Mutiple Poly Ornate in Tank Reduce Aggression?

[Neko-Chan]

Hey i know certain species of fish or animals when u put two of them together in a tank or a place, the dominate one will always bully the less dominate one. But when you mixed like a few of htem together like 3 or 4 or even 5, their agression tend to be spread out more and the less dominant one doesnt get picked on so much. Unless this dominant one happens to be one of those aggressive by personality types =>.>=

I've seen some tanks on youtube and other pics where mutiple bichirs are kept together and they all seem to be fine.

Do you think it is possible to do this with Ornate bichirs?

Let's say maybe 3 of them possible 5-7" in a 75 gal tank.
or lets say in general, the more ornate bichirs the less agression they're will be with each other right? =^_^=

 

[Cohazard]

Ornates are grumpy. You can keep more than one together, or even just two, but being grumpy bichirs, they will bite eachother. Excessively aggro ones will tear up the fins of their bichir tank mates.

Usually though, once dominance is established, they leave the others alone.

HTH

 

[Neko-Chan]

yeah i had to separate one out of thw two of my ornates from the more agressive one, becuase itz right fin and anal fin got chewed up. Right now the beaten up one is recovering in a separate tank. I wonder what will happen if i get 3 ornates in the tank, maybe the aggression will even out? or something? the two ornates are almost the same size, just the more agressive one has a slightly bigger head lol.

If adding an extra ornate might help i might do that, but if it wont and is more of a risk of personality issue, then i would'nt try buying a 3rd one, that way i wont have to spend =D

 

[Cohazard]

what size are the ornates and what size tank were you keepign them in?

my approach (if the tank is big enough) is to leave them together. otherwise you're just putting them through the same situation later on and the ornate has to heal again.

by leaving them together, the aggressive one establishes dominance by making sure the other one keeps away from it's territory. Trust me, the fish are smart enough to learn to stay away.

I've had an abusive ornate and it only picked on two other bichirs. I left them together and eventually they learned to keep away from the mean female and they lived well together.

 

[Neko-Chan]

hmm the wierd thing i noticed bout the ornate that si gettign beat up on.. is that yes it will run away if the agressive on gives chase.. but when it is not giving chase or when it is being bit sometimes it almost seems as if it allows it self to get bitten.. which is proably not the case but.. there are times when the one that is being picked on will literally be next to the agressive one.. and it just sits there close togehter lol =0_o= im sure it shoudl have learned it leasson by not >.> well sayign what ur said about them being smart is not true.. iam sure it is very true.. just i think this one i have thats being picked on is a lil wierd.. perhaps they dont have enough room in the tank. =(

but itz ok i got an idea! let the beaten up one heal and then.... Trade it in for Store Credit!! Hurrray!!! or trade it for something! =^___^=

too bad they the two ornates got along really good at first and looked really cool having, until about a month later =T_T= owells itz ok! =^__^=

Many thanks for your advises and help =^___^=

 

[moonchild1970]

Or send it to me...lol.