Sun catfish aggression

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I've had a sun cat for over 10 years and he's shown no aggression if anything the opposite but he has devoured many smaller fish at night. Probably about 12 over the years. My sun cat is afraid of his own shadow.


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I'd be very surprised if a sun cat did that. Are there other explanations?

Now, I did witness that when cichla harass a big enough suncat and it has nowhere to run or hide, he will do mouth locking, body slamming, and other aggressive moves.
 
The only explanation I have is my sun cat ate the fish. He was Much larger than all missing fish and I never found any skeletons. They would be there in the evening and wake up there gone. Sun catfish looks like his belly is stuffed. I have him in a tank with 2 severum and a large pleco and geophagus and he leaves them alone. If I was to drop a smaller pleco or bottom fish it wouldn't make it through the night. Guaranteed the mouth on this fish is impressive for his size. He's a full 14" long and eats like a machine. I've never seen a larger one


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Forgot to mention that in those cases which I witnessed there was no damage.

What is the tank's stock?

Photos could help a lot.
 
My suncats fight all the time. The smaller one is always damaged from this constant fighting. They are supposed to be social but every since i added the flathead when it was smaller they have fought almost constantly. Both still have a good appetite. No aggression from any other fish but they did have it out with the flathead until i seperated them. The smaller one has bite marks all over. Sometimes they give it a rest long enough for it to heal up then sooner or later they start fighting again. So in my expirience as with any animal they are very individualistic. They are predatory so yeah if you put smaller fish in they will eat them. Mine are very territorial. They will even kick my 17" sperata out from the drift wood. Sperata doesnt bother anyone though.

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Good to see you back, Cliff! This question is pretty specific and is not about the inter-species interactions... so sorry for this tiny diversion... but I believe if you added 4-7 more of comparable sizes, you'd see more of the peaceful social behavior and less of the aggressive social behavior.
 
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