Biting Tangs

[merlyn2221]

Every time I clean my tank or have to put my hand in for rock rearrangement, etc. my rotten little brevis male, the one I call "Runt" (and yes SGM he is supposed to be a "sunspot" one) bites the heck out of my hand. I accidentally hit his shell yesterday when I was putting back a rock and he went berserk! The little brat left teeth marks on my ring finger and pinkie. This is the second time he has done this to me.

Needless to say, if I even sit next to his side of the tank he freaks! What a little riot he is! Hope he's doing this because there are eggs in the shell. :D I've seen him sharing it with the female sunspot. Ironic too, I thought he wouldn't mind that the other brevis swim around him, but I was totally wrong. He has hated them since I put them in there with him. It's like they are 2 different species.

Anybody else have their fish bite them?

[finz]

My occelatus attack me any time I put my hand in their tank. Ozzie grabs the web between my thumb and forefinger and shakes his head like a shark. I'm glad his teeth are so small!

[aharris]

Siggy goes nuts anytime he and Louise have fry. They're my signatus pair, btw. He'll attack anything including me. When they don't have fry, he's totally mellow. In fact when there aren't any eggs and fry, the pair roam the entire bottom of the 135g. They aren't at all concerned about the furcifer who are many times their size and they don't offer to molest anyone. I think the most touching thing I've seen though was this:

I have one baby julidochromis in that tank who escaped capture when his family was evicted for "unnecessary roughness." He's still pretty small and bothers nothing so I've let him be. The other day, he must have been feeling like a little tough guy or something. He took a dislike to Louise and started harassing her (she's maybe a little shorter in length than he is). Siggy had been completely oblivious to Louise although he stays in the same general area. But when he noticed lil' juli beatin' on his woman, he got all puffed up and came to the rescue. For the rest of the day, he was super defensive of Louise. It was pretty sweet really to watch him stick up for his gal. :cool:

[merlyn2221]

That is just too cute!

Ok, so then I will hope to see head poking out in the near future.


About how long before you guys notice any fry? (Don't forget, these are my first shellies.) I think I remember reading two weeks somewhere, but it was awhile ago and I have a crowded memory! :lol:

Guess I'll have to go back and reread!

[aharris]

I'm trying to remember my first batch with the sigs, and I seem to think it was a week to ten days before I saw the first babies. Sig babies are different though. Once they come out of the shell, they seem to roam all over everywhere instead of trying to stay in any of the shells. That makes them targets for the dwarf petricola who must be vacuuming them up where ever possible. I've been hoping that I might have one or two make it, but out of three batches this summer so far, I haven't had any survivers. I was hoping that soem of the babies would stick to the shells and make it, but sigs aren't true shellies and the behavior of the fry just seems to make that extremely obvious. If I want to save baby sigs, it seems I'll have to give Siggy and Louise private quarters.

[SGypsyMermaid]

most shellies are the chihuahuas of the fish world.:razz:

[merlyn2221]

:rofl:
That certainly does describe them!

[slc,phenochilus]

To anwser your question, yeah my calvus bites me when they have eggs, and I stick my hand in to vacum, he leaves teeth marks on my hand, and you can actually feel his teeth when he does this. I haven't kept shellies yet but I really want

[fire mouth man]

What is the minimum tank size for a calvus?

[Seedy]

Originally posted by fire mouth man
What is the minimum tank size for a calvus?

An adult pair can be housed in a 3 foot 40gallon tank...no smaller...

[mk_ultra]

I don't know, seedy. a lot of folks use 29gallons. but if your asking go for the bigger tank..

[Seedy]

You are right MK...I have kept young specimens in 10,20and 29s...and they grow soooooooooooo slowly.....but dang, I just can not imagine the giant WC male I had living in a 29 with a female...I mean...it was over 5 inches...I felt like my 3 foot was almost too small for it!...a 29 would certainly be fine for smaller fish, even those of breeding age...but not a fully grown pair...

[cathyhill]

My brevis pair are the same and I have to watch my male closely. He has attacked my hand about an inch from the water line. He actually jumps up out of the tank for a bite.