My VATF's still fight

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sashimimaster

sashimimaster

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Mar 7, 2010
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Here's some pics of my VATF. There's only two left so the bigger one is picking on the smaller one. It's gotten so bad you can see the entire bite mark on the side. If he clamped down he would have surely killed it but it left a big slash.P1000569.JPGP1000558.JPG

I think I should get rid of one just so they don't end up killing each other anyway. The GATF is very peaceful and never fights. He does once in awhile get picked on too from the dominant VATF.

BTW, I got a lot of brown algae it seems like and I can't get rid of it. I'm suspecting it's from the driftwood leaching tannins.

P1000569.JPG

P1000558.JPG
 
Tannins and acidic water will actually kill algae. Lots of guys with big ponds will use peat extract to stain the water because it kills the algae. I had problems with the same type of algae problems for the longest time till I dimmed my lights, set up pothos and went to a blackwater setup. Since going back to clear water, I've maintained the dimmer lights and pothos and the algae never came back. Your tank looks very brightly illuminated, I suspect that might be part of your problem.

As for the tigers themselves, what are they being fed and what dithers do you have?
 
Wow, that VATF definitely got tagged. I'd probably sell the larger, problematic VATF so the remaining goliath and vittatus don't get bullied around. That's just personally what I would do - I get nervous when I start to see stuff like that happening, though.

What kind of substrate do you have in the tank? I always seemed to get more brown algae when I had a sand substrate. I'd recommend cutting back on the lighting period if it's over 9-10 hours a day, and adding some type of live plant (if possible) to outcompete the algae for nutrients.
 
Tough decision to make, and once you get rid of the smaller VATF whose the dominant one going to pick on next? Thats the next issue, def dont want him turning his aggression at the Goliath ... only thing I can say is add a few more dithers, and hope for the best ... but getting rid of either one could cause more of a problem, since 3 tigers is better than 2 for aggression ... algae problems point to high light and nitrates/phosphates ... I'd suggest doing 3 big water changes within a week, should knock down algae growth, or adding some pothos/live plants would work as well, also adding a phosphate remover could help ... I noticed when I upped my water changes and added the phosphate remover my algae problems stopped, and the fish benefit as well from the cleaner water ... I do 30-40% every 3 days

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Chicxulub said:
Tannins and acidic water will actually kill algae. Lots of guys with big ponds will use peat extract to stain the water because it kills the algae. I had problems with the same type of algae problems for the longest time till I dimmed my lights, set up pothos and went to a blackwater setup. Since going back to clear water, I've maintained the dimmer lights and pothos and the algae never came back. Your tank looks very brightly illuminated, I suspect that might be part of your problem.

As for the tigers themselves, what are they being fed and what dithers do you have?
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Well I have the pothos growing in a refugium along with some anacharis. But the plants aren't big enough to make too much of an impact yet. I only run the lights for 5 hours/day and change 30% water every week. Maybe I'll give the black water a try just to get rid of the algae.

I feed them diy food made of tilapia filets, hikari sticks, seaweed, mazuri powder and a little gelatin. I've got 3 tin foil barbs but they don't get picked on too much anymore.
 
RampageRR said:
Wow, that VATF definitely got tagged. I'd probably sell the larger, problematic VATF so the remaining goliath and vittatus don't get bullied around. That's just personally what I would do - I get nervous when I start to see stuff like that happening, though.

What kind of substrate do you have in the tank? I always seemed to get more brown algae when I had a sand substrate. I'd recommend cutting back on the lighting period if it's over 9-10 hours a day, and adding some type of live plant (if possible) to outcompete the algae for nutrients.
Click to expand...

Yeah I wouldn't mind selling the larger one but he has some fin damage so it might be difficult to sell. I have black sand
 
sashimimaster said:
Well I have the pothos growing in a refugium along with some anacharis. But the plants aren't big enough to make too much of an impact yet. I only run the lights for 5 hours/day and change 30% water every week. Maybe I'll give the black water a try just to get rid of the algae.

I feed them diy food made of tilapia filets, hikari sticks, seaweed, mazuri powder and a little gelatin. I've got 3 tin foil barbs but they don't get picked on too much anymore.
Click to expand...

IME, dithers only seem to work well if there's so many that the tigers can't get out of them to pick on each other. In your big old tank, I have no doubt your guys can get away from the barbs and start fighting with each other. Now that I'm committed to a pack of tigers, I'm going to have the five tigers, three big balas, three Tor, three tinfoils that I'm growing out, two tarpons and someday another arowana. I'm entirely willing to add more punching bags on top of it all to keep the aggression down if I have to.

Also, contrary to commonly given evidence, I think tigers do better in a smaller tank with lots of dithers and lots of current. They are happy to sit in one place all day if there's current. With lots of dithers and a relatively limited space, they just don't get frisky. This is what's worked for me anyway. My Max is about the same size as your guys but he's living in a 150. I had NO problems from him until I decided to sell stock. When it was him, the aro and some bottom feeders, he started picking on the aro relentlessly after playing nice for a year. Once I put two and two together, I decided to overstock my tank again lol. Basically, I feel tigers should be kept solo or in communities so packed that they can't find room to claim as their own. Nothing in between seems to work.
 
Normally I'd be surprised but I've seen this before in my pack when I first added my one and only vittatus.

I agree with the smaller tank and more stock. I just bought a 300 gallon for my ATF but no way am I moving them now. I think the 125 is actually to big for them. They only use up half the tank. Swimming against the current.

As of right now I have a pink tailed chalceus, 3 tinfoil barb, 1 cigar shark, 3 silver dollars. I have 3 bala sharks, and 3 albino tinfoils I'm currently growing out. I'm actually thinking about getting more dithers.

Your best bet though is to probably set up a smaller tank maybe a 55? And get like 10 or more tin tinfoil barbs from pet smart they are pretty cheap there and just powerfeed them with a powerhead. Cheapest and fastest growing dither IMO.

Don't sell that vatf!
 
I'm not sure the smaller one can last long enough for the dithers to get big. He gets slashes almost every other day now. I had a feeling it would get like this when the other two died. When there were four VATFs the aggression was more spread out. Now it's just one beating on the other. It's either sell one or I'll end up with one anyway. At least if I sell him I'll get something for it. lol
 
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