James Bond is a bully

[courtneem]

James the L007 I rescued is healing nice. I have pictures to update later, if they turned out. He is rather a brat.

Issue. He thinks the entire 55gl tank is his.

There are plenty of hiding spots in the tank.

There is a wrecked ship that leads into a log, I have them next to each other. More then enough room for two fish to call them home. One in the ship and one in the log.

My spotted pim calls the log home. James moved in and at first they shared. Now James kicked her out. She moved and went to the driftwood.

James now goes to the OTHER side of the tank to the other large log and beats up my White Pim until he leaves. He will just back down, get annoyed and go over to the wrecked ship.

James will later go over to the wrecked ship and terrorize the white pim until he leaves again.

My pims are bigger and could do some damage to James, he doesnt know who he is picking a fight with. Thankfully they just let James be James and leave.

James also beat up my common pleco who is pretty much the same size, he just stays away from James now. James shows up and he leaves right away.

Is this normal or is James just trying to figure out his spot in the tank? This sucks LOL

 

[davo]

They can be quite agressive towards other bottom dwellers. Things might settle down, but you'll have to keep a close eye. Maybe as he thought he was beaten up and from the school of hard knocks, that he can dish it out too

 

[WyldFya]

Leporacanthicus in general are very aggressive fish. I found the best cure was a bigger pleco, that wouldn't be bossed around.

 

[loach43]

In some cases "the big bully pleco" can be thwarted from damaging your other plecos if they are smaller. My relentless L163 will beat on any same size or larger pleco. He's a total arse! I put him in a tank with a group of L104s that are only half his size and he just pushes them out of the way instead of mauling them. The maccus pose zero threat to him where a 'would be' territorial battle is concerned so he doesn't bug them.

 

[courtneem]

pics of an updated James Bond.

His fins still look rough but you can see growth in them.

His eye is still raw but not as bad as it was. It is smaller in size and the cloudy film on his eye is clearing up. He moves his eye, unsure if he can see but so far he is keeping the eye!

He needs to gain weight. I am feeding him bloodworms at least once most of the time twice a day. He eats them like a pig. I also give him protein sinking pellets that he enjoys. I will soon introduce more foods for him. Getting him set on these two first, knowing he is eating them very well.

This is the first time I have seen him eat an algae waffer LOL I throw one in there every few days for my snail and my common pleco that loves them. My common loves veggies and the sinking protein pellets too.

 

[courtneem]

In some cases "the big bully pleco" can be thwarted from damaging your other plecos if they are smaller. My relentless L163 will beat on any same size or larger pleco. He's a total arse! I put him in a tank with a group of L104s that are only half his size and he just pushes them out of the way instead of mauling them. The maccus pose zero threat to him where a 'would be' territorial battle is concerned so he doesn't bug them.

Well wondering what one will grow faster? My (beautiful one eyed) common is growing pretty good. In the last 4mo I think it is I have had him he has grown an inch if not 1 1/2in. He is healthy and doing great.

A pic of him as of yesterday. His tail has a slight nick out of it, his top fin did as well but that healed very fast. I have no doubt it was James and him that caused this. Not to mention all my fake plants are becoming floaters from being uprooted from the gravel LOL

This pleco is a psychotic one is how I have summed it up. He loves to fly up through the water and hit the top of the tank. He just "freaks" out and is fine again. LOL

I could move this one to the 75gl and leave James in the 55gl. The pims will relocate to the 75gl as well. The common gets along great now with the pims.

I worry though in time James will need a bigger tank and while bigger they may fight more.

Maybe more room in a 75gl may help with the aggression?

If my pims stop growing they could stay in the 55gl too. Their growth has slowed way down. They shot to 6 and 6 1/2 inches.

I also notice that my pims like to slam things into the side of the tank and like to stir up gravel and hit the side of the tank too.

UGH! choices. choices.

 

[courtneem]

Sorry here are more pics of James this morning. I put on my ext. flash and was able to get MUCH better shots of him. He wanted to eat so he was out.

For those who do not know James story. I was at my LFS and looked in a tank of Phantom Plecos. I looked up in the tank and on the PVC pipe of the filter up towards the top of the tank I saw James laying over it. Beat up, fins were very ragged. This big eye staring at me and his mouth was just going to town. It was if he was begging me to take him home. James wanted out of that tank so bad and he was scared to come down to where the other fish were. The guy said instead of $50 I could have him for $20 since he was beat up so bad. See if I could save him. He pulled him out and James had a bad eye too so he said $10 and we both didnt think he would make it. He was willing to give me him for $10 I couldnt pass it up. I brought James home. He was in bad shape and I didn't expect him to live. I would feed him blood worms with a eyedropper to put them right next to him and gave him some TLC. His pretty white spots were very dull and his skin was horrid looking.

Look at him now! Bright and beautiful! He is doing so good!

OK! This is a GOOD pic to show his lower fin regrowth. After this is a before pic

This pic really shows the top fin coming back in

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

L007's have a reputation for being territorial towards other bottom dwelling fish, its generally advised you don't mix them with other bottom dwelling fish which are large or similar size to the L007, small lively catfish may be tolerated though.
You can't change a pleco's nature, my advice would be to either move the pleco or the pims out to another tank, as the pleco will only become more territorial as it matures. IMHO, separating the fish would be the best thing to do as this way both types of fish can live in peace in a stress-free environment .

 

[loach43]

Good job! The pelvic fins made a huge recovery.

 

[davo]

Looks like a great improvement. Yes sometimes size doesn't matter, but sometimes you can play it out and see if they will co-exist. I keep my Leporacanthicus species together with a lot of plecs, cories and loaches with no problems. The common will grow larger and quicker.