I've had my 50g set up for some time with three goldfish (7" shubunkin, 4" celestial-eye, an 2" fantail), and some other communal and schooling fish. I bought a beautiful 4" calico oranda today, left for a while, and when I came back the 2" fantail was harassing the oranda like it was nobody's business, chasing the oranda all around the tank and nipping at him (more towards his head and gills than his tail).
I would have thought it was basic territorial/new fish added behavior, but a friend of mine (sandtiger) is going through something very similar. He has an orange and black oranda that as of 2 days ago is missing an eye, and its wen looks like it's slowly getting pecked off. The only really likely culprit is a slightly larger ryukin.
Has anyone had experience with aggressive fancy goldfish, speficially towards orandas? I'm wondering if the wen tastes really good to other goldfish, emits some sort of pheremone, or something else. Any other ideas?
Edit: I've recently added an adult emale gold gourami and a fire bellied newt to the tank (since the fantail was in there) and didn't see any aggression in either of those cases, only towards the oranda.
I would have thought it was basic territorial/new fish added behavior, but a friend of mine (sandtiger) is going through something very similar. He has an orange and black oranda that as of 2 days ago is missing an eye, and its wen looks like it's slowly getting pecked off. The only really likely culprit is a slightly larger ryukin.
Has anyone had experience with aggressive fancy goldfish, speficially towards orandas? I'm wondering if the wen tastes really good to other goldfish, emits some sort of pheremone, or something else. Any other ideas?
Edit: I've recently added an adult emale gold gourami and a fire bellied newt to the tank (since the fantail was in there) and didn't see any aggression in either of those cases, only towards the oranda.
