Here's a little info on the situation:
A month ago, I purchased a blue jack dempsey to add to my aquarium. The residents at the time were a 4 month old Convict, a 3 month old Jewel, and an algae eater. I knew that putting the dempsey in with the other fish at his size would probably have him torn apart so I put in a divider.
Everything was going well and the dempsey appeared to be well adjusted until one morning, I went to the tank and to my surprise the divider had been shifted just enough so that the jewel was able to get to the other side! I put him back on his side and looked for my little dempsey. When I found the pore guy, his fins had all been torn off.
I was not too happy with my jewel as I saw him watching the dempsey all the time, licking his lips waiting until he could eat the fish.... Okay I may have imagined that. Anyway, I took the jewel to a fish store to solve that problem. I put my dempsey in my hospital tank and treated him, put him back in the tank without the divider to see if the convict would leave him alone. Not only did the convict not harass him but he would also sit right beside my dempsey, at times touching it, circle the tank and go back.
This behavior has continued for the past several days now where the convict continually appears to be protecting, nurturing or something. The dempsey has now moved from his main location to the convict's hangout spot and the convict is being completely accepting. (I find this unusual because my convict is usually extremely territorial). The convict seems constantly check on the dempsey as well.
Anyway, I've researched this now and the only thing that I've found is a short article on how tropical fish are more like mammals when it comes to nurturing, but in that article they were only talking about the parent and fry relationship.
Anyone else have any experience with this? Any information on this type of behavior in fish? I find it so fascinating!
A month ago, I purchased a blue jack dempsey to add to my aquarium. The residents at the time were a 4 month old Convict, a 3 month old Jewel, and an algae eater. I knew that putting the dempsey in with the other fish at his size would probably have him torn apart so I put in a divider.
Everything was going well and the dempsey appeared to be well adjusted until one morning, I went to the tank and to my surprise the divider had been shifted just enough so that the jewel was able to get to the other side! I put him back on his side and looked for my little dempsey. When I found the pore guy, his fins had all been torn off.
I was not too happy with my jewel as I saw him watching the dempsey all the time, licking his lips waiting until he could eat the fish.... Okay I may have imagined that. Anyway, I took the jewel to a fish store to solve that problem. I put my dempsey in my hospital tank and treated him, put him back in the tank without the divider to see if the convict would leave him alone. Not only did the convict not harass him but he would also sit right beside my dempsey, at times touching it, circle the tank and go back.
This behavior has continued for the past several days now where the convict continually appears to be protecting, nurturing or something. The dempsey has now moved from his main location to the convict's hangout spot and the convict is being completely accepting. (I find this unusual because my convict is usually extremely territorial). The convict seems constantly check on the dempsey as well.
Anyway, I've researched this now and the only thing that I've found is a short article on how tropical fish are more like mammals when it comes to nurturing, but in that article they were only talking about the parent and fry relationship.
Anyone else have any experience with this? Any information on this type of behavior in fish? I find it so fascinating!
