teddscau
New member
As you guys won't remember, I bought three firefish back in June maybe. Anyways, I've never experienced so many issues before! Dotty was paired up with Freckles, and Freckles was always bullying Big Eyes. Anyways, back in early October/late September, I stuck a temporary nursery in the tank for reasons I don't feel like explaining. The nursery was in the tank for three or four days, and the firefish freaked out, being the delicate little snowflakes that they are. Long story short, Dotty went on a rampage and started beating the living daylight out of both Freckles and Big Eyes (it should be noted that Dotty likes Big Eyes and was bonded to Freckles). For over two weeks, Dotty was tearing off their flicker fins and tail fins, chasing them throughout the rockwork, causing them to sustain bad bruises and scrapes when they tried to dart away.
Anyways, one day Big Eyes and Dotty started swimming near each other, and Big Eyes started giving Dotty "love bites", and they paired up. By some miracle we managed to catch Freckles and rehome him with a fellow reefer (Freckles is now paired up with the guy's skittish firefish). So, everything was going well until a several days ago, when my dad rearranged the pumps. It was days before they quit hiding, and now Dotty is attacking Big Eyes again.
I know firefish are notorious for beating each other up in captivity, but I'm positive Dotty is sex "A" and Big Eyes and Freckles are both sex "B". Like Dotty gets along perfectly fine with his/her mate (sleeping together, hovering together, eating together, etc.), until we add a manmade object to the tank or change the current. Honestly, Dotty's always so docile and "kind" even. When we first added them to the 90g, she was hanging out with Freckles, but when she saw Big Eyes at the bottom of the tank, too scared to even move, she swam over to him and stayed with him until he calmed down (I think she stayed with him for over an hour). But, as soon as she becomes stressed, she tries to kill the other fish.
TL;DR
Is it normal for a member of a mated pair to start trying to murder their mate because the current in the tank was changed?
Anyways, one day Big Eyes and Dotty started swimming near each other, and Big Eyes started giving Dotty "love bites", and they paired up. By some miracle we managed to catch Freckles and rehome him with a fellow reefer (Freckles is now paired up with the guy's skittish firefish). So, everything was going well until a several days ago, when my dad rearranged the pumps. It was days before they quit hiding, and now Dotty is attacking Big Eyes again.
I know firefish are notorious for beating each other up in captivity, but I'm positive Dotty is sex "A" and Big Eyes and Freckles are both sex "B". Like Dotty gets along perfectly fine with his/her mate (sleeping together, hovering together, eating together, etc.), until we add a manmade object to the tank or change the current. Honestly, Dotty's always so docile and "kind" even. When we first added them to the 90g, she was hanging out with Freckles, but when she saw Big Eyes at the bottom of the tank, too scared to even move, she swam over to him and stayed with him until he calmed down (I think she stayed with him for over an hour). But, as soon as she becomes stressed, she tries to kill the other fish.
TL;DR
Is it normal for a member of a mated pair to start trying to murder their mate because the current in the tank was changed?
