Venny Nippy

[jandb]

Hello. About 6 months ago I got a trio of these guys from Jeff Rapps. There is a bonded pair I have in a 90 gallon by themselves and after qt I released the smaller (5”-6”) into my 540 SA community with mostly bigger fish. He’s taken to swimming back and forth nipping almost everything along the way. He’s taken particular interest in bullying the true parrots (which are my favorite fish). I always thought these guys were ok tempered with anything they couldn’t fit in their mouths? Should I ride it out, remove the pike or like my original plan introduce the other 2 into the 540 along with the smaller pike and hope they settle in together or just compete with each other?

 

[jandb]

 

[jandb]

Any thoughts anybody?

 

[kno4te]

Rocksor mrrobxc

 

[Rocksor]

He's asserting dominance in the tank, letting everyone knows that he will be the boss. Not much you can do because he won't back down until someone stands up to him. Adding other pikes might make him stop, but then there's the chance the other pikes will do the same to the other inhabitants.

 

[Gourami Swami]

Venezuelans can definitely be one of the more aggressive species of crenicichla. I would agree with Rocksor, unless it gets put in it's place it will probably keep at it. Adding the others may be a good idea, as long as you can catch them out of the large tank if it doesn't work out. The pair will probably put the little guy in his place but might become a serious issue themselves, as the rest of your tankmates look to be a good bit less aggressive

 

[jandb]

Venezuelans can definitely be one of the more aggressive species of crenicichla. I would agree with Rocksor, unless it gets put in it's place it will probably keep at it. Adding the others may be a good idea, as long as you can catch them out of the large tank if it doesn't work out. The pair will probably put the little guy in his place but might become a serious issue themselves, as the rest of your tankmates look to be a good bit less aggressive

Thanks for the advice. Gonna be a tough one. I really like them but if I introduce the pair and it doesn’t work out it’s gonna be tough to catch them.

What large pike do you feel would work out?

 

[Gourami Swami]

Thanks for the advice. Gonna be a tough one. I really like them but if I introduce the pair and it doesn’t work out it’s gonna be tough to catch them.

What large pike do you feel would work out?

could try using diy traps to catch them, might be easier than netting. As far as a better pike, it is a crapshoot to be honest, but Venezuelans do seem to be some of the rowdiest of the genus. Might have better luck with atabapo, which stay a little bit smaller. A saxatillis group pike like a sveni would probably be a safer bet for the community than the lugubris species though