big time ramirezi hostility

[abudakos]

Hello all,

I recently purchased two microgeographus ramirezi which I haven't figured out their sexes yet, although I suspect they are both females.
Anyway, one of them is constantly chasing and 'biting' the other whenever it gets sight of it. It doesn't seem that the aggresive one has ''captured'' some part of the tank which protects, alas it acts like the whole tank belongs to him/her !!!
The other one is a big time wimp and does everything to avoid the aggresive one.
Is this normal behaviour?
Initially I thought that rams first find a part of the aquarium which make their 'own' and then protect that part ...

Please help

 

[Waterloo Kid]

If your tank is too small for the rams then you could well have a case of overlapping territories. One of my rams has taken over half of the 5ft tank I have while the other two 'share' the rest, with one being dominant over the other (most of the time anyway!).
Your two rams might have initially found themselves homes but one now sees the entire tank as its area and the other has no way of leaving.
How big's your tank then?

WK

 

[abudakos]

The tank is an 112 lt M&P (80x40x30 cm)
There are plenty of plants (mainly stem plants), and a huge bogwood in the middle which creates a lot of hiding spots and basically splits the tank into 4 sections. I initially thought that 2 rams (even of the same sex) would do fine in the tank.
Last night, while I was observing them, I noticed that the first 2 rays of their dorsal fins had grown a bit, so I figured I had 2 males, which partly explains the aggresiveness. Funny thing is that although the chasing, the ''coward'' ram doesn't show any signs of stress. It swims all over the tank, eats normally, shows off its colours. Weird

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Sounds like you just have one particularly aggressive fish there. When mine have a go at each other the 'looser' generally shows faded colouration for a while afterwards but soon picks itself up again.
The bickering you are seeing could be down to the fish sorting out a pecking order and could very well calm down in a while. Are there any other fish in the tank to act as ditherers?

WK