my discus fish in a community tank

Question
Hello, thanks for your time. This is a 2 part question! Anyway, I have a 75 gallon fish tank, theres actually various fish in there such as tri-color sharks, irredescent, and a silver dollar (keep that in mind). Anyway my girlfriend RECENTLY bought me 3 discus's 1 is bigger then the others and the other 2 are a bit smaller. Anyway, one of the smaller ones is "head butting" the other smaller one when he sees him. Sometimes he dosen't but most of the time he does. Any idea how I can fix this? The tank has plenty of space. (should I add another discus)

Also Since there are other faster eating fish in the tank, whats the best way to ensure my discus get some food other then just tossing in alot of bloodworms or beefheart? I want to feed them the hikari gold I bought for their coloring but they can never get to it! So please anything you can tell me I'll appreciate it.

Answer
Hi Daniel;

Discus are cichlids and cichlids can be very aggressive towards each other. They will "pair off" too and try to chase away others so they can establish territory to spawn. The only good solution for them is to remove the weaker fish or give your more aggressive discus their own tank. They would do great in a 30 to 50 gallon of their own. Add plenty of live plants to give them places to hide. Discus also need a lot of water changes. Sometimes 10% to 25% daily to keep the nitrate level low so they can thrive. They are a pretty high maintenance fish actually. They really need a different tank anyway. Discus just cannot compete successfully for food in a tank with the others you have. While they are an aggressive species, they are more delicate and slower and should be in a discus-only tank with maybe some smaller schooling fish or cory cats. They like slower moving water and lots of plants for cover too. I really feel they are going to be continually stressed and not do well where they are. If they start to get thin from having to compete for food and general stress of faster fish, they will get very sick. I've seen it happen and it's quite tragic.

Good luck...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins