try adding a 2 hide spots ?

 

discuss are fish that do well in groups of 4-6 i think, the more discus the less stress each one gets from the dominant fish.

 

+1 to both posts.

 

It's also a bit small of a tank for a group of discus that's 5-6 strong.

 

I agree that adding more discus is not the answer. I am pushing it right now. I have put in alot of plastic plants ( as much as I hate them ) till my real plants get a chance to grow. In this way, I hope to add more hiding places. I'll also take your suggestions in adding one more hiding place.
Thanks.

 

Good way oceansurf..But the more hiding places you provide to discus fishes they tend to hide more ..The best idea would be to add a 3rd fish (ofcourz after quarantine) so that the aggression is spread around.

Just a chip here...Take care with plastic plants as well, as these can hold lots of detritus and can cause nitrate buildup as well

 

Adding smaller Fish as Distraction

We were talking about my dominant discus. I have added a second hiding place as you suggested, but it doesn't seem to help much. What about adding a small school of neons ? I think they would be a beautiful addition to the tank & perhaps create a diiversion.

 

Nope, there's nothing that will divert the dominant discus except for a group of discus. Hiding places won't cut it, tiny fish won't cut it. Especially tiny fish; discus will eat smaller fish.

 

Cichlids are born that way ;D..Well said mate