Size differential betwen ATF's

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DAZZA

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 25, 2005
168
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Wales UK
At the moment i have 3 ATF's in a 60x24x24" 150US gallon tank. I received 2 today, but they were dead on arrival, bloody snow!!!

Anyway, two of the tigers are comparable in size, the other (and i suspect the 2 i'll receive next week), is about 1/3 smaller.

Is there anything i can do to avert potential aggression between the larger and smaller tigers?

I have the tank stocked with dither fish, danios. Should i invest in a good powerhead?

Ta.
 
I have never kept those bad boys but don't see how a powerhead could hurt. With wost predators of that shape a 1/3 size difference should not trigger to much predation resonse but visual breaks provided by clumps of bushy plants like bunches of elodea and cabomba should help defuse any potential problems.
 
Sorry to hear about the DOAs.

As far as defusing aggression, dithers are the key, and as guppy suggested, visual barriers such as plants also help. I haven't noticed any difference in aggression with or without current.
 
Hi all

And cheers for the replies. My final 2 tigers came today. They look great but are smaller than i was expecting (5-6cm) They are a little longer than the danios i have in the tank, but NOT as bulky. I witnessed one of the larger tigers take a danio yesterday, admittedly a smaller danio, but in relation to the tiger, still big.

I'm thinking of moving the 2 larger tigers (7.5-10cm), to a 36x15x15 until the size difference is lessend, maybe 2 months? Should i use egg crate to devide them or just stock with dithers as before? Or should i move the 3 larger tigers together into that tank?

African tiger tank 001.jpg
 
I reckon keep them with dithers, at that size i don't think it could eat a fish half it's size. Mine has been in with neons and danios and so far has only eaten bloodworm.

The one I have is f'ing small too, I was a bit disappointed, it's about 6cm.

Are these 2 even smaller than the other one you got delivered?
 
The two that i got today are alot smaller than the one i got two weeks ago. Of the tigers that died in transit last week, one was boaderline ok the other was similar to todays delivery.
The tigers i bought from my lfs, a weeklast Sunday, are of a goodsize, and look great too. But there is a large difference betwen the largest and smallest now.
I'm NOT unhappy with them. They are lovely lookers. Just concerned that they'll be on the larger tigers menu.
One ate within 2 minutes of being in the tank. I made sure that the other tigers were fed early this am, and again when i introduced the two new tigers.
Of the 20 danios i bought last Friday only 7 are accounted for. 1 commited suicide, by leaping onto the cover glasses. The others have been eaten, although one danio was only partially devoured.
 
I have a 1 inch danio in with the 2.5 inch tiger, it has some marks on top and some of it's guts are showing from where the tiger has chomped it, but it;s still swimming around and eating :D

I don't think it's capable of being swallowed, maybe chopped up bit by bit.

I'm not unhappy either Daz, a little annoyed because they told me like 8-10cm and it's closer to half that. Which I normally wouldn't care about at all, it's a lovely fish, but I banked on putting it with my pbass and barracudas, now I have no idea when or if it will catch up with them.
 
I wouldn't worry too much about the bigger ones eating the smaller ones. I'd provide some cover in the form of plants (real or artificial), add some dithers and feed them plenty. Sometimes smaller ones having healthier appetites will close that size gap amazingly quickly. Just keep an eye out for them and if the situation gets bad, separate.
 
Thanks again
Have added a bunch of artificial plants i had leftover and will buy more dithers on the weekend.

Ta.
 
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