Fish fighting...any suggestions?

craigj

craigj

Member
I currently have a 4 inch blue-spotted grouper and a 4 inch niger trigger in my 75 FO and they are definitely not taking well to each other. I had the grouper in their for a month before I put the niger in so I figured they'd do fine. Unfortunately they don't get along and the niger took a nip out of the groupers fin. Any suggestions besides take the niger back?
 
grouper 42

grouper 42

Member
I have had two groupers, a miniatus and now a cherry. Groupers seem to have nasty dispositions to me and definitely hate new fish. The cherry was more passive when smaller but now that he has grown to the size of the others he is becoming more aggressive. I would keep the lights off and maybe rearrange the rocks. If that doesn't work then you may have to return the one you least care for.
 
craigj

craigj

Member
Well the grouper isn't the problem...the niger is the instigator. The grouper isn't attacking the niger, its the other way around. I didn't figure this would be the case since the grouper was in first and nigers are not known to be that nasty.
 
dlight692000

dlight692000

Member
i hate nigers, i had one and all it did was bother other fish, i moved around the rock but that only works when a new fish goes into the tank, once they hate eachother they always will, in the long run you will end up takin back the niger
 
grouper 42

grouper 42

Member
I have heard that Nigers are peaceful choices amongst Triggers (mostly from the lfs guy) yet in Robert Fenners's book, Marine Aquarist, Nigers are listed as "possible troublemakers" and lumped in with Queens and Clowns. He lists Pinktails, Picasso, Assasi, and Blue-throats as peaceful choices.
 
mark-24

mark-24

Member
dlight- heres the thing, true some nigers are pretty mean, but in your case, you used the niger to cycle and was the first fish in your tank, the trigger then felt that any fish that enters the tank is entering his territory, which would expalain aggressive behavior. Your always suppossed to put the most aggressive fish in last.
-Mark
 
guppie

guppie

Member
I have found out over the years that some fish are just mean. You read all the books and they say that this fish will get along with the other fish and you try it and one goes after the other so you try something else. If the lights off and moveing the rocks around does not work then you might want to think about tradeing in the trigger, because he will never change, I know I had a clown that I tryed everything and he never changed. This is not to say that another trigger would not work just that one. Good Luck
 
pufferlover

pufferlover

Active Member
As mentioned above most people say Pink Tails are mellow Triggers but my lfs guy was telling me his experiences with them are they are bullies and he has hardly ever had one that did not pick on its tank mates. He did say the Blue-Throat is a good choice. He also had one Niger (a big one) that he sold twice and it came back twice for being a bully. I would agree the books say what the normal should be but fish like people do not always read the right books.
 
trigahappynigerog

trigahappynigerog

Member
reading all the books and info from lfs can sometimes be wrong. I like to see what happens for my self. i had a small undulate in the tank with a small emperor snapper they got along good even though the person at the lfs told me they wouldnt get along and the undulate would kill him. unfortunatly i had to trade the snapper because of his voracious appetite. i got a niger and i knew the undulate was probably going to kill him but i got him anyway. they fought for a good hour biting at each other til the niger found a cave. the niger hid and dug holes in his cave for a week and would only come out to feed. now the undulate would let the niger swim around the tank with a little bit of bitting once in a while but nothing serious like in the begining. now the niger and a yellowtail damsel are constantly fighting. my stock consist of a undulate fights the niger,a domino that fights the yellow tail and the niger that also fights with the yellowtail.
this is my aggressive tank FOWLR tank.
 
craigj

craigj

Member
It sounds like to me you need to rethink your setup. Its not exactly responsible fishkeeping to put two fish that you know are going to fight in the same tank. Especially one that small. I mean one trigger in a 55 is pushing it, but two is rediculous. You act like its fun to watch your fish fight. Personally, I don't find fun in watching my 50 dollar fish destroy my 80 dollar fish, but maybe thats just me. But seriously, you need to get one of those triggers out. Your LFS guy is right when he says the undulate would kill the snapper...you just didn't give it enough time.
 
craigj

craigj

Member
Oh by the way for all you guys that helped me, thanks. My niger and grouper no longer pick at each other. I turned the lights off for a day and since then, they've been relatively calm.
 
trigahappynigerog

trigahappynigerog

Member
right now i have the small triggers is in the 30. i know it is tiny. the only reason i got the niger was to watch it get killed and it is taking longer than i expected. but right now i am currently building a sump with the 55g for my 125g that is waiting to get setup. the 125 is the new home for the undulate and a dragon eel. since the undulate is only three inches he is going to stay in there for another month because i am trying to increase his aggression while building the sump. i also feed him live and frozen foods three times a week. there are also hermit crabs he can snack on.
 
craigj

craigj

Member
Money isn't an issue here, it has more to due with being humane. Why even keep fish if you just want to watch them die? Why not go to the pet store, buy a fish, and throw it down in the parking lot as you leave? I just don't get why you even keep fish...
 
pufferlover

pufferlover

Active Member
I sort of felt bad about my post above but after seeing the later post I don't. If one could dig themselves a deeper hole here with us fish lovers you my friend did it big time.
 
trigahappynigerog

trigahappynigerog

Member
ok your right, so i guess ill think about that when i feed my undulate a damsel later. and when i eat my steak. ill think about being humane. thanks for making me realize that.
 
goldfish

goldfish

Member
I have been reading this very ugly post today about waiting for your fish to get killed...by an Undulate of all species.
I only know of one member who used to keep undulates and you sound a lot like him. I have also noticed that your name has changed like three times since you arrived on the board in August. What's up? Are you back just under another name?
Watch yourself...if you are a "new" member then please keep those comments about waiting to watch your fish kill each other to yourself. It's degrading to us fish lovers to listen to those hateful stories.
If you are the "old" member then I would suggest you mature really quickly and knock it off. If you are "new" then best of luck to you. The sharks will watch you get eaten if you continue to talk this way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top