GSPs getting aggressive over food - suggestions?

[sparks42]

Hello, Chomper is now 3 inches and seems to be in the middle of a growth spurt. Little One is 2.25 inches and looks far smaller than Chomper.

Chomper is getting more aggressive when it comes to feeding time. I was wondering if anyone had any tricks or tips they could share so that Chomper doesn't attack Little One when it's feeding time.

Thanks!


ps, they share a 75g with 1 guppy and are normally fed bloodworms, shrimp; baby to adult, snails, krill, clams, mussels and the odd crab.

[Pufferpunk]

How heavily decorated is the tank? FTS?

[sparks42]

That's about 85% of the tank, and that's Little One at the top. I've had this setup for 4 months now. I've added a few things, and slightly rearranged some stuff, but I gotta stop that for now and let them be.

[Pufferpunk]

Not too bad... I'd get more tall plants in there to break up lines of sight. Have you ever seen mine?

[RTR]

Yup, too much open sight line throughout the tank.

[~reefchik~]

My F8 BW tank is still fairly sparse, but I've noted some feeding aggression recently as well.

I fed them at opposite ends of the tank and it helped a bit. Turning off my filtration for a short time helps keep the food in separate areas.

[sparks42]

it's hard to get them in separate areas sometimes... but generally that's what I've been doing.

I did not know that the tank layout had anything to do with how aggressive they are

[RTR]

Puffers are very bright fish. They do learn quite quickly when you use separate feeding locations. One exception to that IME has been SAPs - they do not train as easily as most of the family. I have wondered if that has to do with being schooling fish...