Synchiropus splendidus getting attacked

[M4ST3R]

Hi

sorry for my bad englich, but i hope someone could give me an advice. Yesterday i bought a male Synchiropus splendidus, wanted to get a "husband" for my lonely female one. But everytime she sees him, shes attacking and biting him badly. So I enforcedly put the male one in some kind of "box" inside the aquarium, so that he cant get attacked by her anymore. Now my problem is that this can only a temporary solution bcs he doesnt eat frozen artemia/mysis etc.
Does anyone have an idea what to do?

Thanks
Daniel

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

I am not familiar with those fish, so I am not sure whether a pair can exist in the same tank unless they are a mated pair. A lot of fish can exist alone or as a group of 3 or more, but not in pairs. Thus, it may be that your two never will coexist.

If your fish can exist together, it would be best for you to set up a separate quarantine tank and keep the male there for 4 or 6 or 8 weeks to make sure it doesn't have any disease and to get it adapted to captive life and eating the food you offer, and then to pull the female out of the tank, rearrange the rockwork, and introduce both fish into the tank together.

If you aren't going to quarantine, the only practical solution is to keep the male in the separate box for a couple of days, and then rearrange the rockwork, feed both fish well, and put them together with the tank lights low or out and see if they get along. You will have to be prepared to remove the male if the female won't tolerate it.

I like to introduce fish after my evening feeding and the day lights have gone out. At this point, only the blue lights are on, and it is an hour or two before all of the tank lights go out. This gives them some time to get acquainted and a night to forget there were problems.

Good luck.

 

[snorvich]

How do you know you have a male and female? Usually I would recommend introducing them together. In a large tank, the aggression will likely subside, in a smaller tank, it may not.

 

[M4ST3R]

Thanks for your advice

males got a longer dorsal fin, females dont

 

[Sonicblast12]

I'd flip them and put the established aggressive fish in the box for awhile and let the new addition have the run of the tank so it has a chance to get acclimated.

The aggressor then has to watch the other fish in its territory and there is nothing it can do, if the roles are reversed the aggressor still has a large majority of the tank as its territory and there are still going to be problems when the new fish is released.

 

[snorvich]

Thanks for your advice

males got a longer dorsal fin, females dont

Yes, males have a spiked dorsal, females are rounded one. But length can be deceptive as some distributers clip the dorsal because females are rarely captured. Be careful of using length only as the discriminating factor.

 

[M4ST3R]

and then the dorsal spike doesnt grow again?
i'm asking bcs i already have this one for years and never noticed sth like that

 

[snorvich]

and then the dorsal spike doesnt grow again?
i'm asking bcs i already have this one for years and never noticed sth like that

If you can take a picture and post it, we should be able to tell. Rounded is a female, spiked is a male.

 

[M4ST3R]

i catched the aggressor, now she's separated from the lil man so he can explore the tank a lil and rest for a while, feeding the female isnt a problem since she accepts artemia

so this is the one that i think shes female

 

[snorvich]

i catched the aggressor, now she's separated from the lil man so he can explore the tank a lil and rest for a while, feeding the female isnt a problem since she accepts artemia

so this is the one that i think shes female

Definitely female. What sized tank are you keeping them in?

 

[M4ST3R]

it's a 350 liter (around 90 gallons??) corner tank