Two BGK in one tank concern...

[Ogrim]

A couple of daysago after a peaceful month or so I have noticed some sort of a quarrel between the two large female BGK's during the day & upped the number of BGK's to 3 in the tank, by adding a 4" Juvenile instead of separating the two large BGK's!

I did keep a close eye on the situation all day long to make sure the Juvenile does not get stressed to much or even get killed
After a day or two now everyone is at peace & to my surprise they all hang out near each other as usual when resting/idle, despite having plenty of hiding places in the tank all over

I have to admit having a second BGK in the tank caused more peaceful activity such as browsing, during the day for some reason.

The BGK's are & were fed every night a bit after lights out & they do get some of the food when I feed the cichlids in the tank during the day as well.

I can see now why it's recommended to keep a single BGK or multiple BGK's (more than two) at least at any one time in the same tank so far
Can't wait to add an adult male to the lot & see what that brings
Cheers

 

[Yoda1]

Ogrim,

I hope it works out for you. I had a bad experience keeping multiple bgk in my tank.

Did the research before I got mine, and everywhere I read suggested keeping only 1 per tank.
So went to my LFS to get one. The manager there served me (of the biggest branch of a well known chain, so I thought he must know what he is talking about) and told me I could get 3. I asked about the aggression issue and he said if I had the 3, there wouldn't be a problem. I like bgk, so I got 3. Smallish fish. About 10cm in length.

All was fine for about a month. Each one had a hiding place, and they only seemed to come together at feeding time. But there was no obvious outward aggression.

After about a month, I noticed one of the bgk had a very ragged underfin. Seemed quite sudden. So I took him out and put him in my hospital tank. But it was too far gone, and died. About a week later, and same thing with another one. Very ragged underfin, took him out, but he died too.

So that left one bgk. And it has been fine. Never developed the ragged fin, and seems healthy.

The only thing I can conclude, is that it was the strongest bgk attacking the others. Maybe not physically. But possibly having a stronger electric field, damaged them that way. And the ragged fin was a symptom of the constant harrasment. Just a theory.

Thanks
Yoda1

 

[Ogrim]

Yoda1,
Thank you for your input on the subject. Real hands on experience is invaluble in most cases. I will try accomodate the needs of the BGK's better in the future.
I will place a partial 1/3 divider in the tank so if any one of the BGK get's harrased, it can escape & I should notice this till I get my BGK numbers down or have a better solution.
On second thought, I may just split them up for now, till I get more info & knowhow on breading these species