Fighting GSP friends

[lil fish]

I have had my 3 gsp's in my 55g tank since sept. They have all gotten along fine. Recently I started adding decorations to the tank to give them more stuff to do. When I walked into the room yesterday I looked over to see that the one had the other's mouth in a vice grip. Now one of my poor babies is missing half of his lip and one of his back fins. I don't understand why they just started fighting when they have been getting along so well together for so long! Does anyone have any suggestions?

[sevenyearnight]

GSP can be crazy mean and moody. 3 are too many for that size of tank. They apparently also get meaner as they age. I had two housed together in a 37, but I separated them. They appeared to get along well enough, but the smaller one started bullying the larger one. So instead of chancing them together in a larger tank, I just have them solo.
If it were me, I'd see if I could determine who the meanest one was, and separate him ASAP, and the other 2 *might* get along ok in that 55.

[xmikebrock]

my guy is pretty peaceful

but i heard they can just snap out of nowhere
so i keep mine alone with some other fish in the tank.
but he is the only puffer, jst in case

[lil fish]

I dont know what Im gonna do with him. I love him and dont want to get rid of him but the only thing I can think of is putting him in my 10g alone, but thats not big enough. I got them a fiddler crab to play with, that lasted less than 24 hrs though.

[trekenk]

GSP get more aggressive as they mature. Sorry to say it is only going to get worse. 55 gallon really is to small for 3 even debatable whether it is big enough for 2 full grown ones. If you do love them you are going to have to figure out some sort of solution. Yes 10 gallon is to small.

[sevenyearnight]

What I did was I found a tank big enough, you can pick up a 40 breeder at petco or something. I set it up with just the bare necessaties, and then added the other stuff as I could afford it. So my Pig Pig didn't have a light for a while, and he had ready hokey decor, I had some stuff that came free with a tank I bought. If you are fortunate to live in an area that actually has used (and not a 200% over new price mark up) prices on tanks on craigslist, you could find him a complete marine set up possibly. I'm *really* lucky if I ever see anything besides people trying to sell their old 10 & 20 gallons for $150.

[RTR]

+1 to trekenk's post.

Immature and maturing fish are not the same. The tank is not anywhere near adequate for three GSPs. It matters not that they are not fully mature. They are hopefully growing and maturing, and if they are, they require more space.