Aggression - how long to wait to "settle"

[magpie]

OK, I am new to bichirs and got a WC Delhezi and Palmas Palmas 2 weeks ago. They're both around 6 inches. They're in a 65 gallon tank with a 36 x 18 x 24" footprint. It's pretty densely planted with wood and decor.

On the 14th I noticed the Palmas getting nippy with the Del, actually grabbing it's tail, but no harm was done at the time and I was told that it can take a bit for them to work out their hierarchy.

I hadn't seen any of this since, and many times they hang out right next to each other. I don't see it happening when they eat and in my dog mind there'd be a fight with food around but maybe not. So I thought they had worked it out. But yesterday I saw that the Del's tail was torn pretty badly.

So now my question is, is this just not going to work long-term, or is this something that could still be OK?



Also, another factor to add in - I found out that my exceptionally soft water is dropping to a pH of 5 (just under/around 7 out of the tap) and I am resolving this now. (It is supposedly just what happens in this city.) I don't know if this could possibly affect the behavior since it's a pretty low pH. I do 50% water changes 2x/wk.

 

[DMD123]

You are just dealing with typical poly behavior. Im dealing with lower jaw poly but I have seen a few times now that when it is just two poly sharing a tank, in my case a quarantine tank, one always becomes top dog. Some can get pretty nasty about it with the alpha fish biting and chasing.

Solutions... well more polys to spread out the agression. Since you are dealing with upper jaws its nice since you could add something as inexpensive as a senegalus or two to help with this.

Larger tank with bigger footprint may help too. I believe you had the 36 x 18 breeder tank footprint if memory serves. Going to a 4foot tank may help a little but a 6foot long tank would give them the space to go their separate ways.

Go bare... I mean regards tank decor. I had a very territorial poly that loved a piece of mopani. It was the ultimate hide out and he defended it very well. Problem was it was in the middle of the tank and every poly had to pass by it to get to the other side of the tank. Lots of bites and tail holds were happening. Removed the wood and agression lowered considerably. So your palmas my have claimed a large part of the tank as territory. Removing decor may help.

These are the best things I can come up with but adding another poly or two is the way I would start and maybe transition to a larger tank sooner than later.

 

[Cosmic_surfer]

I wouldnt worry about it to much. A little more than a year ago i got a male lap bichir and added it to my 55 gallon. He was maybe 10 inches and an ornate i had was maybe an inch or 2 bigger. I would see her grab his tail or bit his head, but it never resulted in much except maybe a slightly tore up tail. Eventually she accepted him and they have since been best of friends (and laps tail grew back out to full magnificance). I can second the more bichirs statement. Seemingly they care less and less when they have more neighbors. Really keeping a few bichir species together can be fairly rewarding. Species seem to have their own behaviors as well. If you want a good display swimming around bichir, the sens and endli are your go to, they will swim around just to swim it seems. The ornates are a little more skittish and will hide first chance they get, but tend to be a little more territorial. My lap seems to enjoy basking in aquatic plants, mine stays on top of a piece of drift wood, but never seems to skittish. The delhizi seems to be similar to senegap, but i would say slightly more skittish. I also have a pair of ropefish, and if i could recommend any it would be them. Watching them "share" food is fascinating. Never try to take a nightcrawler from a rope fish, they will spin rapidly and rip off a large chunk... when 2 ropefish interract this way it can get pretty turbulant haha.

 

[jaws7777]

All good advice mentioned by dmd and comsic

These fish are funny and no two are alike (personality wise) my endlis are lazy buns and my ornate is almost as active as my cichlids.

Its really a crap shoot when it comes to aggression. I have had similar issues with my ornate and an endli that i had to rehome. The ornate was a so.b and beat up on anything smaller but over time it calmed down and is a none issue. Not sure if it was just time itself or afding more polys...i think the latter.

The endli well nothing worked removing decorarions, adding more polys, keeping it will less polys... just had to rehome it.

I wouldnt guve up on your palmas yet try some of the things that were suggested they really are a beautiful poly

 

[Polyaddict86]

The best ways to spread the aggression is to get more bichir and leass decor for less territory to claimed. I will let it play out but watch it if it becomes deadly ill seperate them right away.
DMD123 said it all already.

Here a clip of my bad Black volta endli

But now that i added a few more like the ansorgii and the dabola endli, his aggression went away, so adding a few senegal wont hurt.

 

[magpie]

Ok, well my LFS is the wet spot and they have Palmas Polli in holding / quarantine. I'm hoping they'll be ready this weekend because they've had them for several weeks now.

They also have rope fish in holding.

They have sens too.

Would you guys do:
One Polli

One Polli, One Sen

2-3 Ropes

I am upgrading but not until we move which will be next fall. So they have to share a 3w x 18d x 24h for about a year.

Thanks for making me feel better. Like I said, she's not always aggro, they are on top of each other quite often without aggression so that's got to be a good sign, right?

 

[Polyaddict86]

Imo ill go for sen and polli, i like ropefish, but they dont get thick like polys.

 

[DMD123]

This was my issue, the endli had claimed the branches under the stump

As to adding polys, my preference would be sticking to the polys as opposed to adding ropes.
I would see about adding a sen and polli as soon as possible. I think this would be better than trying to add just one.

 

[magpie]

Thanks. If the Polis are available I'll add them this weekend.

 

[jaws7777]

One thing to keep in mind is filtration. Keep an eye on your ammonia and nitrates. Initially u may see an ammonia spike since your adding or doubling the bioload no big deal if you have a sufficient amount of bio but eventually you should read 0 ammonia if not you may have to add buo media