Ever have battling fish become buds?

[FINWIN]

It's the craziest thing...my parrot Boss would make it his buisness to attack the Synos (Rex, Cash) on sight. He shoves them all over the place if they get too close to his turf. Especially Rex, the two had a war the Parrot eventually won (Boss wouldn't stop fighting). But yesterday I saw Boss and Rex sitting quietly together like best buddies! This morning the same thing. WEIRD! ?

Boss still can't stand the Severum Chip, though. I've documented Chip's stupidity in constantly starting fights he loses every time. Today he went blasting into Boss' turf looking for war...and got it. Two seconds and a flash of orange later he was banged around and chased out. Brick (Oscar) finished it off by pressing Chip into the opposite corner. Now if Chip and Boss became friends it would take a major miracle. Stranger things have happened I guess.

 

[bobblehead27]

A lot of times the battling is just to establish or to remind others of their dominance. Once the subordinate fish acts as such, many times the conflict ends with just a few random chases to serve as a reminder of who is boss

 

[Akeno071]

I wish the two angelfish of the 4 my mother brought would do the same so the one in my tank could go back to hers.
But I don't want to be the one to pick angelfish remains out of the clogged filter when it goes wrong..

 

[islandguy11]

I wish my Kamfa would stop battling me and be my bud, but after ~2 years it just ain't gonna happen lol.

 

[Lepisosteus]

Yes. I have two foxfaces in my reef. Most would say it can’t be done. When I first introduced the smaller one it was beaten to a pulp. All fins were torn, covered in ich from stress, and black scars on the body. I let it play out for two weeks and the aggression went away. The foxfaces now show no aggression towards each other.

In my experience short term aggression is an establishment of territory and will naturally go away. Long term aggression is a fish being a bully and often will not subside unless change is made. Whether this be a change in aquascape, isolation, or removal.

 

[FINWIN]

A lot of times the battling is just to establish or to remind others of their dominance. Once the subordinate fish acts as such, many times the conflict ends with just a few random chases to serve as a reminder of who is boss

Unfortunately my dingbat severum desperately wants to be dominant, but is at the bottom of the food chain. He scares no one and gets chased and banged around. Then the dope goes back for more punishment. He shimmys and shakes at everyone like he has DT's and is ignored. Every week he's sporting some damage from nonsense.