Mylosoma Aggression?

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Peanut_Power

Running From The Hammer...
MFK Member
Jul 6, 2005
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BannedVille
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
I just recently got a group of eight Mylosoma sp. that are about quarter sized. It looked like there were two different species, so I grabbed six of each. They both seem fairly similar, deep bodied and stripes, but one sp. has an 'eye' spot.

Anyway, these guys are beating the snot out of each other. I thought they would be a schooling fish being a Characin and all, but these guys seem to really not like each others company. Its directed towards those of their own species and the other species with no regards.

Is this normal? I have them in a 29gal as growout/quarantine for a few weeks, not sure if the smaller tank has something to do with it.
 
hey, i recently just got 5 and they are in a 15 tall and no problems at all.
do they look like this:

capture1.jpg
 
Yup, thats very similar to one of the species I have. The other one looks like that, except a little deeper bodied, red on the anal, and an eye spot rimmed in gold about half way down the body.

I have the pH really dropped and the water super soft in this tank. That might be a factor?

I should really just get a video so I can prove it. These guys really do not like each other, haha, its really odd.
 
yeah, i guess they are similar to SD's but a tad more aggressive.
it's also possible cuz they are young too, i have a pack of small SD's that go everywhere together. just give them time to adjust. when i got mine, there were a few fin nips and now (2 weeks later) they're fine. i hope you see improvement :D
 
Its possible. The aggression comes out the most when its feeding time, most of the time they just stay away from each other.

Here is a shot of the other species. You can't see the bars, but it has them, its the 'eye spot' that caught my attention.

silver.jpg
 
I've had similiar problems with Mylossoma. I had ten in a 55 that were tearing into each other so I moved them into a 160 where they settled down to a more calm group of fish. However they still chase each other on occasion.
 
Thanks for the tips. Going to grow them out a bit before I move them to a larger tank though, need them not bite sized.

Any ideas on the idea of the ones with the eye spot?
 
My experience has been that the eye spots and other markings on these fish will go away as the fish matures. The fish end up with an overall silvery lookand some can reach a lenth of about a foot.
 
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