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I have an older RES (Boris) about 5 years old 8 in long from a pet shop. I also have a 3 year old Paint (Dewey), about 3 in long found in a pond with a broken arm. Both have lived fine together for the past 3 years. they play and crawl on eat other and bask together. Just this month they have fought twice. The little paint will grab on to the RES neck and hold on. It only leaves a red mark on the RES neck and they act like nothing happened after but I worry (as a good mom would). Any suggestions to stop this? really would hate to split them because my house isn't really big enough. but I guess a bigger tank might fit. Right now it is a 55 gallon with 2 basking spots (one at each end of the tank).

It doesn't matter if they've gotten along for years, aggression can start at any time sadly. They could break each other's necks. Did this start after you fed them by chance? You could try feeding them one at a time. Could you maybe use a piece of eggcrate to divide the tank in half, so they would be separated?

Good luck, I hope you reach an easy solution.

No happens at night (feed first thing in am) Don't seem to be fighting for basking space or left over food (not that there is any) or an accidental bump or something. The lttle paint (Dewey) Just grabs hold of Boris (res) until I open the lid of the tank and (i guess) scare him off.

It'll probably get worse as Dewey becomes more sexually mature.