Green terrors are Harem Brooders. If given enough room, a single male will patrol a territory with multiple females.
Green Terror Harem?
- Thread starter RLHam3
- Start date
Haven't posted on this thread so i thought it was time for a quick update. The reason that I haven't posted about these 2 is that they've beenseperated for about a month now. They both got internal parasites and stopped eating. Then the male started taking his anger out on the female. I moved her to her own 10 gal and have been treating each with metronidazole but recently learned that its only really effective if the fish consume it (even though the packaging says to just treat the water.
I now have begun treating with epsom salt. I mix 1 tablespoon per 500ml of treated water. Then put this solution in an ear syringe and squirt it down each of their throats once per day. I started this treatment 2 days ago. From what i understand i should start seeing results today or tomorrow and they should be better after 5-6 days of treatment.
I'm in final exams right now, so i havn't gotten to work on the tank much lately, but as soon as finals are done...
ps- i'll try to post some pics soon
I now have begun treating with epsom salt. I mix 1 tablespoon per 500ml of treated water. Then put this solution in an ear syringe and squirt it down each of their throats once per day. I started this treatment 2 days ago. From what i understand i should start seeing results today or tomorrow and they should be better after 5-6 days of treatment.
I'm in final exams right now, so i havn't gotten to work on the tank much lately, but as soon as finals are done...
ps- i'll try to post some pics soon
So now, almost 4 months later these two fish have finally started recovery. They haven't been eating for the past 3-4 months (i'm actually amazed their still alive) For a while i treated their water with metronidazole and then when i ran out of the medication was told that the instructions on the packaging weren't correct. I then began mixing this with water and epsom salt and squirting it down each of their throats on a daily basis via an ear syringe. I kept that up for 3 weeks with no results before I tried something different. My last method was a recommendation from REALLYBIGFISH. I lowered the water temp to 75 and stoped putting food in the tank for 5 days. After this i started to feed them a "half-meal" once a day. After a day or two of these small feedings they both started showing signs of interest! It has been a few weeks since then. The female isn't only eating regularly, but has begun acting regularly too and will swim to the top of the tank when I get near and beg for food. I moved her back into her 75 yesterday. The male Is eating regularly again, but has not been as recent and is not yet as active as his old self. Pictures tonight!
How did them not eating affect their growth? As GTs are reknowned for being slow growers as it is. Also, after they started to breed did you notice a slow in growth? I only ask as i have a similar incedent with my GTs.
I bought 5x fish from different bloodlines in the hope to guarantee a pair, all were roughly 1.5-2" and straight away there were two males who fought for dominance. The best looking one won (which pleased me) and has grown really fast. He is touching 5" and this is after about two months or so (really fast growth for GTs, huh?). The others are now varied in size, the smallest being a female around 2.5", then another at about 3" also female, the sub-dominant male at around 3" and a 3.5" male which is either a poor specimen or has drab colours to represent a female - and therefore reduce aggression from the doninant male.
Now, the dominant male tried in vain to mate with the larger female several times. But she kept rejecting him. So he decided to go with the smaller female. And in no time at all i had free swimming fry, both Ma and Pa did a great job of caring for the fry - the male was really involved which shocked me. Until, the larger female decided she was now ready to breed - so she sabotaged the smaller females brood. Constantly attacking her and eating fry etc. Whilst the male watched. Once the littler female abandoned the area she moved in with the male and spawned. Then, they got into a similar situation just reversed. The smaller female, however, is MUCH more fiesty and reclaimed her teritory with ease.
Currently each female has their own side of the tank (the smaller females area being much larger however), and the male patrols both sides flirting with the females, both of which are intensely coloured and are ready to spawn. However, i dont wish to end up in a similar situation to you so i am going to remover the larger less aggressive female and the other two fish to a spare 55. See if a can create another pair and sell them on. I believe the dominant male and the larger female are from the same bloodline anyway so this is probably the best option for me.
I bought 5x fish from different bloodlines in the hope to guarantee a pair, all were roughly 1.5-2" and straight away there were two males who fought for dominance. The best looking one won (which pleased me) and has grown really fast. He is touching 5" and this is after about two months or so (really fast growth for GTs, huh?). The others are now varied in size, the smallest being a female around 2.5", then another at about 3" also female, the sub-dominant male at around 3" and a 3.5" male which is either a poor specimen or has drab colours to represent a female - and therefore reduce aggression from the doninant male.
Now, the dominant male tried in vain to mate with the larger female several times. But she kept rejecting him. So he decided to go with the smaller female. And in no time at all i had free swimming fry, both Ma and Pa did a great job of caring for the fry - the male was really involved which shocked me. Until, the larger female decided she was now ready to breed - so she sabotaged the smaller females brood. Constantly attacking her and eating fry etc. Whilst the male watched. Once the littler female abandoned the area she moved in with the male and spawned. Then, they got into a similar situation just reversed. The smaller female, however, is MUCH more fiesty and reclaimed her teritory with ease.
Currently each female has their own side of the tank (the smaller females area being much larger however), and the male patrols both sides flirting with the females, both of which are intensely coloured and are ready to spawn. However, i dont wish to end up in a similar situation to you so i am going to remover the larger less aggressive female and the other two fish to a spare 55. See if a can create another pair and sell them on. I believe the dominant male and the larger female are from the same bloodline anyway so this is probably the best option for me.
wow, thats exactly how my trio formed and started out! They stayed as a trio for a month or two and then he finally ended up choosing a favorite who had to be moved out. If you wanted them to stay a trio, you should try something larger than a 75 a i guess. But it's probably much more feasible to do exactly what your doing and remove everybody except the pair that you want. What size tank are they in now? do they have any tank mates?
And also you bring up a GREAT point about how not eating has effected both of their size. I was going to do a post about it tonight and out a picture up to demonstrate. Before these fish were having problems they had several successful spawns. I have kept the latest of these to grow out and sell in the 75gal while the parents were in their individual quarentine tanks. While the young grew quickly, the adults didn't grow at all while they weren't eating. Now that I have moved the mother back into the 75 with her 4 month old young, they're almost the same size!!! I would have believed that she was in the same brood as them!
And also you bring up a GREAT point about how not eating has effected both of their size. I was going to do a post about it tonight and out a picture up to demonstrate. Before these fish were having problems they had several successful spawns. I have kept the latest of these to grow out and sell in the 75gal while the parents were in their individual quarentine tanks. While the young grew quickly, the adults didn't grow at all while they weren't eating. Now that I have moved the mother back into the 75 with her 4 month old young, they're almost the same size!!! I would have believed that she was in the same brood as them!
Mine are currently in a 180g with cons, a firemouth, oscars and a rd. Not all the fish will be staying but i could decide on a stock, so i got them all whilst they would all fit.
I think the trio would probably work, and it would be great to watch as you say. 180 gallons is plenty of space for them. The only thing that puts me off is the two fish from the same batch. I kinda have ocd, and i wouldnt be okay with them breeding!
Well, i am kinda glad the trio happened as it allowed my smaller female to grow, she was around the 2" mark when she first bred and the other fish were able to take advantage of her smaller size. But she is now probably 3" after a closer look (i always seem to under estimate, i had an 8" BGK that when i moved i measured.and it was 1'). When the females breed young their growth slows massively as they are always caring for young or eggs and therefore not eating as much. So that extra growth pleased me. I think when i remove the other GTs that will either cause them to breed or put then off for a while! Hopefully the later, because i am worried if the male continues to grow so fast he will.kill the female during courtship. That being said atm he will let both females push him around, bit him and chase him. But as soon as the sub dominant male appears he is super aggro. Another question, did you notice a change in colour and/nuchal hump size when you remover the smaller males? I think his rapid growth may be due to dominance and i certainly don't want to lose his colour and hump!
Back to the growth of mother vs fry, i had my 2 month-ish old convict fry in a 40g, and i put the female in there. Mainly because the male was being to aggressive. And she was smaller than some of the fry! I struggled to tell which one she was!
i look forward to seeing some pics of your pair! (no pun intended)
I think the trio would probably work, and it would be great to watch as you say. 180 gallons is plenty of space for them. The only thing that puts me off is the two fish from the same batch. I kinda have ocd, and i wouldnt be okay with them breeding!
Well, i am kinda glad the trio happened as it allowed my smaller female to grow, she was around the 2" mark when she first bred and the other fish were able to take advantage of her smaller size. But she is now probably 3" after a closer look (i always seem to under estimate, i had an 8" BGK that when i moved i measured.and it was 1'). When the females breed young their growth slows massively as they are always caring for young or eggs and therefore not eating as much. So that extra growth pleased me. I think when i remove the other GTs that will either cause them to breed or put then off for a while! Hopefully the later, because i am worried if the male continues to grow so fast he will.kill the female during courtship. That being said atm he will let both females push him around, bit him and chase him. But as soon as the sub dominant male appears he is super aggro. Another question, did you notice a change in colour and/nuchal hump size when you remover the smaller males? I think his rapid growth may be due to dominance and i certainly don't want to lose his colour and hump!
Back to the growth of mother vs fry, i had my 2 month-ish old convict fry in a 40g, and i put the female in there. Mainly because the male was being to aggressive. And she was smaller than some of the fry! I struggled to tell which one she was!
i look forward to seeing some pics of your pair! (no pun intended)
looking at the size of yours in a previous post they look a LOT smaller than mine when they first spawned. So, i think i may have got my sizes wrong! because, your fish look really small!!! i will give mine a proper measure soon and let you know their real sizes!!
Here's the male...
and the female with the smallest of her 8 young
Neither has grown in the past 3-4 months. I've now had them for 6 months and they're still pretty small. The female is just under 3" and the male is probably around 6". I'd like to start feeding them some meaty foods like bloodworm, ghost shrimp, and beef heart to get them to beef up, but I worry that such meaty food would be rough on their recovering digestive tract.
