Bullying Male

[julia298]

UPDATE

Well it was worth a try.
Left him for a week in q tank then I tried putting him in the main tank with the males and females as the girls had given birth by then.

He had a little go at the other males but was more interested in the females.
Maybe they were just sorting out the pecking order and I panicked too early.

Anyway pleased to say that they are all getting along fine now and haven't had to get rid of anyone.

 

[Annastasia]

Good to hear. If you ever have this problem again (and you very well might, not all males "straighten" out ), try re-arranging the tank. That can sometimes break up aggression for a while, because you take away his 'territories'. Also, one other thing that is definitely going to help in the long run, and probably cure it, is either keeping the males seperate from the females if you don't want fry, or getting the ratio right. The way it is right now, he's probably feeling he has to 'fight' for the females, because there aren't enough to go around. This can also cause stress on the females, which can lead to all sorts of problems, like birthing troubles, abortion, even death while giving birth sometimes.

You'd have to get about 3 more females at the minumum, that'd be 2 females per male, which is the bottom of the ratio. I'd reccomend more, personally. If you don't want to get more females, I'd recommend you get 2 more males, and seperate them. If you're going to keep all males, 5 seems to be the magic minumum number. That way two can't gang up on one, or just have 2 fight it out.

 

[fi$hys]

I think the best thing is to put him in a breeding trap or fry net or something.
mat

 

[Annastasia]

I think the best thing is to put him in a breeding trap or fry net or something.
mat

That won't work in the long run though. And it will also stress him out a lot, being in a small space like that. With aggressive males, you have to find the cause of the problem, not just a short term answer. Some are just plain aggressive though...and in that case...not much you can do.

 

[julia298]

Thanks for the info.

I have got 3 new females who are in quarantine at the mo.