Urgent Care :: Bossy big turtle bothering the little "guy"

[tplybon]

Help, I dont know if this is mating stuff or just territorial stuff.
My bossy RES named Skippy who is 6" long now was doing fine since november when we first got our new RES named Puck (since he is andro at the moment we didn't know whether to name him male or female) who is just 3" long. They live with a giant pleco named Zamboni.
I have them in a 55 gal tank, filled 1/2 way with water. They have lots of swimming room, a turtle ramp for basking, and warm water 78 degrees and a new fancy filter (i think its fluval).
At first they were fine, stacking up and basking together.
2 months ago we noticed the big one backing away from the small one, then doing the flipping finger thing, and the little one would just act like the big one wasnt there and just swim where ever he wanted. Lately the big one goes after him biting him. He will just swim after him and chase him around the tank.

He has bit 2 little side plates off of little puck's shell. I have already decided I need to give puck to a new home since I dont have the space for a second tank. Why would he act all agressive after 2 months of being cool? If anything, the tank now has more room as I just upgraded the filter, which created a nice big corner of space again.

As much as I love my little guy, I cant stand to see him hurt.

Second problem, Skip's red markings have brownish stuff on them, kind of splotchy. What do I need to do, clean his head? I dont know how he will let me do that.

Thanks,
Tara

[TheComputerGremlin]

This is very typical, turtles can live together for a long time without incident and then one day, they're at each other's throats. It's good that you've realized it before you ended up with any major injuries. It's unfortunate that you can't set up two tanks, but try finding a family member or friend who would take Puck for you, that way you can still visit and make sure Puck's well cared for.

Can you post pictures of the brown stuff so people can better diagnose them? Thanks!

[grey goose]

Fluttering is one thing but once they start biting you have to separate them.

[industrial_girl_2000]

I just posted about this exact issue in another thread:

I have gone thru this in the past where I had a small male turt in the tank with my big female RES (Sheba) and he would pester her year-round. It was so bad that she started biting at him when he would do it & he ended up with a sprained tail, bitten-off front claws, and other scrapes. They fought so much I had to separate them during the day because any time they saw each other, they fought very loudly (it was so loud, you couldn't ignore it).

This situation will only escalate. Start looking into a new tank NOW before someone gets seriously injured!!!