Aggression and amplexing among male ACFs

[Kayli]

I have an adult male ACF and recently acquired another. They have been together about a week. Both have lived alone their whole lives. I have noticed them mounting each other, both of them seem to be bothered by it. Also, they will nip at and bite each other, especially when it comes to feeding time. They live in a 20 gallon long aquarium, so they shouldn't be stressed by the space they have. Is this normal behavior until they establish a pecking order or should I consider separating them?

[Mentat]

Male mounting male frogs is "normal" in the wild; that is the reason they have developed release calls. In an enclosed aquarium, guess it can become annoying after a while. These two where loners and appears do not have good social skills.

As long as no visible damage is done, would leave together and hope they become friendly to each other in following weeks. However if one bullies the other to point it aggressively prevents him from feeding; would recommend separating them. Good luck !

[Gemma]

I agree with Carlos. I would leave them together unless they're stopping each other from eating properly. I've experienced this problem (the amplexing, not the aggression) with 2 of my males but they calmed down after a couple of weeks and now they're fine together, so hopefully they will get it out of their systems soon. Are you sure the nipping and biting is out of aggression? Since they're not used to movement from another creature in the tank and they will pretty much try to eat anything that moves, it sounds like they're just mistaking each other for food. I imagine that this will get less common after a while once they get used to each other's presence, but it's normal for them to do that occasionally even if they've been together for a long time, especially at feeding time.

[Kayli]

I agree with Carlos. I would leave them together unless they're stopping each other from eating properly. I've experienced this problem (the amplexing, not the aggression) with 2 of my males but they calmed down after a couple of weeks and now they're fine together, so hopefully they will get it out of their systems soon. Are you sure the nipping and biting is out of aggression? Since they're not used to movement from another creature in the tank and they will pretty much try to eat anything that moves, it sounds like they're just mistaking each other for food. I imagine that this will get less common after a while once they get used to each other's presence, but it's normal for them to do that occasionally even if they've been together for a long time, especially at feeding time.

I never thought about the frogs nipping because they aren't used to movement. I kind of figured it was because they were trying to keep each other away from the food, but your thought makes more sense to me. The amplexing has largely stopped. I haven't seen it in a few days. There is still some nipping and biting going on at feeding time, but it's not stopping either one from getting enough food.

Thank you both for your help!