Females Fighting

by LunaHyzen Wed 15 Mar 2017, 11:11 pm

So I've had three females since September and one has always been at the bottom (Daisy). In October she seemed sickly so was separated for several weeks until she was fine. When she was replaced with the other two girls (Layla and Melon) there was some squabbling but once they were moved to a bigger tank they stopped. So, I was used to them picking on the lowest one.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. I acquired two more females (Gemma and Sylvia) from someone that couldn't keep them anymore. They were born in January I think. So, they are smaller than my adult girls. Now, the one who was the lowest is constantly dominating the smaller of the two new girls (Sylvia). It wasn't so bad for awhile and I wanted to let them work it out but now there have been a couple of times that Sylvia has been bitten near her vagina. None of them have been in contact with a male so there are no chances of a pregnancy (I do have a male but they have never been in contact). Also, I don't always see the bad fighting but it's usually not my other two older females going after Sylvia.
Any suggestions on how to stop this? I am ok with little bickering but I'm not ok with blood being drawn.
Whenever blood has been drawn I separate the bully (three times Daisy and one time Melon) immediately and keep them in a separate tank for 1-3 days. Daisy is currently in this tank and there have been only minimal squabbles in the big tank (Mostly between Melon and Layla so I'm not worried).
I am working on expanding their space with a tank topper but it's a slow process. I'd hope more space would help them.

I don't want to permanently separate anyone but I don't want Sylvia to be hurt. Any suggestions on a solution would be very much appreciated.

(Melon - brown and white fancy) (Layla - black and mostly white fancy) (Daisy - white and mostly black fancy) (Sylvia - silver satin fancy) (Gemma - gold and white satin fancy)

Females Fighting 17349964_1802853473065487_5590711067031356775_o

Females Fighting 17349964_1802853473065487_5590711067031356775_o

by CallaLily Thu 16 Mar 2017, 10:14 am

LunaHyzen wrote:I am working on expanding their space with a tank topper but it's a slow process. I'd hope more space would help them.

How much space do they have now? Sometimes it's actually the opposite - less room might be better. Sometimes too much space can lead to territorial issues.

by LunaHyzen Thu 16 Mar 2017, 10:24 am

CallaLily wrote:
How much space do they have now? Sometimes it's actually the opposite - less room might be better. Sometimes too much space can lead to territorial issues.

They're currently in a 29 gallon tank with two of everything.

by CallaLily Thu 16 Mar 2017, 10:32 am

Oh. That's not the problem then. Hmm.

Have you tried taking their tank down to the bare necessities for a day or two? Then slowly adding in more things with good behavior a day at a time. Might work if they're being a brat about something. Confused

by LunaHyzen Mon 03 Apr 2017, 4:53 pm

I was out of town for a week and wasn't able to try your suggestion. I've been back and have since taken Daisy out since she bit Sylvia in the same place again pretty badly.
I've noticed when I take Melon out, Daisy also starts to chase after Layla.
I will definitely try your idea though. Before I had the two satins the other three had some issues but once I moved them to a completely new tank with all new things, the bullying stopped almost completely.

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