I have (had) three cobra pike in a 180 gallon wide tank. The largest (only by a tiny bit they are relatively the same size) claimed the entire tank bottom as her territory and forced the other two pikes to live in three plastic caves I have suction cupped to the side of the tank. I moved the caves to just below the water line and it seemed to keep her from going in the caves after them. Once they retreat to the caves she lets them alone. The tank is heavily planted with real swords and a bunch of plastic fake plants, two large pieces of driftwood 4 glass jars dug into the gravel and a large rock cave thingy. The other fish in the tank the ones that havent been butchered, go as follows: two red terrors, two convicts, four silver dollars, one jack dempsey, one salvini (sorry about the spelling its a big yeloow chiclid with black stripes) two fresh water fiddler crabs and a 10 inch sailfin pleco. That is a list of the fish that havent been killed yet. The list of fish killed by the pikes : one salvini blown air bladder, one very large krayfish tore off his claws and all but one leg, two fiddler crabs M.I.A., a 10 inch senegal birchir almost tore his head off of his body, three 4-5 inch convicts chewed to pieces, and I dont seem to have nearly as many snails as I used to either. The largest female (I named her Melissa after a mentaly unstable girlfriend I once had) flairs hers gills at my hand when I stick it in the tank and does a little war dance. I have kept snake heads (red, gachua, barca, and cobra )- piranhas (red bellies, cariba, and a black rohm) and various other nasty fish over the past 20 years. I have never seen a nastier fish in my life they even but the red snakeheads and the rhom to shame. I asume as they get larger it will only get worse. Does anyone have any ideas on how to make this setup work. If not I have atleast one extremely agressive female that is going to be for sale. Oh yeah they are about 5-6 incehes long right now. Any help would be apreciated.
Cobra pike rampage
- Thread starter turtle_slayer
- Start date
i'm not a pike expert, but i've been lurking around these waters for a while. you're best bet would probably be remove the aggressive fish to another tank for a while. when she is no longer in there, rearrange the tank and allow the other fish to establish territories and put on some size. after a few weeks or slightly longer try to reestablish the pike. if that does'nt help i don't know if anything will.
if the other 2 are no trouble then sell the one that is.
but you might have a crazy trio and by removing the main bad one another might take it's place.
you could rearrange if it's not a hassle.
some fish are just solo artist.
but you might have a crazy trio and by removing the main bad one another might take it's place.
you could rearrange if it's not a hassle.
some fish are just solo artist.
Thats rather odd, cobras generally aren't overly aggressive as as pikes go. Especially at those sizes, they should still be pretty mellow. At a larger size I can see them being the terror of the tank possibly, but at those sizes its kind of unusual.
Put your problem pike in another tank for a few days, allow the other pikes a chance to set up dominance and get more comfortable. Add LARGE pieces of driftwood, which 'block' the point of view from the other pikes. Increase the feeding also as sometimes they are aggressive over food.
Sometimes you just can't keep pikes with other fish. Its not very often, but it does happen. You may just end up having to either get rid of it, try other tank mates, or keep it solo. You could try adding more cobras to help split up the aggression as well.
Generally it will get worse, especially arounde 8 to 10" when they start reaching maturity....
Put your problem pike in another tank for a few days, allow the other pikes a chance to set up dominance and get more comfortable. Add LARGE pieces of driftwood, which 'block' the point of view from the other pikes. Increase the feeding also as sometimes they are aggressive over food.
Sometimes you just can't keep pikes with other fish. Its not very often, but it does happen. You may just end up having to either get rid of it, try other tank mates, or keep it solo. You could try adding more cobras to help split up the aggression as well.
Generally it will get worse, especially arounde 8 to 10" when they start reaching maturity.... Thanks for the ideas guys.
I had already seperated the problem child, shes in my 20 long for the time being. I tried putting her in my 55 gallon first, with my 7-8" belly crawler. As soon as she saw him she tore him a new butthole.
The larger of the two left in the 180 has claimed the entire bottom but it is no were near as bad as it was with all three in there. He will chase the other pike but doesnt keep chasing it - typical cichlid behavior.
Its kind of odd that the fish the troubled pike killed were the largest in the tank and I would think the most capable of defending themselves? I was actually worried the birchir would go after the pike.
Thanks again for the advice guys
I'm going to get some pics of the tank and fish and post it this weekend sometime.
I had already seperated the problem child, shes in my 20 long for the time being. I tried putting her in my 55 gallon first, with my 7-8" belly crawler. As soon as she saw him she tore him a new butthole.
The larger of the two left in the 180 has claimed the entire bottom but it is no were near as bad as it was with all three in there. He will chase the other pike but doesnt keep chasing it - typical cichlid behavior.
Its kind of odd that the fish the troubled pike killed were the largest in the tank and I would think the most capable of defending themselves? I was actually worried the birchir would go after the pike.
Thanks again for the advice guys
I'm going to get some pics of the tank and fish and post it this weekend sometime.
Well I rearranged the tank and let the two pikes stake out thier territories. I then reintroduced the troubled one. I had her in the 20 long for 3-4 days. Just like in the 55 gallon she didn't even take time to look around she went straight for the larger of the two pikes. For the first time one of the two less dominent pike fought back. Gills were flaired the dirt flew and the less dominent pike got his butt kicked and his pectoral fin shredded. It took in all about 5 seconds. She then proceeded to take on any and every fish that she could see that was even close to the bottom of the tank. Well needless to say shes back in the 20 long again. I thought it had a chance, for one she was much more docile in the 20 long. She didnt flair her gills at me or go into her war dance when I stuck my hand in the tank and she hid alot. Shes going to be in there for a while now I'm going to try to get some more size on the less dominent fish and then reintroduce her.
I was currious did anyone ever have their pike(s) flair their gills and go into a war dance when they stuck their hand in the tank. She did it when you wiggled your finger at her through the glass as well (when she was in the 180). I've only had one other fish this size do anything like that and that was a pair of gachua snakeheads guarding their fry. When she's full size could she do any damage if she latched onto me? The gachua had teeth like a bass and they only got about 9 inched long. She looks like she has a nice set of chompers already, and she's only half grown.
I was currious did anyone ever have their pike(s) flair their gills and go into a war dance when they stuck their hand in the tank. She did it when you wiggled your finger at her through the glass as well (when she was in the 180). I've only had one other fish this size do anything like that and that was a pair of gachua snakeheads guarding their fry. When she's full size could she do any damage if she latched onto me? The gachua had teeth like a bass and they only got about 9 inched long. She looks like she has a nice set of chompers already, and she's only half grown.
LoL!! Thats classic!! Sometimes you have to keep pikes solo. Crazy. She sounds like one of those pikes. Trying to put size on the other fish Isn't really going to work though, as she will be growing right along with them. Its possible all your pikes are the same gender, thus the intense aggression over territory.
I've only had a few pikes flare at me through the tank or nail me when I stuck my hand in. But those were mostly adults or pairs.... To answer your question, yes it will tear the MESS out of your hand. They have razor sharp teeth which help them catch fish. Easily draw blood, and it doesn't feel to great either.
I've only had a few pikes flare at me through the tank or nail me when I stuck my hand in. But those were mostly adults or pairs...
. To answer your question, yes it will tear the MESS out of your hand. They have razor sharp teeth which help them catch fish. Easily draw blood, and it doesn't feel to great either. Peanut_Power;1679130; said:
Thats good to know, the teeth remind me of a red snakeheads. I had a 15" Rhom that bit the end off a ziptie I dropped in the water (it wasn't a little ziptie)
From that day on I watched my step.
I'll try and get some pics tonight
