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Aggressive Behavior of Small Sunfish Reared at Low Density in Big Tank


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#1 centrarchid

centrarchid
  • NANFA Guest

Posted 07 January 2015 - 04:50 PM

Anyone doing this? We are seeing something funky with several when territories start to setup with fish well below breeding size. Lots of displays that may accentuate colors we normally use to distinguish species.
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#2 Sean Phillips

Sean Phillips
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  • Allegheny River Drainage, Southwest PA

Posted 07 January 2015 - 04:56 PM

How many are there?
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#3 centrarchid

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Posted 07 January 2015 - 05:21 PM

Six fish 1.25" or less in a 200 gallon tank.
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#4 bbrown

bbrown
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Posted 07 January 2015 - 05:26 PM

I will yield to the group, but I'm under the impression that territoriality usually breaks down / decreases when the number of individuals is increased in captive systems.

#5 Matt DeLaVega

Matt DeLaVega
  • Forum Staff
  • Ohio

Posted 07 January 2015 - 06:02 PM

I suspect that the large size has caused the fish to act like they would in a pond or whatnot. Do you want to remedy this? If so in a tank it is probably best to do as others have said, crowd them a bit. Otherwise enjoy seeing what you would expect in a larger body of water.

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#6 centrarchid

centrarchid
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Posted 07 January 2015 - 06:58 PM

My intent is to explore it. I have seen similar with Bluegill at densities well below what I typically operate at although when animals congregate for a particular resource, food usually, laggers are prone to become territorial. It is very interesting as the Redspotted Sunfish play out such aggression very differently from small Bluegill. I will be introducing the latter tomorrow for comparisons.
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