ask91888

I have had my two fantails, Albie and Dwight, since September. Unfortunately, when I bought them, I had no clue about the kind of care that they needed, and I stuck them in a 1-gallon glass bowl. I kept them alive that way for a good 7 months before I was able to come home from college and finally put them in a filtered 10 gallon.

During those months, they always kind of stayed close together in the bowl, and got along well. In fact, during their first month in the 10 gallon, they were still practically attached at the hip (fin?). Since then, they've just been swimming around the tank peacefully.

Yesterday, I added a tiny little oto cat, to help control the algae, and everything was peaceful yesterday, but this morning when I went to check out my tank, I noticed that Dwight, the larger of my two fantails, was kind of chasing my other fantail around. As the day went on, the chasing got more intense, and there was definite fin-nipping going on. Dwight seemed to concentrate his attention at the very base of Albie's body, where the two fins split off, and he wouldn't leave him alone.

In order to save Albie, I temporarily moved Dwight back to the one gallon, which isn't going to last for long. Is this normal? Could this behavior possibly be mating, or did the addition of that one small oto cat make Dwight feel threatened and territorial? Any ideas/suggestions would be great! Thanks!

Lucy

Hi ask, Welcome to Fish Lore

It sure sounds territorial. The time out should help.

ask91888

Any idea how long I should keep them separated? I took out the tank divider earlier today when I was cleaning, and they got along fine for the first 5-10 minutes, but then Dwight apparently saw something that he liked near Albie's anal fin, and started to chase him around and nip at him again. So I was forced the separate the two again, because the fish who was getting chased looked pretty distraught. Do you think this will go on forever? Am I going to have to get another tank, or give one away?

EDIT: After keeping them apart for about a week and rearranging some of the tank decorations, I put them back together, and they are back to normal! Thanks for your advice! Now I don't have to get rid of one of them