Feather Fins

[Debbie T]

Hi
I have a 5ft long 2ft high & 18inches deep tank.(500 Litres)
I've got 2 plecs, 2 upside down fish, 2 silver loaches, 2 corys 1 ghost knife fish 3 small silver sharks 1 angel fish &
2 mental feather fins!!!!!!!
The suckies have all lived together for probably 2yrs now & were tiny when we had them, the 2 feather fins must be at least 7
inches long now & seem to have gone a bit bizbonk. They keep chasing each other round the tank & proper grapple with each other & have made the tops of their heads sore where they've head butted each other. Is this normal or have they not got enough room? It loooks proper scary when they have a go at each other with all their fins out.
Thanks
Debbie T

 

[three-fingers]

I've had a feather fin for maybe 5 years now and they are very peaceful fish, just territorial towards each other, sometimes towards other catfish if there isnt enough space. You should re-home one of the feather fins.

 

[Debbie T]

Ooh Blimey!
How sad having to re-home 1. My local aquatic centre offered to take them from me but was just going to put them in a large sump tank out of view with no gravel, plants or hidey holes but i couldnt bare the thought.
My tank has got sand which they love to burrow in & throw in the air & its full of plants & houses which they love to hide in.
I dont spose a 7 inch catfish is going to be something that is that easy to re-home?
Thanks for the advice
Debbie T

 

[Davo86]

Advertise it here on the classifieds,

 

[Wills]

Or aquarist classifieds. Large featherfins are quite common so you might not get much for them but if you want to give them away you might have a good chance.

Are you from the UK? Do you have a maidenhead aquatics near you as they have large tanks for rehoming usually. Though these are bare but they are only a temp situation.

 

[Debbie T]

Im in the Birmingham area & there is a maidenhead aquatics near by but i just hate the thought of them going to a bare tank & its not saying they would find a new home because people like to get their fish from small i spose.
Where is the classifieds on this site? I wouldnt want any money for the lads but would want them to go to a nice big tank.
I guess for now i'll just see how they go, they do seem to have calmed down a bit & arent grappling like they were the other night. Could it possibly be them mating? I'd hate to get rid of them if they are just in luuuuuurrrvvveeee!

 

[Wills]

What are their feathers like? Does one have noticeably longer feathers and if so is the one with the bigger feathers noticeably slimmer than the other one.

As far as I know synos are not usually bound couples I think they kind of do the "booty call" type thing and let the eggs do their own thing but not 100% or even 50% on that....... I might go check that my self

 

[Debbie T]

No, I've got to say they do both look exactly the same. You can also see 2 little white spur type things underneath them both, is this what male bits look like on catfish? The only difference is sometimes the 1 goes quite a bit lighter in colour when they are grappling. Do you think theres a chance they might find a bit of a pecking order & the 1 will just admit defeat?
Thanks for the advice
Debbie T

 

[Wills]

Im not sure about the pecking order as there are only 2 idealy you would need more to make a true group but it would over dominate your tank. The lightening thing is a sign of submissiveness I believe, I checked about the breeding and it is unreported so its unlikley.

I have to admit that they are being so problematic I mean a 5x2x18 is a big tank have you tried re arranging the decor? This can sometimes work well with territorial fish like split the caves up between the two ends of the tanks. If that isnt any good I think you will have to look at rehomeing one of them...

Wills