face biting

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Good choice removing the moke. Let the del heal and move the decor around. Maybe add a few cheap sens to use like dithers. That del is really nice. If that doesnt work remove all the decor.

Try a divider too. Get some eggcrate easy to work with and can use suction cups on each side of the divider to hold it in place or check out walmart they havw cheap algae magnets

Man if only I could use "cheap sens" as dithers here lol. Too bad cheap sens don't exist for me :(
 
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Holy Mokes! Didn't know these get aggressive like that. Believe u did the right thing by removing the moke. Just let the new Del establish him/her self in the 55. Then reintroduce th e moke. Congrats by the way .
 
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magpie magpie J jaws7777

Dither sens unfortunately would get eaten like the toothpick. the only reason albino is not eaten up is cause he's at the top all the time....and faster/smarter than her.

Put the moke back in the 55g after an overnight of solitary confinement. However, she's eaten 3 of the tiger barbs(1 a day). And still is biting delhezi and shredded her tail. The barbs are also picking at the pieces of tail.

Update: she is out for blood. today she is still biting the del. and holding on to her tail, chasing her around the tank. It's getting to be really traumatic for me to watch. The del is so gentle and it breaks my heart. I know I need to do something more effective. I did put her back in the 10gal QT tank....but I know it's not effective long term.

These are the options I'm considering:
1) getting another poly to add to the current crew(might not curb the moke though)

2) rehome the moke. This is the least diserable choice, but probably the most effective. It sucks cause I really want a moke. And they are expensive $150 with shipping. So essentially I'd have to either "trade" her to the dirty poly store here. And they would give me like $20 maybe $30 for her(they low ball and then sell for 5x the price. ) and she would be put in bad conditions and I don't know if she would go to a good home. We don't have good LFS in my area.

I'd prefer to rehome her with one of you guys. So I could still watch her grow and know she's be going to a great home.But that would also suck to eat the $150 and then have to buy another moke for $150. I am a student who pays her own expensive health insurance, so I'm not made enough of money. I know everybody is in this situation.

3) put the moke in her own tank. Okay that's probably me dreaming

4) put a divider in the tank.
 
I would start with the divider and let the del heal and put on sme size I'd also feed the moke every other day and the del every day to speed his growth up
 
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The other option is to keep the moke for a while and feed solely prepared foods and re-introduce in a couple of months. By then it'll be used to not eating other fish.

Could use a walmart plastic tote for a cheap tank for this kind of solitary confinement.
 
Yes, aggression - she's drawing blood. Nipping doesn't cause eval damage. You can't keep them together right now. :( The Del is in a new environment which is already stressful, then adding stress/pain on top of it is not good. Poor girl. This sucks.

I like the idea of keeping the Moke totally separate for a while, controlling what she eats, don't allow live food, then reintroducing after a while of this.

Then, if still aggressive, rehome. I totally understand not wanting to. You can rehome locally with CL vs your store (or here on MFK) to get more of your money back, and then try another Moke. If the Del and albino are gentle, adding another fish in last is more likely to work. If you have another poly you'd love, I wonder if it would be good to add 2 at the same time...?

Sorry Chelsea. :(
 
That's the same thing that endli did that I had years ago. I think sometimes they are just wired that "if it moves I'm gonna eat it". It looks like it thinks the del is food.
I have always sat and watched my tanks for a bit but until I put up the 180 in the living room ive not watched them like I have been the last 2 weeks. Ive noticed a lot of behaviors id not really noticed before. The dels "signal" to each other and there are definite body language things id not noticed before from all the polys that other polys understand. There are a lot more nips and nudges and jaw snaps then ive noticed before but food eating/hunting looks different then "I'm gonna go be a jerk and nip this other poly". That looked like "I'm gonna tear a chunk of this off and eat it". My albino is a very aggressive eater and has grabbed other fish by accident while eating and always lets go quickly. Their teeth are designed in such a way to help hold prey that's small enough to swallow and tear off chunks of things that they cant swallow. I'm sorry Chelsea but I'd definitely go long term/permanent solitary at the very least. I believe your moke just thinks its all food. Like others have said who knows maybe with some "training" it will learn what food is and what is not food. Polys are friends not food.....worked for the sharks in finding Nemo;)
 
1 day isnt enough, try weeks at the least.

I seriously doubt the moke is trying to eat the del. They are almost the same size. Its just not possible. This is aggression, for some reason the del is a threat to the mokes territory. Imo the territory needs to be taken away from the moke (put in anohter tank for a while) even then it may not work and tho it sucks the moke may have to go. Sorry chelsea this sucks but again part of the game. That del does absolutely need time to heal tho as the threat of infection setting in is possible
 
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No eay this is predation the energy the moke would have use to take down a poly the same size wouldnt make sense.

Does the moke eat tilapia ?
 
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