Territorial H. Smithi

[nadajdui]

Last week I noticed something I should have noticed a while ago. These amazing little loaches have picked territories. One has about half the tank, one has the back, and one has the front. Too funny! And when one oversteps it's bounds, the defender lets em know it!
Has anyone else seen this behavior?

[Graeme Robson]

I think, Jim has seen the same behavior. I haven't with mine though.

[Jim Powers]

The only time I have seen smithi show any kind of defensive behavior was against a cheni trying to push it off a java fern leaf. That was just a couple of weeks ago. I have had smithi for many years and they tend to be so mellow, so behavior such as what you witnessed is very interesting.

[nadajdui]

Yeah, I thought it was pretty interesting, too. Maybe they need a larger tank? They're in a 10 gallon right now, and have been for the 5 or 6 months I've had them. They seem to be getting along quite well, but now that this defensive behavior has come up I'm thinking maybe they want more space?

[mikev]

I'm seeing some territorial behavior from one of the Confuzona's in a 10g quarantine tank.

Only one is doing it, and it is a smaller fish (1.25"-1.5") who also happens to be the best eater (new fish, getting them eat is still a problem). This one has a favorite small area *on the ground*, the current in the tank is such that the shrimp floats through this area, making it easy to snap. Well, it also snaps on other Confuzona's that try to enter this spot.

It seems to me that territorial behavior is logical for a fish that tends to sit in one place and grab the food that floats by... you don't want another mouth next to yours.