Hi,
I recently added a new 5.5” discus, which appears to be male, to my existing 110g tank that houses 4 adult ~6” discus and 2 juveniles.
The new discus was immediately picked on by the alpha adult discus in the tank. Despite the bullying, the new discus ate well initially. However, after a week, it started exhibiting mating behavior, cleaning branches, and attempting to mate with multiple discus in the tank, albeit unsuccessfully. I haven't seen any eggs being laid, but the constant branch cleaning and mating dance suggest it's happening.
The alpha discus continues to bully the new one, but it's fighting back each time. My concern is that the new discus has stopped eating for the past three weeks. It's not interested in food, and I've noticed weight loss.
I've tried a few things to encourage eating, such as increasing the temperature from 84 to 86 degrees and rearranging the tank's branches. However, the new discus keeps cleaning branches near the same end of the tank and starting the mating dance with different discus, all while being bullied by the alpha.
I'm worried the new discus will starve itself, and I'm looking for ideas on how to get it to eat again.