Tetradon shoutedeni aggression to each other

[Donna w]

Hi all,

I'm finally the proud owner of 3 shoutedeni. I've now had them for 3 weeks. They are quite small about 4cm
They are in a 150L tank.

I'm concerned by the amount of aggression they are showing each other. 2 of them are really getting nipped to the point I want to separate them.
The tank has a lot of plants and also bogwood. This breaks up their line of sight but it doesn't appear to help.
They are continually squaring up to one another.

The are damaging each other tail fins and dorsal.
Are there any tricks to help reduce this aggression?
Would you treat treat the damaged fins as a precaution?

One of the fishes dorsal has gone slightly white.








Any help will be appreciated

[Pufferpunk]

Your tank is a bit smaller than I would keep 3 in, probably need around 60L ea. Can you post a full tank shot? Treat damage with Melafix.

[skink]

As I mentioned, i just acquired 4 juveniles. As of now they are quarantined in a 30gal and are too confused to start bickering. I was wondering if adding other fish might help disperse the aggression. I am planning
to add a group of african tetras (3 species - Arnoldichthys spilopterus, Alestopetersius smykalai, and Phenacogrammus interruptus) to my community sometime down the line.
Has anyone kept schoutedeni with other fish successfully ?

[Pufferpunk]

Yes, they do seem to get along with most other fish that are not aggressive to them.

[astrid37]

My schoutedeni have never showed aggression to the other fish in the tanks, only to one another. Agree that a 150l tank for three is not enough space. In my experience, not enough space and competition for food are the two main reasons for aggression. Breaking up lines of sigh as Donna w mentions is important, but in my experience it also takes a minimum of 20-25 gallons per schoutedeni and feeding 3x per day to help cut down on intra-species aggression.

[Niblet]

I have 2 males and they try to kill each other when they are in the same tank,,(72 gallon) heavily planted, they find each other and its on..
I had to seperate them,,,

[skink]

How large are yours,Niblet, and how do you know they are males?
it seems everyone got individuals from the same recent batch. I think i can tell male from female, and I have seen no aggression with any of them as of yet. I have plants and driftwood everywhere so each can keep out of sight of the others. They slowly drift around the tank and lie against the driftwood or plant leaves. They do not bother the other fish, even 6 young otocinclus. They remind me of my pea puffers.