Bgk Aggression

[Amunet]

I've noticed for a few months now my BGK is finally coming out from it's hiding spot a bit more in the day time. We've had it for over a year now, so it has taken some time to get used to coming out. From the scratch marks all over its body, I'm guessing it may be b/c its hiding spot is getting a bit too small for it (it has dug a ditch under one of the pieces of wood).
Now with it coming out more, I just noticed it being aggressive towards the pleco in the tank.
Both of the fish are about 8-9 inches long and the BGK kept bumping in to the pleco and trying to bite it.
The pleco looks totally fine, but the BGK was really going for it.
I dunno what could be the problem. The tank gets plenty of food. I'll maybe skip a day of feeding here and there, or only feed flakes for a day, but most of the time it's frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. I use a turkey baster to squirt the food in to its little feeding area, so I know it's eating.

Anyone ever have this problem? I don't want to wake up one day to see the pleco's fins all screwed or one of the other fish dead w/ chunks eaten out of it b/c the BGK wanted some tasty live food :\

 

[Dylan_89]

Hey,

How big is your tank?
&
Have you tried supplying your BGK with a place to hide (so that it doesn't have to dig?)

My young BGK is living happily with smaller fish like guppies and neon tetras, all the way to adolescent Kuhli! I've got in a tunnel like object that is more than enough for him. and a PVC pipe (properly cleaned obviously) that is a tighter fit for him, but he can swim in and out of it at full speed. I added the pipe because I could see that my BGK was stressed only having the one spot to hang out (unless he started to dig).

Since the addition of the pipe he swims happily between them and often swims around the tank, zero aggression.

I do however have a concern with his laziness - never comes to the surface to feed, I know this is not un-common in BGK, but I just like to see him

 

[Amunet]

My BGK is in a 125gallon tank.

Its hiding spot is under a piece of mopani wood. The wood isn't flat against the substrate. There was always a space under it enough for it to fit in, but over time with the help of the clown loaches, they've managed to push a lot of the substrate under the piece of wood out to make the space larger.
There's also another piece of mopani that has an already larger area under it, and there's a piece of pvc pipe in the tank for it to get in if it wants. So more larger hiding spaces isn't a problem in the tank. It just prefers the spot it has picked which now seems to be getting too small for it. *shrug*

Here's the other piece of wood. It's an old photo so things have changed a little bit w/ the plants, but the piece of wood hasn't. You can see there's a nice large space under it for whatever to go in. It looks a bit more open than it really is.

Also to the right, behind the large white rock, the thing w/ the little rocks all over it is the pvc pipe.

Another old photo, it shows the space under the piece of wood that the BGK calls home before all of the substrate was moved. Hopefully you can get a sense that there is space under it lol.

So yeah, there are other larger places for it to hide. I'm not sure if it getting larger is the reason for it coming out more often, but I'm worried about the aggression.
Maybe it thinks the pleco is a rival or something? I dunno.....

 

[Dylan_89]

Hello again Amunet,

It seems strange to me that your BGK is covered in scratches - are you sure they are scratches from the wood or rocks? or could it be your tiger barbs - barbs normally being quite "nippy" fish (from my experience)...

As far as your BGK's aggression towards your pleco, does your pleco also enjoy hanging out in the same area as your BGK (under the wood)? I know that even though a BGK does not mind a little company, it does not like to be crowded (as one or two of my Kuhli Loaches found out) - I also have a small bristlenose in the tank that enjoys the same area, 99% of the time my BGK will leave him be, but occasionally will exhibit a "loner" like behaviour similar to what you have described.. but I have never seen this behaviour outside of his favourite hiding spot.

I am far from an expert on the BGK, these are just my observations from BGK's that I have kept for years with a variety of fish.

Cheers,
Dylan

 

[Amunet]

My barbs aren't nippy at all (anymore).
They were nippy when we first started off with only 6 regular ones, but as soon as we added 6 of the albino type, all aggression disappeared. So it's not them that is causing the scratches.
The scratches on it def look like they're coming from the wood in the tank. Nothing else would cause the way these look.

I don't think the pleco would be able to fit under the piece of wood that the BGK has claimed. They're both the same length, but the pleco is much more wide and wouldn't be able to fit its large head in to the area. It does hang out ON the wood sometimes, but that has never bothered the BGK.
I've only ever noticed a few times the BGK will drive out the clown loaches. But that was only for a very short amount of time. I haven't noticed it doing that since.

At the time, when the BGK was trying to bite the pleco, the pleco was on the other side of the tank, on the glass. The pleco then swam down to the substrate and the BGK was still bumping it and trying to bite it.

I haven't noticed anything since then. Maybe the BGK was just in a mood or something, I dunno.

 

[Dylan_89]

It sounds like very odd behaviour to me - but if it isn't happening any more then there's not much to worry about I suppose