Aggression Question

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lungfishlover

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 25, 2010
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UK
hello all, last night i noticed my new 14" ornate chasing my 11" palmas around my tank and biting him/her. as a result my palmas has a split tail fin and now constantly hides. the ornate has been in the tank since sunday midday and this is the first time i have noticed this behaviour.

when the ornate was introduced, there were no problems and they would both hang out at one end of the tank. in fact the palmas would press its head against the body of the ornate and even force itself underneath the ornate. the other thing is i have a senegal and a delhezi in there too, both measure around the 4/5" mark. the del hides behind a rock since day one so i rarely see it but the sen is very active and buzzes around the tank all day. i havent observed the sen being hounded by the ornate at all so im wondering is this a dominance thing or will my smaller birchirs end up being lunch :cry:?

i dont feed live foods and my tank is decorated with plenty of rocks, bogwood and plants. i know ornates can be aggressive but it really made me feel bad for my palmas.

it was like watching a mike tyson fight a school kid! :popcorn:

my ornate has a lot more girth than the palmas. so he will always have the upper hand. today though my partner hasnt observed any more bullying.

ive tried to add as much info as poss hope this helps also will my palmas tail heal? its slpit right down to the stump?

any suggestions will be extremely grateful! :confused:
 
Id worry about the smaller polys as there is a huge size difference but i think chasing the palmas is probably just a show of whos boss now the ornate has settled in a bit,how bad is the damage to the fins,pics?

Steve
 
here is a video of what i mean. it is continuing to happen :nilly:
at the end of the vid you can see my tiny sen!
i dont know what to do as i dont have another tank to seperate them at the mo but i might ask a friend who i got them from to take them back for a while. till i move house in a month or two and set up a 9' tank for them.
[YT]J70_tGbOPpg[/YT]
 
I had a similer problem I had a 16 inch P.Enlicheri and he was in a 265g tank for 3 years then I said hey I have 5 fish here 14 dehezi,12 senegalus 2 12 rope fish one more fish so I ordered a another P. Endlicheri so I wanted to get a little bigger one just to even the score old fish in his home bigger fish to handle in case he gets bullied 18 in Enlicheri, no he was not 18inches. but 25 inches a monster female after about a week hell broke lose I had already rearange the tank the bigiest Endy was always on the attack biting herasing the hell out of the other one so I took all the fish out tore the tank apart new plants gravel rocks took out the rope fish and the senegalus put in all the fish and added a 16 in P. KOLIBA and all is good in the Bichir tank over 18 months now.
 
i currently have a 16" ornate with an ancistrus, in the past they have been in with large clown loaches, rtb shark, parrot and convict cichlids, ctenopomas to name a few, all were at least 6" and i never had a problem.
yesterday i added an 8" red tiger oscar to the tank and the ornate has suddenly started being aggresive, harrsing and biting at the oscar and wouldnt leave him alone, i thought this would calm down and the oscar would snap back or the ornate would realise the oscar was to big to eat but this morning the ornate was still at it.
the oscar seems ok, just a few scrape and small splits in the fins but the ornate is still at it so ive added a big bit of tubing and moved the layout about and so far (fingers crossed) this seems to have stopped it and hes not seeming too fussed with the oscar.
may be too early to speculate too much but may be worth a try?
im hoping this will solve the situation as im waiting for a 12"+ fire eel to add to the mix!
 
Scorpion7k - i have redecorated and provided more hiding places for all 4 polli's. i think its a dominance thing as my two tiny pollis are never bothered and actually hang together in one of their hiding spots.
 
I have an ornate who liked to ride my delhezis tail around for the first two weeks or so they were together. Everything calmed down and no there is zero aggression.
 
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