fish bully

[tmdavies]

bought a new goldfish today its a little bit bigger than my other 3 and wont stop harrassing 2 of them. could he kill them?

 

[Esoteric Backbone]

How big is he? How big are the other fish?

 

[Esoteric Backbone]

What's the size of your tank?

 

[BeavisMom62]

Is the tank big enough? You should have a 50 gal tank for four goldfish. Being cramped can make them "cranky". It could also be that he is new and is still settling in. I've never had an aggressive goldfish before. I doubt that he could kill them outright, but he could possibly cause a wound that could get infected. Then the infection could kill them if it wasn't treated.

 

[tmdavies]

yeah i have a 240 litre tank which i think is around 63 us gallons, i heard that the males bump into the females to encourage them to lay eggs

 

[Migs]

I'm having the same problem right now with my goldfishes and I don't know what to do. I have 3 goldfish in a 40 gallon.....

 

[jlk]

Yes, theres an issue of male aggression towards the females and agression of the dominant male towards other males. Males can be aggressive enough towards females to seriously injure or even kill them in their reproductive trysts. The dominant male will bully & chase the weaker males relentlessly. I house my males & females seperately to limit problems. My dominant male gets 'time outs' both in a pasta colander in the tank or in the qt when he gets really abusive to the other males. Seperation is usually the best option if someone is being injured or very stressed.