Well it was inevitable that my 3 green sunfish (75gal) are developing aggression problems. Actually only one of them. The largest one has really singled one other fish out and leaves the other alone. The one he picks on hides often and displays much darker colors than the other two. Now aggression is not out of hand. Just a few chases here and there. Should i put a few more sunfish in to even out aggression? If so should they be more green sunfish or will other smaller sunfish be ok?
Agression issues
- Thread starter craiga82
- Start date
Green Sunfish are bullies, I only have two in my tank and its 210 gallons, they chase everything in my tank, if I was you I would remove the bully and leave one and add different species. You could also try swapping out some fish, you may find one that isn't as mean. In a tank that small, I'm not sure if having any structure would solve anything since they would be in close proximity of one another he may try to take over the whole tank.
Yes they are bullies. Im curious if anyone knows why the biggest one only singled out one of the smaller of the two. He/she completely leaves the other alone. I added 3 more for a total of 6. I have read more than once that slightly overstocking will help even out aggression.
Could be opposite sex, could be he just doesn't like that particular fish, hard to tell.
I had some aggression issues with my Rock Bass. I put more wood in to keep the line of sight broken. They wont chase if they don't see usually.
Well it has only been a few days but the little guy that was getting harassed has lightened in color (not showing as much stress right?) and has come out of cover to move around. Aggression now is pretty much a short chase out of the others cover as where before the larger fish would chase the small one all around the tank. I have quite a bit of cover for the tank size. Hopefully this evens out of the aggression.
Well that didn't work out well. I have been catching green sunfish for 25 years and they are really awesome. Unfortunately i don't see myself only keeping one in my 75gal because that would probably be best. I gave them away to a friend. I loved their long body type and large mouths and their personalities. They remind me of little LM bass which is cool for people like me who love bass and have been bass fishing for years but does not have the space for one. I will strongly consider in the future getting another one and keeping him solo in a smaller tank.