Hey guys!
Just wondering if anyone had some insights into the behaviour of my jurupari(Earth-eater). I have two juveniles, about three inches long. One is slightly bigger than the other. When they first moved into my tank, the bigger one was a bit bully-ish to the smaller one, it looked harmless and it didn't last long, I guessed it was just a pecking order thing. They've been really happy for the last two weeks, until now that for the last two days the smaller Earth-eater is bullying the bigger one. It didn't bother me at first, but now I'm starting to see that it's doing some damage. The scales at the end of the bigger J's tail are looking a little damaged, and there's a small split on it's caudal fin.
The bullying is fairly constant now and it's starting to worry me. I guess this just comes as a suprise to me because these fish are supposed to be very peaceful fish, and that the smaller one is bullying the larger one. It's also strange that they were very comfortable with each other for two weeks and now not. I've read that they won't become sexually active until 4 inches anyway, so I'm not sure if it's mating behaviour (I'm not even sure if they're male and female..?). There's a very young Firemouth(2 inches) in the tank too, which is getting chased a little too, but not as persistantly. I noticed that the bully J was occasionally itching itself on a rock about a week ago, but then stopped. Could it be a health thing?
They're also sharing the 36 gallon tank with a Whiptail catfish and two snails, which aren't getting bullied in the slightest. I've put a new log in the tank to seperate some more terratories to see if that'll help, but other than that I'm not sure what to do. If it keeps causing more damage I'll probably seperate them.
What do you guys think?
Thanks!
-Dan
Just wondering if anyone had some insights into the behaviour of my jurupari(Earth-eater). I have two juveniles, about three inches long. One is slightly bigger than the other. When they first moved into my tank, the bigger one was a bit bully-ish to the smaller one, it looked harmless and it didn't last long, I guessed it was just a pecking order thing. They've been really happy for the last two weeks, until now that for the last two days the smaller Earth-eater is bullying the bigger one. It didn't bother me at first, but now I'm starting to see that it's doing some damage. The scales at the end of the bigger J's tail are looking a little damaged, and there's a small split on it's caudal fin.
The bullying is fairly constant now and it's starting to worry me. I guess this just comes as a suprise to me because these fish are supposed to be very peaceful fish, and that the smaller one is bullying the larger one. It's also strange that they were very comfortable with each other for two weeks and now not. I've read that they won't become sexually active until 4 inches anyway, so I'm not sure if it's mating behaviour (I'm not even sure if they're male and female..?). There's a very young Firemouth(2 inches) in the tank too, which is getting chased a little too, but not as persistantly. I noticed that the bully J was occasionally itching itself on a rock about a week ago, but then stopped. Could it be a health thing?
They're also sharing the 36 gallon tank with a Whiptail catfish and two snails, which aren't getting bullied in the slightest. I've put a new log in the tank to seperate some more terratories to see if that'll help, but other than that I'm not sure what to do. If it keeps causing more damage I'll probably seperate them.
What do you guys think?
Thanks!
-Dan
