Thought I'd share an interesting scenario...I'm pretty new to fish but have learned alot in a short amount of time. I get kinda long winded so bare with me; I have a problem being overly detailed.
So I put together a pretty nice 55gal and have equipped it with a few fish to get us started. As of now, the tank currently is stocked with a VC10, Electric Blue Ahli, Green Red Shouldered Severum, Jurapari, Hongi (2), African Rock Dwellers (2), and two other smaller Africans that I can't remember off the top of my head. I originally had 3 rock dwellers but one of them was extremely aggressive and literally tried to rip the scales off the Hongi as soon as we released the Hongi from the petstore bag so we had to quarantine him.
The original severum seemed to be loanly in the tank and he seemed to always try and hang around the Jurapari. Since they are the only South American's in the tank and they came from the same tank at the store, I figured they'd naturally just hang around each other and they sorta did but the Jurapari is a serious loaner and doesnt' want to be bothered by anybody. We realized mixing the two could be "interesting" but I also know nothing is scripted so I figured we could give it a shot if we bought fish that were already similar in size to the VC and the Ahli since they had been in the tank for about a month already. The VC10 originally went after the Severum when we initially put them in and he relentlessly kinda went after him for a good couple of days. We even thought about quarantine but since there are plenty of hiding spaces, things seemed to calm down and all the sudden the Severum and VC were kinda hanging out one day and we never saw any other aggression from the VC.
Keep in mind, the mood of this tank is plenty aggressive but all the fish basically keep to themselves. The smaller fish all kinda swim and seemingly play with each other and the bigger fish (keep in mind all the fish in the tank are still VERY young) just keep to themselves. The lady at the petstore told us the Severum and Jurapari were both moderate in tempermanent but we bought them slightly bigger than the Africans thinking this would keep things in check. Our assumption and hope was right and the tank has been performing flawlessly.....
Until the other day when we decided to bring home another Severum and the two Hongi. Like I said previously, the Hongi weren't initially well received by the rock dwellers but after the aggressive one was removed, the other small fish completely left them alone and gradually accepted them into the "fold." The problem is the new Severum. This particular severum has more of a blueish face and is just slightly bigger than the original (bought like that on purpose hoping the size would help). We have no idea if the original severum is male or female nor do we know if the newer severum is male or female because the petstore said it was/is extremely difficult to tell....
Apparently the older Green Severum was just fine being the only Severum in tank. As soon as the two saw each other, they just kind of looked at each other but there wasn't an immediate stand off. The new Severum swam off and found a place to hid and just kinda stayed there. Once the newness of the new fish settled down and the other fish started to come out from hiding, the older Severum went and located the location of the newer severum and hasn't stopped biting and terroizing the fish ever since. Since the VC kinda did this to the original Severum, I kinda have just been monitoring the situation and hoping the new severum will finally stand up and stop getting chased.
The kicker is now the Green Severum is the new tank boss. This is the fish that use to run away from any and every fish (no matter size) and stayed in hiding. Now he goes after the newever severum every time he comes out and this triggers him to chase any fish in his warpath and they all scatter and scoot including the Jurapari who use to be the tank boss (he realized his size put fear into all the other fish so he immediately took over the tank boss title).
It's all kinda weird and I'm trying to be a lil' patient since the tank has been working out so well. Just thought I'd share and hopefully get some feedback if possible. I've attached a couple pics so you guys can see how large the largest fish are and give you a better perspective. Thats the VC10, The Original Green "Red Shouldered" Severum and the Jurapari.
So I put together a pretty nice 55gal and have equipped it with a few fish to get us started. As of now, the tank currently is stocked with a VC10, Electric Blue Ahli, Green Red Shouldered Severum, Jurapari, Hongi (2), African Rock Dwellers (2), and two other smaller Africans that I can't remember off the top of my head. I originally had 3 rock dwellers but one of them was extremely aggressive and literally tried to rip the scales off the Hongi as soon as we released the Hongi from the petstore bag so we had to quarantine him.
The original severum seemed to be loanly in the tank and he seemed to always try and hang around the Jurapari. Since they are the only South American's in the tank and they came from the same tank at the store, I figured they'd naturally just hang around each other and they sorta did but the Jurapari is a serious loaner and doesnt' want to be bothered by anybody. We realized mixing the two could be "interesting" but I also know nothing is scripted so I figured we could give it a shot if we bought fish that were already similar in size to the VC and the Ahli since they had been in the tank for about a month already. The VC10 originally went after the Severum when we initially put them in and he relentlessly kinda went after him for a good couple of days. We even thought about quarantine but since there are plenty of hiding spaces, things seemed to calm down and all the sudden the Severum and VC were kinda hanging out one day and we never saw any other aggression from the VC.
Keep in mind, the mood of this tank is plenty aggressive but all the fish basically keep to themselves. The smaller fish all kinda swim and seemingly play with each other and the bigger fish (keep in mind all the fish in the tank are still VERY young) just keep to themselves. The lady at the petstore told us the Severum and Jurapari were both moderate in tempermanent but we bought them slightly bigger than the Africans thinking this would keep things in check. Our assumption and hope was right and the tank has been performing flawlessly.....
Until the other day when we decided to bring home another Severum and the two Hongi. Like I said previously, the Hongi weren't initially well received by the rock dwellers but after the aggressive one was removed, the other small fish completely left them alone and gradually accepted them into the "fold." The problem is the new Severum. This particular severum has more of a blueish face and is just slightly bigger than the original (bought like that on purpose hoping the size would help). We have no idea if the original severum is male or female nor do we know if the newer severum is male or female because the petstore said it was/is extremely difficult to tell....
Apparently the older Green Severum was just fine being the only Severum in tank. As soon as the two saw each other, they just kind of looked at each other but there wasn't an immediate stand off. The new Severum swam off and found a place to hid and just kinda stayed there. Once the newness of the new fish settled down and the other fish started to come out from hiding, the older Severum went and located the location of the newer severum and hasn't stopped biting and terroizing the fish ever since. Since the VC kinda did this to the original Severum, I kinda have just been monitoring the situation and hoping the new severum will finally stand up and stop getting chased.
The kicker is now the Green Severum is the new tank boss. This is the fish that use to run away from any and every fish (no matter size) and stayed in hiding. Now he goes after the newever severum every time he comes out and this triggers him to chase any fish in his warpath and they all scatter and scoot including the Jurapari who use to be the tank boss (he realized his size put fear into all the other fish so he immediately took over the tank boss title).
It's all kinda weird and I'm trying to be a lil' patient since the tank has been working out so well. Just thought I'd share and hopefully get some feedback if possible. I've attached a couple pics so you guys can see how large the largest fish are and give you a better perspective. Thats the VC10, The Original Green "Red Shouldered" Severum and the Jurapari.
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