Five Fish Attacking One

[Tara H]

I recently bought several fish for my natural-spring-fed pond. Some shubunkins, some comets, and two koi. They've all been getting along swimmingly for weeks. There has been mating. The males would chase a female around for a while and the female would lay eggs, and everyone went about their merry way.

Yesterday morning, I noticed several fish chasing one of the comets and assumed it was more mating. However, it went on for hours and the little comet was getting exhausted. I kept going out to check, and once found that she had launched herself onto a rock. I freaked out and put her right back in the pond. As soon as I did, the other fish started chasing and attacking her. They would pin her to the pond floor and go at her. It did not look like any of the other mating I has seen.

Miraculously, my daughter was able to catch the poor comet with a net, and we removed her to a five-gallon bucket. I then got a large Tupperware with a locking lid and drilled holes in the sides. I put bricks in the bottom and some lily pads and then added the fish. I put the container back in the pond. The other fish didn't really notice her yesterday, but this morning, they are all circling the container aggressively.

I'm leaving town for several weeks tomorrow and want to know what to do about this situation. I do have another bigger pond with "natural" fish such as bass and brim in it (and maybe two Kois that I added several weeks ago, but haven't seen since). Should I just put her in there? If I add her back to the little pond, will they chase her to her death?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Lisak1]

What we see as aggression is natural for them. It can be rough for the female especially if she attracts multiple males. Isolation is the most you can do. They will lose interest.

 

[Laaf]

I agree it can be hard to watch and the chased female can get so tired that she is just passive and being pushed around by the males as if she is dying.

I think the best thing is to just leave them alone.

As she releases her eggs, her pheromones will go down and she won't be a target anymore.

If you give her to another pond, the same thing will likely happen along as she is releasing the "loaded with eggs" chemical trail.

Especially going out of town, isolating her will be hard to maintain.

You are a very caring fish parent!

 

[dinm]

Had that happen to a goldfish, after a week or so it stopped. Not much you can do.

 

[GBBUDD]

What we see as aggression is natural for them. It can be rough for the female especially if she attracts multiple males. Isolation is the most you can do. They will lose interest.

Toxic masculinity