This is a Q about aggression and behavior in general. The fish in question are my FW puffers, but I’m looking for some thoughts in general about fish in time out and aggression.
I have a trio of dwarf puffers in a heavily planted 10g waterbox cube — two females and a male, said to be the perfect/recommended ratio. Well, the male is now nearly double the size of the females, and a real jerk. He is aggressive.
The other day one of the girls appeared for breakfast but wasn’t eating, had a pretty badly torn tail, and looked totally lost. I witnessed him bully her relentlessly to the point I thought she was going to die. I put her in an acclimation box, but she still wouldn’t eat. Left her in there overnight, and this morning she ate a bunch of bladder snails — she attacked them w/the normal dwarf puffer gusto. She is doing much better.
So my Qs are:
1. What is the best strategy for releasing her back into the main part of the tank? I plan to keep her in the acclimation box at least another day, but she’ll be happier in the main tank.
2. In the future, would isolating the male in the box be a good strategy for handling him? I have the girl in there now b/c she wasn’t eating and I could better manage that, but going forward I’d rather punish the jerk and not the innocents. Does this sort of thing actually work, behaviorally speaking?
Just some background in general: dwarf puffers are shoaling fish — they like the company of each other, but they are more “neighbors not roommates” in their disposition. The plants help to keep it so they’re not always w/in eyesight of each other as they explore the tank. If they are hunting and see another, they attack — usually just a chase-away type of thing. All of this is to say this behavior is in their nature. The females rush each other sometimes, too, but this male in particular is very dominant and can be much more aggressive. The other female holds her own pretty well, but this one is more timid and an easier mark for aggression.
I have a trio of dwarf puffers in a heavily planted 10g waterbox cube — two females and a male, said to be the perfect/recommended ratio. Well, the male is now nearly double the size of the females, and a real jerk. He is aggressive.
The other day one of the girls appeared for breakfast but wasn’t eating, had a pretty badly torn tail, and looked totally lost. I witnessed him bully her relentlessly to the point I thought she was going to die. I put her in an acclimation box, but she still wouldn’t eat. Left her in there overnight, and this morning she ate a bunch of bladder snails — she attacked them w/the normal dwarf puffer gusto. She is doing much better.
So my Qs are:
1. What is the best strategy for releasing her back into the main part of the tank? I plan to keep her in the acclimation box at least another day, but she’ll be happier in the main tank.
2. In the future, would isolating the male in the box be a good strategy for handling him? I have the girl in there now b/c she wasn’t eating and I could better manage that, but going forward I’d rather punish the jerk and not the innocents. Does this sort of thing actually work, behaviorally speaking?
Just some background in general: dwarf puffers are shoaling fish — they like the company of each other, but they are more “neighbors not roommates” in their disposition. The plants help to keep it so they’re not always w/in eyesight of each other as they explore the tank. If they are hunting and see another, they attack — usually just a chase-away type of thing. All of this is to say this behavior is in their nature. The females rush each other sometimes, too, but this male in particular is very dominant and can be much more aggressive. The other female holds her own pretty well, but this one is more timid and an easier mark for aggression.