Catfish Disaster! Urgent!

[king neon]

Please help! I bought 2 Feather Fin Catfish about a year ago, The guy said everything would be ok if I got two, so i bought two to keep each other company.... Bad Idea.... Now they have grown bigger one of them seems to have decided he wants to own the tank and is now fighting the other catfish... The other one seems to not fight back and is now getting awfully injured Mainly hes attacking the back which is a bit fleshy since its been getting attacked constantly...
Now what do I do? Do i give the catfish thats bullying back to a LFS, however if the injured one don't survive then Iv lost both... Or do I wait and see what happens? And meanwhile how should I stop the fighting???
Thanks

I just am wondering how long the attacked one will last for and if he will ever recover...

 

[Davo86]

hi
what size tank are they in? sounds like it is simply too small for the two

do you have another tank the injured one could go into until it has healed?
with clean water (and added melafix if you wish) it should heal quite quickly.
(If the water isn't clean the fleshy part will quickly become infected.)

I have kept two in a four foot tank before and there was the occasional scrap but nothing too bad,

 

[king neon]

Its a 90L Tank which Im guessing is too small... Didn't really think they were going to get that big, since the rubbish that the guy in our LFS said... He said they should only grow to 10 cm and out now much bigger.... I even pointed to the tank while we were buying since they also sold the same tank, yet he still said thats fine. I don't have a hospital tank, however I could get one if its low budget. And if anything can Melafix be added to the community tank or a hospital? And my water is reasonably clean. So you think I should take one back?

 

[Davo86]

yes i'm afriad IMO it is really too small for 1, these guys can get to 8inches+ and do get quite territorial towards other bottom dwelling catfish/plecs/sharks etc.

do you have any water stats or can you test the water? clean water is usually enough to heal wounds, but a half dose of melafix can be added to either the community or hospital tank.

 

[king neon]

well I checked all my water stats around 2 days ago and It was perfect
However it wont be able to heal while the other catfish is attacking....
So what should I do about the attacking catfish?

 

[Davo86]

well I checked all my water stats around 2 days ago and It was perfect
However it wont be able to heal while the other catfish is attacking....
So what should I do about the attacking catfish?

one obviously needs rehoming but it is entirely up to you which one stays and which one goes,
featherfins are very hardy catfish so i have no doubt that the wounds will heal,

you could try and rehome one in the buy/sell section, even if it is just free to good home

 

[king neon]

Hey Thanks for the help However Im going to have to re-home fast by the looks of things probably the bully... And one last thing, how should I catch one? Since my nets are all to small to get him and he runs riot every time!

 

[Davo86]

Hey Thanks for the help However Im going to have to re-home fast by the looks of things probably the bully... And one last thing, how should I catch one? Since my nets are all to small to get him and he runs riot every time!

a larger net is the obvious answer but if you have a large old jug or container you could try cornering it with that
be sure to remove as many objects as possible first to make it as quick and as stress-full a chase as possible,