Tank mates

Just a quickie. I have four youngsters in the same tank, they are all about 6 months old and roughly the same size. I have noticed in the last week that one of them has started being a bit of a bully and is nipping the others. Does anyone have any ideas about how long it will be before he grows out of it? I dont want to split them up but one of them is getting nipped more than the others.

Is it during feeding time or all of the time?

Im not really sure to be honest. They mess about a little during feeding but I have seen it a few times at random. One of my goldies now has some bites in her tail. Im not sure if it something they are up to at night or not!!

How big is the tank? Also, do u have at least one hiding hole for each of them? Having a bigger tank and lots of hiding holes can help reduce the biting. If one of them is getting singled out and you cant make it stop you may have to separate it out for awhile.

i would leave them all in there. if they are the same size like you said they are it should be fine. mine did this for a while but it stopped eventually. if it gets seroius like missing gills and legs then i would isolate the victim untill its healed. also it might help to feed them a bit more often so they wont get hungry and snap at each other. its not that ones getting bullied its just that the movement makes them think its food.

(Message edited by alex_axolotl on August 04, 2006)

Thanks folks. I dont think there is a problem with the size of the tank its 4ft. I might stick some more hiding places in and see how it goes.