General Care Discussion :: FEMALES FIGHTING

[LKitsch]

Anybody have any experience with aggression in female RES's toward each other? I have 4 females (had a male, he was extremely aggressive toward the females---biting, etc, so I gave him away) in a 200 gallon pond.

Very recently, I noticed the oldest female has been biting the second oldest female on the edge of her shell just behind her head, who has begun avoiding her and spending less time in the water. This is new behavior---they have been tankmates for five years and are about the same size.

I think this is a dominance, or pecking order, thing. The oldest does not bother the other two, one of which is younger and smaller. My concern is if it gets messy with wounds, etc---I'm not concerned about their group dynamic as long as everyone is relatively happy and healthy. Any suggestions?

[xsavingsaturdayx]

separate her?

[LKitsch]

Separation means giving her away because I only have one habitat. But the question would then be---WHO do I remove? The aggressive one or the one she is picking on? Why that particular one and not the other two?

[marisa]

Sorry to hear they're not getting along. Tough decision (don't know if you're more attached to one than another), but if I had to remove one, it would be the one that didn't get along with the others. (If the aggressive one remained, a new pecking order might start, and the agressive one might turn on one of the other two.)

Before you just give one away, though, (unless you already know of a really good home for her), can you separate the agressive one for a while if you catch her picking on the other one? Kind of like a cooling off period.

[LKitsch]

Good idea. I will try that before I call the rescue place. Thanks!