aggression issues?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Thanks for the advice everyone.

gerryjun said:
rescapingis may not be the solution, it just removes know boundaries or territories, after a few days or weeks they will reestablish there places and aggression starts all over again, it only work if he establishes him self within the new order.

Options:
1. Overstock the tank, prevents anyone from establishing a territory due to crowding, and spreads the aggression.
2. Personality of the fish place a role, replace it will another ornate and hope its not aggressive. i have 3 ornates, the 11inch is docile, but the 9inch occasionally bites anything.
3. If the aggression does not result in major damage, its all ok, occasional torn fish are ok.
4. how long have you had the Del? in my experience they can be aggressive to newly introduced bichirs but will settle down in 2-3 weeks.

hope that helps.
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I have had them both now for a little over a week. I ordered both at the same time.

My tank is pretty much understocked atm. I am in the process of restocking. Can you suggest what some good tank mates would be. The boss wanted a pair of oscars. So I settled on one that's growing out in a 28g with a parrot cichlid. In the 125 I have the ornate and del plus three synodontis cats that I will be keeping.
 
Oh yeah I forgot to mention I would like to try everything to keep my ornate. Out here they are hard to find and when the only pet shop I have seen them at has some they sell baby ones for close to 50.
 
What type of synos do you have with them? As synos age and establish themsevels in the tank they will start to suck on the polys slime coats. Best bet to stop aggression, get more bichirs. I had a weeksi that was aggressive, as soon as i took out the cave it used to hide in, it cooled down and didnt bother the other polys which it used to nip at the fins and tails just like your ornate
 
I may have to take the cave it likes out. This morning I saw them both hanging out peacfully on the opposite side of the tank.

As for synos I don't know what they are. One is dark with dark spots. The other two are gray with black dots. All three are four or five years old. But I can replace them if needed. Could I add a diff schooling bottom fish like a loach.

If I got more polys how many and witch ones would be best.
My tank is a standard six foot 125g tank
 
Senegals, Lapradei, Endli are good choice. Just make sure the senegal is larger than the ornate.
 
gerryjun said:
rescapingis may not be the solution, it just removes know boundaries or territories, after a few days or weeks they will reestablish there places and aggression starts all over again, it only work if he establishes him self within the new order.

Options:
1. Overstock the tank, prevents anyone from establishing a territory due to crowding, and spreads the aggression.
2. Personality of the fish place a role, replace it will another ornate and hope its not aggressive. i have 3 ornates, the 11inch is docile, but the 9inch occasionally bites anything.
Click to expand...

Agree with that. Keeping two fish like this often results in one becoming dominant and constantly harassing the other (same goes for many other fish, aros, cichlids etc). Unless they're a pair then two is a bad number to keep. I'd suggest looking for a few more similar species around the same size to try spread the aggression, although if it continues you may have to consider rehoming the ornate, as sometimes they can be antisocial. If its bad now then there's a good chance its going to be worse when the ornate is twice as thick as the del and getting close to twice the length!

*edit* forgot to read the second page...

Endli and ornate get to a similar size in captivity, endli maybe slightly bigger in the [very] long run. Perhaps if you like the ornate you should get rid of the del and get a few of the larger species (more ornates, endli, lap, congicus, ansorgii, weeksii etc), but keep in mind you will need a wider tank than your 125g...
 
ejwp said:
Is there any one or ones that would be best. And doesnt endli get really big?

I may have to take the cave it likes out. This morning I saw them both hanging out peacfully on the opposite side of the tank.
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wait for 2 more weeks, they might just settle down eventually, they are not really aggressive to the point of killing each other.

Your ornate grows to about 20" and endli's about 24" in aquarium environment, senegal max about 10-12".

i would suggest you collect types that are compatible to your ornate, lapradei, congicus and ansorgii or bichir bichir if you can get one.

do note that this are big guys that can grow from 20"-30" so put in mind that you might need an aquarium in the size of 2 feet wide and as long as possible with-in 1-2years.

or would could collect the small ones that grow less than 20", palmas complex, weeksii, senegals, retro, and teugelsi etc...

good luck
 
Thanks again for the advice. Ill keep browsing to see what I can find and ill keep a close eye one my two, also I have been toying with the idea of trying to build or ording a 6x3 acrylic tank so I may look into getting some of the larger ones if I need to if they would be ok in a tank of that size.
 
Just thought I would update my thread.

Over the last month or so my ornate had calmed down a bit after I opened up my whole aquarium but it still made it a point to swim across the tank and nip the dels tail. There had never been any real damage but I didn't like seeing the poor del always floating in the fake plants trying to avoid the ornate.

I didn't want to remove one of my first polys so I took the advise of adding more to the mix and added two new bichirs into my tank.

The new guys are an endli and lap. Now I'm just hoping the ornate will calm down or it may have to go.
 
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