Territorial Females?

[Thirdfloor]

Hi!
I have had a female Oplaine in my community tank for about 48 hours. I thought she might like a friend so I went to the LFS today and brought home another female. The female that has been in the tank for a bit is very aggressive to the new gal. Is it territory squabble since one is new? I didn't think the females would be aggressive to one another. It's an 18 US gallon tall tank. I know its a bit small. I have a 50 US gallon on order that should be ready for fish in a couple weeks. The new tank will be home to the Opalines.

 

[scooterchick]

Yip, they an be very territorial. I have 2 pearl females and one's always chasing the other, not sure if it's the same one all the time as I can't tell them apart. However they're in a 40 gallon tank so there's plenty of room for them to avoid each other if they're squabbling.

Keep an eye on them and hopefully things will settle down when they're in a bigger tank.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

fish that have a tendancy towards being territorial are often super aggressive when first put into a tank with 'rivals' it should hopefully calm down shortly, and the bigger tank will definately help.

just keep an eye on it, prepare yourself to re-home one of them if need be.

 

[Thirdfloor]

thanks for the replies ladies, the first one is still chasing the new gal, but not as much, since the new gal has found some hiding spots. They should be OK til I get the new tank. If the new one starts looking stressed, I'll have my friend babysit for a bit.

 

[Thirdfloor]

Glad to say that the ladies are bahaving much better now with only the occasional squabble.
Getting really excited for the new tank, I'll start a new thread and post progress on it.