ATF Behavior

[yourockit]

Four of my five atfs are shoaling nicely. One of my atfs (a gatf) is not hanging out with the rest of the fishes. Is this common? perhaps he is sick? the others do not bother him when he moves with the group so i think he just chooses to be alone for some reason. he sits on the opposite end of the tank near the bottom and he barely moves around. he eats a little bit. he is the littlest gatf.

 

[yourockit]

Four of my five atfs are shoaling nicely. One of my atfs (a gatf) is not hanging out with the rest of the fishes. Is this common? perhaps he is sick? the others do not bother him when he moves with the group so i think he just chooses to be alone for some reason. he sits on the opposite end of the tank near the bottom and he barely moves around. he eats a little bit. he is the littlest gatf.

My tank has become a pretty nasty playpen for the 5 atfs.
The tank has been divided into three territories.

1 The front territory: where the only light source and only heater is.
2. Mid territory: where half-light is.
3. The back: where it is very dark and slightly colder.

The two biggest gatfs reside and maintain the front.They fight off all intruders. They fight amonst themselves too.
The vitatus holds the mid territory by himself (you should see how he defends his territory). He is a mean little sob. He is round like a potato therefore he is an agressive and tough little potato.
The back is where the two smallest fishes (gatfs) reside. They are scared to go to the mid or front of the tank. They get their asses kicked buy the vit and by the gs.

It's a nasty environment. I need to find way to stir things up and distract the fishes from the ultra agressive behavior. Any suggestions? Maybe I just need to add five atfs and a bag of feeders.

 

[channarox]

add some dithers.
that should work.
like silver colored dithers.
atfs do that.
many fish do.
the smaller ones know theyre weak and will sometimes try to avoid a beating.
how big is your tank?

 

[fugupuff]

try something silver, and active. maybe like silver dollars, or some other non aggressive silver fish.

 

[ghostknifefish0909]

i agree with wes,silver dollars or for something bigger maybe tinfoil barbs?

-GKF

 

[yourockit]

add some dithers.
that should work.
like silver colored dithers.
atfs do that.
many fish do.
the smaller ones know theyre weak and will sometimes try to avoid a beating.
how big is your tank?

ok. I'm going to to try adding some other fishes. thanks

 

[yourockit]

try something silver, and active. maybe like silver dollars, or some other non aggressive silver fish.

silver sounds good. going to try this. thanks

 

[yourockit]

i agree with wes,silver dollars or for something bigger maybe tinfoil barbs?

-GKF

thanks

 

[yourockit]

how big is your tank?

240 gallon. 8' long

 

[West1]

I dont know if it helps, but try to move some of the decor around so they dont claim stuff (if possible)