Fighting pimeloids

catfishcrazy · Post by **catfishcrazy** » 04 Nov 2003, 10:42

I recently added a 6" white line pim ( P.albofasciatus) to my 72"x30"x24" tank which amongst others contains two S.lima, since adding the new fish the largest lima and the WLP have been breaking into sporadic fights which has resulted in both cats looking a little sorry for themselves, nothing really serious but a torn fin here and a bent whisker there sort of thing.
While i expected a certain ammount of territory dispute this has been going on for 5 days now and i am starting to worry that it may result in serious injury to one or the other, there are ample hiding spaces available but neither species seems interested preffering to cruise the open substrate.
In the opinion of others who have had similar experience do you think they are likely to stop fighting or should i return the WLP to the shop (shame as it was a return anyway and is unlikely to be bought as it had been dumped in a sump tank and had been there months already

). Ive never thought of pimeloid catfish as being aggressive and territorial but prehaps i have miss judged how territorial they can be.

Post by **Silurus** » 04 Nov 2003, 10:48

When you say "among others", what else do you have in the tank? They might be scrapping because the tank may be too crowded.
IME, this is not very likely to end, and even if it did, it's very likely to resurface.

catfishcrazy · Post by **catfishcrazy** » 04 Nov 2003, 12:10

The other fish in the tank are medium sized peaceful catfish ( hoplosternum and agamyxis) a australian arowana, 2 bala sharks, 2 satanoperca, a few medium sized loricarids, 2 small (3") pimelodus ornatus which are boarding there temporarily and 3 bichirs. The tank has pleanty of room and none of the fish appear cramped, i planned to add a vulture cat some weeks back (unfortunately by the time i had decided someone else had bought it lol) and people here seemed to think it would be ok so i presumed that this smaller pim would also be suitable.

Post by **Silurus** » 04 Nov 2003, 13:40

This means that the pim needs more territory than your tank can provide. Looks like you'll have to take it back (unless you can live with the constant bickering).

catfishcrazy · Post by **catfishcrazy** » 04 Nov 2003, 15:38

Yeah that what i thought i was just hoping someone might say it would be a temporary thing:(
Just out of intrest are white line pims known for aggressive behaviour or is this one more agro than usual? It would be handy to know for future refference in case i see another one in the future.

Post by **Silurus** » 04 Nov 2003, 15:48

I would expect most medium-sized pims to be territorial to a certain degree, so the behavior of yours is fairly typical.

FatCat · Post by **FatCat** » 04 Nov 2003, 18:54

Yes your going to get a degree of territorial behavior from any living thing. However my P. Albofasciatus is not very agressive, as you pointed out they like to cruise the tank which is a pretty big territory compared to most others that claim a cave pipe and defend it tenaciousely. I would chalk it up to a conflict in personality and not an agressive white line pim. I just dont see them going out looking for fights. Mine gets pushed around by a 3 inch synodontis nigrita. Maby I just got a wimp.

TiGrInUs · Post by **TiGrInUs** » 05 Nov 2003, 03:55

In my experience and others i talk to, pims kept together will most likely ruff each other up a bit. My tigrinus and juruense cat would go at it every other night. If your australian is a jardini i wouldnt call that a peaceful fish unless you got lucky. They are usually a pretty mean fish. You sure the aro isnt fighting?

catfishcrazy · Post by **catfishcrazy** » 06 Nov 2003, 18:18

The arowana is a jardini but as you say i have got lucky, mine rarely shows any sign of aggression to anything but the crickets i feed it, it has someway to go growth wise as its only about 14" atm but hopefully its temperment wont change too dramatically.

The fights seem to have settled down now after a bit of tank re-arranging, the S.limas live one side of a vallis wall and the WLP the other, tank looks as ugly as hell but its better than the fish beating on each other every night lol.

Thanks for all the replys CFC.

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 06 Nov 2003, 22:28

The arowana is a jardini but as you say i have got lucky, mine rarely shows any sign of aggression to anything but the crickets i feed it, it has someway to go growth wise as its only about 14" atm but hopefully its temperment wont change too dramatically.

Most people who have kept this for more than 3 years tell me that about 20" is the "turning point" in terms of aggression for jardini. And in general I tell people they can be an aggressive species, particulary to there own kind.

Lets hope you have got the odd one out!