Two of my dwarf petricolas were fighting each other this evening. It was very interesting to watch -- they were swimming side by side all over the tank trying to jab each other with their pectoral fins.
There are six of them in a 6' x 2' x 2' tank with a breeding colony of Labidochromis caeruleus cichlids, a few plecos and some loaches.
There is plently of cover in there.
Is it normal for them to fight? Could it be fatal? Anything I should do to intervene?
Fighting dwarf petricolas
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JohnnyOscar
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They can and do fight a LOT harder than that; especially when it's alpha-male versus challenging male or alpha-female versus challenging female....
I've seen them gripping each others' upper lip and ripping the whole thing off; mandibular whiskers and all!
luckily the regenerating abilities of these critters ranges right into the unbelievable; within a month or two all skin including two proper whiskers grew right back.
the same thing happened when my biggest male granny challenged the big female granny and lost; that fight lasted for almost a week (!!) and at the end he looked like something the dog brought in as a chewie
grew right back too; except he has now a "mark"; one of his big mandibular whiskers has a definite "bend" halfway.
doesn't faze him one bit, though. he's still picking fights now and then with fish too big for him (like that female, my big Giraffenose and the A-male Tropheus and the big male N tretocephalus) and as a result getting his butt kicked.
The fiercest fights I've seen was when I combined Synodontis "petricola sp Giant" with S petricola "Burundi"; a mistake wich has been corrected since I've seen parts of fins or skin floating around 
I've seen them gripping each others' upper lip and ripping the whole thing off; mandibular whiskers and all!
luckily the regenerating abilities of these critters ranges right into the unbelievable; within a month or two all skin including two proper whiskers grew right back.
the same thing happened when my biggest male granny challenged the big female granny and lost; that fight lasted for almost a week (!!) and at the end he looked like something the dog brought in as a chewie
grew right back too; except he has now a "mark"; one of his big mandibular whiskers has a definite "bend" halfway.
doesn't faze him one bit, though. he's still picking fights now and then with fish too big for him (like that female, my big Giraffenose and the A-male Tropheus and the big male N tretocephalus) and as a result getting his butt kicked.
The fiercest fights I've seen was when I combined Synodontis "petricola sp Giant" with S petricola "Burundi"; a mistake wich has been corrected since I've seen parts of fins or skin floating around
Valar Morghulis