I'm growing out 2 sunfish in my 20 gallon long tank (don't worry they WILL be moved). They are a 2.5" pumpkinseed and a 2" green. Well needless to say.... they hate each other. Like many people have warned it happened literally overnight, as before they would never leave each other's side. I was originally going to re-home the green however he has developed such intense coloration, I never knew that greens could be so pretty. The green is the one getting beaten up by the way, as the pumpkinseed is slightly larger. So what I need advice on is whether I should get more sunfish to spread out aggression OR would I be better off just getting rid of or moving one? Will a green and pumpkinseed even be able to live together when they are older? I understand that both are very aggressive, especially greens.
Need some advice
Started by
Guest_juhason_*
, Mar 18 2014 11:51 AM
7 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_Subrosa_*
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Posted 18 March 2014 - 12:30 PM
Greens and Pumkpinseeds get along fine in my local pond. Of course it's about a half acre, so they have ways of avoiding each other. If the fish have to look at each other all the time it causes problems If you can break up the lines of sight you should be able to keep them together. Not easy in a tank as small as a 20, but it can be done. You need to decorate the tank with defusing aggression in mind, rather than with making an attractive tank in mind. Lots of caves, ledges, branches etc, that the fish can swim through and around.
#3
Guest_Erica Lyons_*
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Posted 18 March 2014 - 01:02 PM
I think aggression has a lot to do on circumstance. One summer, my husband and I lived in a one room "efficiency" (not even big enough to be called an apartment). Let's just say we didn't get along as well as we do now, in our two bedroom apartment where if I am annoyed I can go into the room with the fish tanks and have some time to myself. Fish are the same way. I am currently keeping an 'aggressive' cichlid species in my 75 gallon tank in an attempt to breed them. I've heard stories of peoples' cichlids killing one another. That hasn't happened yet in my tank. It might have something to do with how compartmentalized the tank is. There are so many plants and there's a vertical fake coral wall and lots of giant shells to hide in... if one bites another one, the victim swims off and is immediately lost in the crowd, and the aggressor can't see the victim any more. The aggression stops after the first nip.
I saw this and thought it was a really neat idea for a background to reduce aggression:
That background, some plants, some vertical walls to break up horizontal sight lines. These all help.
I saw this and thought it was a really neat idea for a background to reduce aggression:
That background, some plants, some vertical walls to break up horizontal sight lines. These all help.
#4
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 18 March 2014 - 02:27 PM
tanks divider for the fish... separate closets for the spouse... keys to a happy life
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#5
Guest_juhason_*
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Posted 18 March 2014 - 03:17 PM
Wow that is a really great idea!!! I think I might get to work on that and rearrange my tank in the mean time. Thanks everyone!I think aggression has a lot to do on circumstance. One summer, my husband and I lived in a one room "efficiency" (not even big enough to be called an apartment). Let's just say we didn't get along as well as we do now, in our two bedroom apartment where if I am annoyed I can go into the room with the fish tanks and have some time to myself. Fish are the same way. I am currently keeping an 'aggressive' cichlid species in my 75 gallon tank in an attempt to breed them. I've heard stories of peoples' cichlids killing one another. That hasn't happened yet in my tank. It might have something to do with how compartmentalized the tank is. There are so many plants and there's a vertical fake coral wall and lots of giant shells to hide in... if one bites another one, the victim swims off and is immediately lost in the crowd, and the aggressor can't see the victim any more. The aggression stops after the first nip.
I saw this and thought it was a really neat idea for a background to reduce aggression:
http://youtu.be/H9lUq4PDvKs
That background, some plants, some vertical walls to break up horizontal sight lines. These all help.
#6
Guest_gerald_*
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Posted 18 March 2014 - 04:27 PM
I dont think the fighting has much to do with them being different species. Two Lepomis of the same species may still fight just as bad as two different species. Two to four fish is just a BAD number for certain aggressive fish, like most sunfish, bass, and Cyprinellas. Five or more fish in a bigger tank usually works better, so the chasing and fighting is diffused among more fish. This strategy applies to many other aquarium fish too like Rift Lake cichlids, barbs, swordtails, rainbowfish, characins, etc.
#7
Guest_Erica Lyons_*
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Posted 18 March 2014 - 04:39 PM
^I agree.I dont think the fighting has much to do with them being different species. Two Lepomis of the same species may still fight just as bad as two different species. Two to four fish is just a BAD number for certain aggressive fish, like most sunfish, bass, and Cyprinellas. Five or more fish in a bigger tank usually works better, so the chasing and fighting is diffused among more fish. This strategy applies to many other aquarium fish too like Rift Lake cichlids, barbs, swordtails, rainbowfish, characins, etc.
I should have mentioned, the 75 gallon tank I talked about having has something like 18 ish of the 4-6 inch long cichlids. High numbers diffuse aggression.
If that sounds like a lot of fish in a tank, well, they were predicted to kill each other off, but haven't yet. There have been zero deaths.
#8
Guest_juhason_*
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Posted 18 March 2014 - 04:51 PM
Hopefully I can upgrade soon! I would LOVE to have more sunfish haha.I dont think the fighting has much to do with them being different species. Two Lepomis of the same species may still fight just as bad as two different species. Two to four fish is just a BAD number for certain aggressive fish, like most sunfish, bass, and Cyprinellas. Five or more fish in a bigger tank usually works better, so the chasing and fighting is diffused among more fish. This strategy applies to many other aquarium fish too like Rift Lake cichlids, barbs, swordtails, rainbowfish, characins, etc.
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