Fishman1318;2777571; said:
I just looked over and saw my senegal bichir take a big bite into my Ornate. I was like whhaaaa? I dont know why he just did that, they get along great. I did notice afterwards that my ornate was chewing on something so maybe the senegal was like give it up i want that food? I put some more food in there but just wanna make sure my senegal isnt hitting maturity and getting territorial or something.
What are the sizes of your polypterus?
Have you had them for the same amount of time or has the senegalus been alone in the tank for a while before you got the ornate?
Anne is correct that this is a normal behavior for polypterus, they establish dominance at first, but will eventually calm down and let alone the new fish.
I prefer to keep them together in these situations and let them sort it themselves. Unless the new bichirs gets completely shredded, which will only happen if your established poly happens to be unusually aggressive, everything should be fine.
crowxviii;2778215; said:
I think ornates are usually the bully type. you guys might want to check this out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51oLrMBqN3s
Really any species is capable of aggression. From the recent four polys I picked up, the new female polli just doesn't seem very popular in the tank.
The big beuttikoferi I got at the same time as the polli has been picking on her, and Big Betty my established female polli, has been picking on her too. Everyone else lives in peace. I can't explain what it could be other than possibly the two bigger females see the younger female as a fish they can easily dominate? My plat sen and delhezi are both male, and there are no aggression issues between themselves, or the large females.
In that video, I thought it may have been related to spawning, but I realize now the fish were wayy too young. It was just unusual that a newly introduced male would attack the established female. She ended up establishing her dominance though