Goldfish aggression?

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Cactuspixie

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Jan 20, 2013
Messages
1,830
Location
Queensland Australia
Why has my big comet started chasing and nipping at the smaller one? It seems to have scales that are damaged/missing. They've been together many months without problems.
Water is good 0/0/<5 ; 25C ; ph 6.8
Pwc 30% every 2nd day
 
I had the exact same problem except my smaller common goldfish was attacking the larger comet goldfish, after a few days they got used to eachother and the fighting is far less common, as for the torn fins or missing scales you could either buy melafix or you could start off by doing regular water changes as you have been doing so
 
It could also be down to the health of the fish, as although not usually agressive, they do tend to bully the weaker fish, or it could also be down to not having enough room in the tank and do you know their gender?
 
It could also be down to the health of the fish, as although not usually agressive, they do tend to bully the weaker fish, or it could also be down to not having enough room in the tank and do you know their gender?

I have no idea of their gender. They were rehomed into a larger tank a few weeks back.
 
It may be the start of breeding behavior, I am afraid to say. It doesnt necessarily mean you have a male and female. It sounds like you have a dominant male and either a female or a submissive male. Dominant males really dont care and will abuse everyone equally.
 
It may be the start of breeding behavior, I am afraid to say. It doesnt necessarily mean you have a male and female. It sounds like you have a dominant male and either a female or a submissive male. Dominant males really dont care and will abuse everyone equally.

Well I won't stand for that. The pretty young white one will have to go to a new home :-(
Mr butt ugly will just have to occupy himself chasing bubbles.
 
Before deciding on a new home, if you have some time (and patience), you can give some behavior therapy a try. I am guessing the white one is the abuser or is it the other way around?

Anyway, get a clean plastic mesh laundry type basket- the dollar store has ones that are 1 to 1.5ft deep and around. If its a small fish, you can try deep plastic pasta strainer/colander. Place it in the top of the tank. Anytime you see bad behavior, place the bad boy in a timeout in the basket/colander for few hours. Just make sure you keep an eye on him because he may try to jump out or injure himself. once he is well settled, release him. The second he starts again, repeat. And keep repeating. Some fish figure out this isn't any fun in a few days. Others it takes much longer. In a few rare cases, hormones can not be stemmed but generally it helps to curb bad behaviors. Good luck!
 
Before deciding on a new home, if you have some time (and patience), you can give some behavior therapy a try. I am guessing the white one is the abuser or is it the other way around?

No it's the big orange one that's the abuser. I got stuck with him, then got the little white one for company before I found out how big they get. I thought getting a 2nd comet was the right thing to do, but clearly it hasn't worked out that way for any of us. Getting yet another bigger tank is out of the question- I already have 6 (not including the shrimp tank) and two of them are 6'x2'x2'. I don't even live in a house! Lol.

I really don't have the time to use behavior modification techniques on the comet. My poor dog hasn't been walked the last two days and tomorrow's not looking good either.

The young white one is very pretty and will be very easy to re-home. What kind of home- that's another matter.

Mr ugly butt will just have to live out his days without a buddy.

Thanks for the input and advice :)
 
I was at the local LFS today, and overheard a customer saying she had a big pond in her backyard. I promptly asked her would she like a white comet for her pond, and she said yes! First I had to show her what a comet looks like. Lol. So this guy is going to a new home tomorrow:


image-2891382801.jpg


And Frankenstein will live out his days with me:

image-126756171.jpg

It's going to be hard looking at that tank without something pretty to distract you from the grossness of Lenny the leper.... Lol
 
So it took a while longer than expected, but she just went to her new home. And what a home! A gorgeous big pond behind a massive mansion on sprawling acreage! I was tempted to ask if they'd take me too! Lol
 
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