I've got two baby green sunfish in a 29g tank as stated in a previous post. Caught both on hook and line in a very small stream about 2-3 weeks ago, the fish are approx 2.5 inches long. For cover in my tank I have a single rock formation with 2 caves for them to hide in. One of the fish had an injured lip when I caught him, and he's been bullied from day 1. At this point he's relegated to hiding up behind the lip on my powerfilter most of the time. He's up there kinda swimming on an angle but he doesn't seem to be breathing heavily or anything like that. FWIW he's become a lot darker than the other fish over time. Can't think of anything else I should add here, what do you think I should do? If its a problem it doesn't matter TOO much because they'll both be leaving to idk where once I have everything to set my tank up for a pickerel.
Green sunfish Aggression issue?
Started by
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, Jul 29 2010 11:08 PM
13 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_donkeyman876_*
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Posted 30 July 2010 - 06:16 AM
Plant or other soft cover might help a little bit.
#3
Guest_ashtonmj_*
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Posted 30 July 2010 - 07:03 AM
Leaving to I don't know where...? I hope that doesn't imply release back into the wild...
#4
Guest_MWBradshaw_*
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Posted 30 July 2010 - 09:47 AM
I have a 36 Gallon tank with some natives and any time I've tried to add two sunfish together (bluegill or pumpkinseed) one of them is constantly bullied and left to live in a hiding spot. It's stressful to watch so I've had to separate them. The Largemouth and Yellow Perch don't bully up the sunfish, so it's just aggression between the sunnies. I think my tank is an awkward size for just a couple sunfish. If I had a bunch of sunfish I think it would be fine, but with just a couple they get territorial and my tank isn't big enough for each of them to establish their own "territory". So one is left to a life of hiding and being bullied. That's what I've experienced but this is my first native tank so I'm not saying anything with certainty. But yeah, some heavy planting could help break up some vision.
#5
Guest_star5328_*
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Posted 30 July 2010 - 11:43 AM
Welp the weak one decided to tank jump last night, happened to come down and see what they were up to, looked all over inside and finally looked on the floor, there he is laying behind the tank on the floor. When I grabbed him he flopped a little, felt a little dry, I tossed him back in and he darted to the bottom and was gasping for probably an hour. Still alive now about 9 hours later so it looks like he'll make it, The hole he jumped out of must have been about 2-3" in diameter, sheesh. Looked like he was gonna give up a couple times because his side fins stopped a couple times, I had to scare him into swimming so he'd go into his cave where he can recoop without being bullied.
#6
Guest_schambers_*
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Posted 30 July 2010 - 03:40 PM
You can't keep two green sunfish together without one being bullied to death. Period.
#7
Guest_sonix215_*
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Posted 30 July 2010 - 07:37 PM
i have 7 in a tank together with no problems.You can't keep two green sunfish together without one being bullied to death. Period.
#8
Guest_star5328_*
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Posted 30 July 2010 - 09:37 PM
So since I had the weaker of the fish jump the tank, and then narrowly survive after being put back in, there has been a role reversal, now the weaker one is spiking his fins and bullying the other one, why would this be? I'm not mistaken either, from like the 2nd day (as soon as they were acclimated to the tank) One fish has been the bully, now its reversed after a trauma.
#9
Guest_star5328_*
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Posted 30 July 2010 - 11:23 PM
What does it mean when a green sunfish has really defined dark bars down his back and blue tipped fins? Like way more so than the other one.
#10
Guest_donkeyman876_*
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Posted 31 July 2010 - 05:08 AM
What does it mean when a green sunfish has really defined dark bars down his back and blue tipped fins? Like way more so than the other one.
It likely means it is stressed.
#11
Guest_gzeiger_*
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Posted 31 July 2010 - 08:41 AM
This is exactly what people usually do - a large group will still have a dominant fish which you'll see over time reflected in growth rate as it gets more food, but the aggression is more spread out so no one fish gets picked on too much.i have 7 in a tank together with no problems.
#12
Guest_wargreen_*
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Posted 31 July 2010 - 10:43 AM
I had the same problem with 2 Greens in a 39g. I tried rocks and dither fish..... to no avail. I completely agree with the post that your greens just didnt have enough territory; my greenies had small aggression issues when they were 2-3 inches big....but as they got bigger so did the aggression until the big one killed the smaller one.
#13
Guest_schambers_*
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Posted 31 July 2010 - 05:41 PM
i have 7 in a tank together with no problems.
I agree with gzeiger. Seven spreads out the aggression so no one fish gets picked on 24/7.
#14
Guest_star5328_*
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Posted 01 August 2010 - 10:01 AM
Ok so now i've been trying to keep them separated, I have a piece of my old undergravel filter splitting the tank in two (partially, they can still get across if they try). The one that I said had really dark bars has returned to normal color as he's not being bullied/chased around the tank and left to hang out under the filter at the surface. Amazing how fast he got his normal color back, he was still eating even when apparently stressed, so I guess he'll be alright.
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