The Puffer Forum

Rover, one of the two baby F8s is definitely bullying the other, K9. It has been less than 24 hrs but already K9 has two black spots either side of her mouth.

From earlier posts I have read it seems there is no option but to separate the two. I have another 17g tank. (Will get filter and heater).

Is this the best solution?


Susanna

Did they start fighting at feeding time?

What does the bullying consist of? How heavily planted is the tank? Anything cave or hollow-log like in there as a refuge?
It could just be territorial and they'll sort it, but get that 17G going if you can, just in case.
Pami.

Rover gets to the food quicker and then follows K9 to get a nip which makes K9 go and hide. There are rocks, logs and some plants but I was afraid K9 would not get enough food to stay well. It looked thin.

Michael and I did set up the 17G. Though actually they did fine this evening with some cockles on a stick. Rover ate his fill in 30secs but allowed K9 to eat for ages. They both looked full and happy!

Thank you!

Susanna

So are you going to separate them?

puffermama wrote:Rover, one of the two baby F8s is definitely bullying the other, K9. It has been less than 24 hrs but already K9 has two black spots either side of her mouth.

If the spots are symetrically placed on each side and of similiar color, it may just be markings that are appearing/disappearing with his mood. All four of my F8s have a dark spot on each side of their mouth.

I have one competely vicious F8 who caused enough injury to his tank mates to draw blood. He now lives alone. In the remaining group of three F8s there is one who is a bully. It occurs mostly during meal time and if it were not for physical intervention I believe he would have starved the other two by now.

It might just be 'cos they were hungry at the lfs, and once Rover realises he doesn't need to compete for food, he'll calm down...seems last feeding time wasn't so fraught.
Pami.

Yes, there is a dark spot on either side of the mouth, looks a bit like a moustache!

They were fine eating last night, but this morning, K9 was acting all shy again, although he did get some food. I think we may have disrupted their territories while reorganising the tanks, which explains why Rover wasn't chasing K9 away.

The 17G is still a little cloudy, but I think as soon as it's OK we'll move one over. Both Michael and I would prefer to keep them together. At least with the two tanks available we have a choice of options. Maybe they can live apart and meet up sometime

Susanna

PS. Pami, just saw your post , thanks for the hopeful note!

I think that it would be nicer to keep them together aswell but if they bully eachother to the extent that they cannot eat, then you must move them. Try to keep them together though.

well here is something to try.

do you have a tank divider? if not they are fairly cheap (15bucks usd or less)
section the tank in half one puffer to a side. then feed the weaker one by itself and let it get bigger then let the two hang together you may notice them being ok

That is a very good idea, you could probably make one for £3 if you buy it from a glazing shop.

You do need to maximize flow between the sections of the tank with a divider. Plastic "egg crate" light diffuser (hardware, lighting, or home store item) provides near mximum interchange and allows the puffers to see each other well, which may help adjuctment - or may not.

Pupose made dividers on our market are very expensive for what they are.Glass too,cut and bevelled works out costly aswell!

Cool idea, the divider!

Though I'm not entirely sure what plastic egg-crates look like. What I understand is that I would need some kind of mesh material which would let the water flow through easily, but the fish not at all! And the mesh would have to be hard so it could get wedged into place without letting the fish through the sides?

I'm not sure I would like a glass divider though, not unless it was glass cut out like a sieve .. ?

They are doing well again this evening, eating on the same stick with no problems, and I think maybe the reason K9 was not eating so well this morning was that the cockles had been defrosted for 12 hrs before. They are v. fussy. I don't mind really, just one problem ... what do I do with the 17G tank now?

Susanna

You could either put it away or put new fish in it.