Wildtype males biting my female

[nymphedelic]

Hiya,
For the past couple of weeks, my leucistic female has been hiding in the corners and back of the tank, and until this morning I didn't know the cause of her behaviour. However, this morning she was swimming around at the front of the tank for the first time in a long while, and when she swam past my two other boys, they both went to bite her. I've checked her over and she doesn't have any injuries, but I'm really worried now, a) because she's probably stressed, and b) in case they do hurt her at some point. Flump (the female) is the smallest of the three, and is about 5-51/2 inches. LSP was bought with her and is wildtype male and about 6 inches. I took Potato, my other wildtype male home last week, and he is about 8 inches, but Flump has been hiding away since before he arrived. Is it normal for axies to try and attack the smallest/male axies attack female axies/wildtypes attack leucistics? Could she be about to breed? I wouldn't like to have to take Flump out of her environment and seperate her into a smaller tank, so do you know if there is anything else I could try? I've thought about getting a slightly bigger tank (at the moment I have a shallow 65l), but I'm worried that it'll still carry on. I'm sorry if I'm missing something really obvious here; any help would be greatly appreciated- I'm really worried about my poor baby

 

[keiko]

65 L is nowhere near enough for 3 axies (not even for one) and it's best to separate males and females so get 2 bigger tanks asap. And lack of space can lead to fights too. How old are your axies? Their size would indicate they're just juveniles, but if you can tell females and males apart they must be mature at which point they're usually around 8 inches at least. When they don't have enough space they won't grow as well and will often be smaller than axies in a bigger tank.

 

[nymphedelic]

Sorry, I meant to say 65 gallon, not litres! All these metric/imperial conversions confuse me (d'oh). Still, I will go out and get another tank for Flump- Do you recommend separating the sexes to avoid breeding, or does it promote aggression too? LSP and Flump are still juveniles just about, but there is a noticable difference in their cloaca, so I am fairly confident that she is female, although she may end up surprising me! Thank you for your advice, I might go out and look for a bigger upgrade for the other two as well if I can find a cabinet stand to go with it

 

[Cliygh and Mia]

I don't remember where I heard it, but I heard somewhere that wild-types are aggressive to other color morphs besides melanistic, but they look similar to wild-type anyways. Could that be what's happening?

 

[rachel1]

I had my only aggression issues with juvies around the 6" mark. They tend to mellow out a bit as they mature. I have read that wilds are more aggressive toward whites, but mine ganged up on another wildtype. Once injured, they kept picking on him. I separated him for a while, and when he was all healed a couple months later I reintroduced him and had no more issues. Make sure they are well fed to avoid problems. Constant breeding can be draining on a female, which is why people recommend they be separated.

 

[charleybambino]

I think the best advice on aggression is "never say never". My huge male leucistic has lived peacefully alongside another leucistic male, although smaller, for over a year. I introduced another wild male and actually witnessed the big guy nose to nose with the other leucistic pushing him into a corner...before he turned all guns blazing on the wild type!....scooped him out but he was bleeding but now ok, and the two leucistics are totally calm again....what provoked that?Are yours actually biting the femLe....I know they push and nudge each other during courtship
One of my females ( thought it was male) laid eggs at 8 months.....now I know the correct sex!!

 

[Stupot1610]

I don't remember where I heard it, but I heard somewhere that wild-types are aggressive to other color morphs besides melanistic, but they look similar to wild-type anyways. Could that be what's happening?

That's just as larvae