Evil baby beuttikoferi!

[Cohazard]

So I was cleaning out the 10g where I have the two baby dels and the baby beuttikoferi and I noticed that my dels' fins were torn up! I checked out the new baby beuttikoferi and it's fins were fine!

I added food and that's when trouble started. The dels started getting busy looking for food and when they got to close to the baby beuttikoferi, she/he attacked them! I thought she was going to take one of their eyes. :(

Has anyone else seen this sort of aggression in baby polypterus? Are Toyins baby bichirs wild caught too? And if they are wild caught, is that a factor behind the beutt's aggression?

TIA for the help :)

[FishGoneWild]

I have seen this behavior in beuttikoferi before. I saw the exaxt same thing during feeding time. Luckily no fins or tails got torn but the aggressor had his mouth clamp onto the tail for a few good minutes before letting go. This type of aggression only happen during feeding time.

[is300zx]

All of Toyin's bichirs are wild caught even the baby ones. Fish can have different temperament so some can be very shy and docile while others can be very aggressive and territorial. The buet is probably just being territorial and I've seen that type of behavior with my CB juvie endlis and dels. Bichirs are generally very tough creatures so torn fins won't kill them and they usually settle down after a while, but if damage starts to become very severe or if the buet continues to be very aggressive then you'll have to separate them.

[Cohazard]

Thanks for the help guys. The damage isn't too bad, it looks more like the buett has grabbed their tails and when the dels bolt away their fins were ripped in the teeth.

[beblondie]

I have 4 2-3'' cb senegals right now in a ten gallon food doesn't seem to be an issue
however territory is
right now #1 has claimed the to of the hydro sponge #2 under the sponge #3seems to have claimed the heater #4 a fake log.
all seems well with #3 and #4.#1 and 2 seem to take turns chasing eachother from their
lil bichirdoms there has been snapping and minor tail damage-Anne

[bluestarjazz]

so the fact my delhlzi and albino will rest on top off each other and the biggest food issue is my guppies appear to related piranhas and will try to eat any thing resembling food, will in fact literally swarm it is not normal?
I wish you well with you fiesty little beuttikoferi I think they are beautiful but I can never find one around here.

[Cohazard]

My brain hurts every time I try to read that post bluestar :ROFL:

Umm, it's normal for bichirs to pile on top of each other, actually, the aggression is what's out of the norm.

I thought it settled today, but now that I check them again, it's still chasing the dels. I can't stay frustrated with it because it's such a beautiful bichir!! :ROFL: Bright yellow and green, it's a nice conrast to the grey and black dels. :D

As far as pirahna livebearers, no, that's not normal :ROFL:

Buett's are rarely seen in LFS (unless your LFS is awesome!) so ordering through Rehoboth is the best bet.

[pwmin]

i haven't seen any aggression between any of my polys, but my ornate likes to pick on my tat

[Atkin]

ive always found beuttikoferi to be a handful, they can turn nasty at any point

[jordanlewis100]

i wouldn't keep these 2 species together as the buttie grows it will probably attempt to kill your bichirs,polys aren't very territorial towards other fish especially large aggressive cichlids,a friend of mine couldn't keep a 10" buttie in with 4 12"-14" oscars as it was just too bad tempered

[Cohazard]

i wouldn't keep these 2 species together as the buttie grows it will probably attempt to kill your bichirs,polys aren't very territorial towards other fish especially large aggressive cichlids,a friend of mine couldn't keep a 10" buttie in with 4 12"-14" oscars as it was just too bad tempered

Seriously? Search for a clip called "Life in the 95" by a user named Dozer0011 on youtube.

It's a coool video that shows some big polys, including a buett, living together peacefully with africanbrown knife smaller than them, even some syno cats smaller than them.

[jordanlewis100]

i don't doubt it but i'm just talking generally,butties living with other more peaceful fish is a rarity rather than the norm,maybe if grown together it would work also the bigger the tank the better as if there's more room for territory then fish will generally be more peaceful,but (as i'm sure you know ) all fish have their different personalities

[Cohazard]

Yes I know bichirs are very individual in their personality, I've just never heard of buetts being normally aggressive rather than laid back like most polys.

I hope the little guy settles down, it would be a PITA to have to keep it separated it's whole life.

[ironmunki]

i wouldn't keep these 2 species together as the buttie grows it will probably attempt to kill your bichirs,polys aren't very territorial towards other fish especially large aggressive cichlids,a friend of mine couldn't keep a 10" buttie in with 4 12"-14" oscars as it was just too bad tempered

are you talking about beuttikoferi bichirs or the other fish? :confused: i thought cohaz was talking about strictly bichirs.

[Cohazard]

are you talking about beuttikoferi bichirs or the other fish? :confused: i thought cohaz was talking about strictly bichirs.

Now that makes more sense. I'm speaking strictly bichirs, thus, posted in the bichir forum. :)

[is300zx]

People are confusing buttikoferi cichlids with BUETtikoferi bichirs.

[Mudfrog]

I had a 10" Buettikoferi and it was semi aggressive during feeding, but it was the largest bichir in the tank as well. Now the really crazy part with him was every time I did a water change it would slam into the cover like it was trying to escape. It was the only one to do this and he did it hard too. That guy was crazy lol.

[ironmunki]

my buet is the 2nd smallest in a tank of about 7 polys. i've never seen any aggression from him at all. he is kinda like in his own little world.